Saturday 20 December 2014

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Lightscapade

Let us all just take a moment to appreciate this beauty that is the MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Lightscapade (£23). With the wintery months well and truly upon us, I feel nothing looks prettier then dewy, highlighted skin to compliment that bold red lip or sultry smokey eye. Highlighters for me are a staple in my everyday make up routine and without it my face just appears incomplete. I've previously always opted for the champagne gold hues when it comes to accentuating the high points of my face so I decided to mix things up a little. Lightscapade is a concoction of blue, pink, yellow etc. veins of colour merged together into an individually baked formula. Each package is different meaning no two people will ever have the exact same deepness of shade when applying. A product with a touch of a wild card, making it slightly more enticing. The colour created when swatched completely surpassed my expectations. A light, polished colour with subtle pink undertones that perfectly highlights especially those with pale complexions. I honestly feel all fare skinned ladies need this in their collection. The powder formula is smooth and applies like velvet onto the skin with excellent wear time and incredible pigmentation. If you're looking for one last item to add to your Christmas list, make it this one!


Let me know what you think.
What's your favourite highlighter? 




Friday 7 November 2014

The Autumn Red Lip Menu

The Autumn Red Lip Menu 
Autumn is now upon us so it's fully acceptable to relocate the knee high boots, put on the fur coat and wrap yourselves up in a million tartan scarves. The Autumn/Winter season is probably my favourite, there's something about being wrapped up in the cold weather, the longer nights and Christmas on the horizon, that always makes me feel excited. Another element that seems to be more approved in the Wintery season is, of course, the red lip! My red lippy collection seems to have suddenly grown within the past year but I seriously can't get enough of the wine, berry and cherry red shades. So to get everyone in the spirit of things, I thought I'd give my followers a run down of my all time favourite red lipsticks - high end and drugstore! So here is the The Autumn Red Lipstick Menu...
MAC Dark Side £15.50
A deep, burgundy shade in an amplified creme formula.
One of my all time favourite lipsticks with it's shiny finish
and the vampy, red-purple hue. 
Revlon ColourBurst Lacquer Balm Enticing £7.99
A chubby lip pencil with a high shine finish and sheer pigmentation.
MAC Plumful £15.50
A rosy pink-plum shade with an easily builded formula. Perfect 
for those who don't feel confident enough to wear a bold lip
but still want something red toned for A/W. 
Rimmel London Lasting Finish By Kate Moss 030 £5.49 
A beautiful red shade with a dark pink undertone. One of my
favourite reds from the drugstore! 
Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Glastonberry £23 -
The perfect plum pout with a matte finish. Great quality and
excellent pigmentation.
Dolce & Gabbana Passion Duo Intense £26 - 
The darkest in the collection. There's no surprise that it's called
'Intense'. A dark red-brown with a glossy finish and ultra 
creamy formula.
Revlon Colourstay Moisture Lip Stain India Intrigue £7.99 - 
An extra shiny formula with bold, beautiful colours. Takes a bit
of work to get these glosses perfectly blended but the end result
is really beautiful. 
Rimmel London Kate Moss Matte Lipstick 107 £5.49 - 
One of the most iconic, raved about reds out there. A beautiful 
deep berry shade teamed with a matte finish that is as good as
many of the high end lip products that I own. 
YSL Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stain 16 Fuchsia £25 -
The first high end lip product that I owned. Has one of the 
prettiest finishes that I've ever seen. A fruity but subtle scent 
incredible staying power. Honestly the stain effect will not budge! 
Rimmel London Lasting Finish By Kate Moss 01 £5.49 -
Comes up a lot brighter in the picture but this is a really beautiful 
deep red with a creamy formula. Amazing pigmentation evidently
and a lovely cherry scent. 
NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil Damned £18 - 
A lovely red shade with a plum undertone finished off with a soft,
velvet matte finish. The formula is quite drying so be sure to smother
your lips in lip balm before. A really gorgeous product that's easy to
apply in its stick form. 
MAC Pedro Lourenco Lipstick Ruby £16.50 -
A limited edition red dressed in rose gold and matte black packaging.
One of the prettiest finishes I own for a red and lasts well on the lips
with a fade-to-matte stain formula. 
                            
Topshop Lipliner Deception £5 -
One of my all time favourite shades. A bold, dark red that's easy to
apply in it's pencil form, giving ultimate precision for a great red lip
or a base for other products.

What's your favourite red lipstick for A/W?
Let me know what you think in the comments!



Friday 24 October 2014

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette

With Hourglass bringing out their new Ambient Blush Palette, hoping to the hit UK stores in November, I thought it would be fitting to give you a quick rundown on their previous beauty, the Ambient Lighting Palette. This showcases a trio of their beautiful powders: Dim Light, Radiant Light and Incandescent Light, with the latter being a limited edition shade only. I think we all need to take a moment to fully appreciate how truly beautiful this palette really is. Not only does the palette alone look amazing, the effect it has on one's complexion is stunning. The powders are designed to not only conceal imperfections but to also soften the way light hits the skin to create a brighter appearance as well as subtly highlighting the high points and altogether giving a flawless finish.  It can't really get much better than that. I personally love the middle shade for an all over lit-from-within finish and then applying Dim Light (left) on my cheek bones, brow bones and down the bridge of my nose to lift these areas. The final shade, Radiant Light, is a little harder to use if you're pale skinned like me but the golden-beige colour adds a sun-kissed glow to any tan, real or fake, making it my go-to bronzed highlight when I've commenced my self-tan routine.

All in all, a beautiful palette that is almost just as pretty in the pan as it is on. Priced at £56, I really did not except anything less from Hourglass but considering you're getting three of their powders for this price when just a single on costs £38 alone, makes the cost seem slightly more justified.

Let me know what you think in the comments.
Are you excited for the Ambient Blush Palette? 

Friday 17 October 2014

Too Faced Natural At Night Palette

First and foremost, I'd like to send out a massive apology in regards to my lack of blogging! September was a very busy month for me and it meant my little blog took a back seat but I'm determined to get it back on track. I'm going to start by stating that from now on, the Nails And Teapots Beauty Blog will only be uploading on Fridays, due to the pressure of other commitments, with the odd little extra post thrown in here and there. This still means that there will be plenty of product reviews, monthly favourites, tags and hauls for you to (hopefully) enjoy every Friday. Hope that's okay!

Okay now onto the fun stuff. Palettes, for me, are one of my all time favourite things to collect and I truly believe no one can ever have enough. I've had my eye on the Too Faced Natural Eyes palette for a while now but after realising and accepting that it's impossible to find in store in the UK, I instead decided to try out their Natural At Night Palette and as you can so quite clearly see, it is gorgeous! Structured very similarly to the brands other palettes, there's 3 looks, 9 shades and a mixture of matte and iridescent finishes, making this a good-to-go all round palette with the darker, tertiary like theme being perfect for the upcoming A/W. If you want a sexy, sultry smokey-eye, this is the palette for you. The quality of these shadows are nothing short then what I would except from similar high end brands such as MAC and Urban Decay. Their buttery, easily blended, no fall out and have exceptional lasting power. There really isn't a bad quality to go against them. My favourite shade within this palette is easily After Hours from the Classic look, which looks incredible blended all-over the lid or paired with a similar pinky, cream base that really amplifies that shimmer.

Priced at £29, it's fairly expensive but I like to think it's worth it. Grab your own from here and be sure to let me know how you find it!

Let me know what you think in the comments.
What's your favourite A/W palette? 






Tuesday 2 September 2014

August Favourites 2014

It's the beginning of September, so that means it's August favourites time! This month I pretty much established an 'everyday make up routine' due to the fact that I found a palette of colours and finishes that worked well for me. So seeing as I've been using pretty much the same products on a daily basis, this meant that it was pretty simple to round up my favourite products from the month of August.

First things first, a rather overused and well-loved eyeliner pencil from Rimmel. This is the Scandaleyes Waterproof Kohl Kajal pencil in the shade Nude. Nude eyeliners are simple but extremely effective when it comes to making the eyes appear more bright and wide awake. I've used this everyday this month and traded it in for my typical black eyeliner to adopt a fresher brighter complexion for the sunny months. This is ultra pigmented and honestly stays in place all day, I highly, highly recommend it! Next up is one of my all time favourite (and expensive) blushers I own. This little sleek, black package of beauty is the Le Blush Créme De Chanel in the shade 64 Inspiration. This gives a beautiful, natural flushed appearance to the cheeks with a satin finish that lasts and lasts all day, better than any other blush I've tried. The colour is build-able so wether you want a slight wash of colour or an intense pop to the cheeks, it's really up to you. Another product that I've used non-stop this month is the Dior Addict Gloss in the shade 257 Venus. This is just a really pretty pinky-nude with a shimmery, ultra-shine finish that looks beautiful with any make up look. This is my go-to lipgloss on a daily basis as it looks so natural but still very lovely. This next favourite is definitely my 'most loved' of the month and that is my MAC Pro Palette, I've been using at least one of the four shades in this palette everyday this month and I honestly can't get enough. My favourite eyeshadow combination that I've fallen in love with is the shade Naked Lunch washed over the lid with Mythology blended through the crease and then Nylon dotted onto my tear duct, all of which creates a simplistic but 'pretty in pink' smokey eye. Next up is a fragrance favourite,  this being Estée Lauder's Modern Muse - a repurchase of mine that I bought and loved all through A/W 2013 and used up way before the first signs of Summer. I then tried to dabble in some other perfumes that were more fitting for the S/S months but now the weather is cooling down and thicker coats and leather boots are making an appearance on the runway, I decided to repurchase this beautiful fragrance and have loved it even more. Last up is a revolutionary product when it comes to self-tan. Of course, it's by St Tropez, my favourite fake-tan brand and it's their Self Tanning Express Bronzing Mousse which is basically a beautifully bronzed self-tan in a bottle where you can choose the depth of colour depending on when you wash it off. You can let it develop for just an hour for a light wash of colour of three hours for a deep, dark bronzed glow that carries on developing for up to eight hours and the colour pay-off can last up to a week. If you love fake-tan then I seriously suggest splashing the cash on this one!

Let me know what you think in the comments.
What products have you been loving in the month of August? 

Monday 1 September 2014

Topshop Matte Lipstick in Whimsical


Topshop lipsticks, to me, seem like excellent dupes for a lot of higher end brands products and most especially MAC's. I don't think it's any surprise that MAC lipsticks are one of the most (if not the most) popular lipsticks on the beauty scene but they may have some serious competition when Topshop lipsticks come into the picture. The first good noticeable comparison there is between these two excellent brands are the shade and finish ranges that they both offer. Admittedly MAC do have a lot, lot more but Topshop do give a noble offering and I personally have not found a colour in there that I wouldn't wear. I picked up Whimsical on a whim (see what I did there?) and it was love at first application. It's a gorgeous nude-pink with a lovely peachy-orange undertone that is completely on trend for Summer 2014. The finish is matte which I find to be the quality that makes this nude different from every other. The formula isn't drying despite the velvety finish and the wear time is excellent considering the product comes from a drugstore brand and costs a nifty £9. I love the cylindrical packaging with the horizontal stripes as it stands out in my collection and appeared causal and edgy before I even popped off the lid! This is one of the five Topshop lipsticks I own and after how impressed I've been with every single colour and their varying formulas, I know I'll be purchasing a lot more! 

If you'd like to see my full Topshop Cosmetic's Collection (which has already grown since I published the post!) click here

Let me know what you think.
Have you tried Topshop's lipsticks? 


Monday 18 August 2014

Clinique's Cheek Pops


With Clinique's new launch of their Chubby Stick Cheek Colour Balm's hitting the market, which introduce their great shade range and formulas but in a much more handy, on-the-go bullet packaging. I thought I'd do a little throwback to their pass blush launch which bought us cute little, floral blushers labelled with an even sweeter name - Cheek Pops. I don't think it's much of a surprise when I say it was the appearance of these that drew me over originally. Engraved beautifully with flowers that are still very much visible through the clear packaging meaning nothing quite looks prettier in my collection than these. With four available shades - Ginger Pop, Berry Pop, Peach Pop and Plum Pop, all of which are incredibly wearable, mean that these little beauties resemble more of a collectors item to me. If you have one, you have got to get them all! They're ultra pigmented, easily blended but still look natural - a perfect dash of colour for Spring/Summer. I chose mine in the shades Berry Pop (a deeper, purpley-pink that would look pretty on the cheeks all year round) and Peach Pop (a sweet, peachy-pink that looks natural yet flattering for an array of skin tones). The wear time of these blushers is a decent six-eight hours, a quality that I always love to see in high end products. At only £16.50 a pop (see what I did there?) they're on the much more affordable end of the scale when it comes to higher ended branded products.

Let me know what you think!
Have you tried the Clinique Cheek Pops?




Sunday 3 August 2014

Collective MAC Lipstick Haul

One of my most popular posts that I have ever written for this blog was a full run down of all my MAC Nude Lipsticks, equipped with pictures, swatches and a mini review on each one. Considering that post went down a treat I've decided to give you all another MAC lipstick orientated post but this time a collective haul of all the bullets I've picked up over these last couple of months. So let's get started. 

Toying Around
Be brave and go bold with a bright and vibrant Coral-Pink with an Amplified finish that appears beautifully creamy on the lips. This Limited Edition beauty was a wild card buy for myself because of the seriously unsubtle shade but I'm pleased to have it in my collection and feel it will be a nice alternative to a red lip for Summer. 

Pink Plaid 
A muted Pink with a blue undertone that looks sultry and subtle especially with its Matte formula. This is a 'your lips but better' colour that dresses up any everyday look or goes hand-in-hand perfectly with a brown smokey-eye. 

Lovelorn
Another nudey-pink that has a similar tone to Pink Plaid but transfers slightly more sheerly on the lips thanks to its Lustre finish, creating a pretty, pink pout that's perfect for all year round. The blue undertone emphasises the whites of ones teeth giving you a winning smile, a perfect accessory for any look.

Angel
A soft baby-pink colour that gives off a nude appearance but with a slightly more obvious hint of pink. This is a great lippy for when you want something simple but still with a bit of colour as so to warm up ones collection. The Frost finish isn't my favourite but it doesn't do the colour any injustice.

Plumful
My most recent purchase. A beautiful, rosey-plum shade that may look daring in the bullet but the Lustre finish means it gives just a lovely, sheer wash of colour that compliments any skin tone and works well for Summer but I can imagine even more so for Autumn/Winter. I can tell this is definitely going to quickly become one of my favourite MAC lipsticks in my collection. 

I hope you enjoyed this post. Let me know what you think in the comments!
Have you bought any MAC lipsticks recently?


Saturday 19 July 2014

Daniel Sandler Watercolour Fluid Blusher in Acid

The beautiful blusher that gives a pop of colour but still looks like skin for only £15. What product is more perfect for 'no make up' make up days? This product was one of those 'I really want it but I can't get hold of it so now I inevitably want it more' but luckily I found it in the least expected of places - Topshop, Oxford Street. I had the option of two colours Acid (a bright pink) or Trip (an exotic orange). These I understand are the two most popular shades or at least the two most easily obtainable but that's perfectly fine with me as I personally love the shade I chose, Acid. It's pink, it's pretty and it's completely different to any other blush (or even product) I have ever tried before. When I first used this I was very hesitant about the application process. It's a pink coloured water, what on earth do I use? What motion works best? Do I need to set it? It turns out these questions are completely and utterly irrelevant as this is really very easy. According to your preference, you can apply the fluid with your fingers, a blush brush, a stippling brush or Daniel Sandler's very own Watercolour Brush. All of them work magic, which I feel is down to the blush itself. The liquid consistency is a dream to work with, to apply, to blend and to personalise to just how you like it. I just love how even though it appears bright and bold in the bottle, it really is a beautiful, sheer pink with a slight illuminating quality to it once applied. Plus there's an added bonus that you can also apply this to you lips as well. What's better then pretty rosy cheeks than the perfect pink pout? I really can not wait to try more shades from the collection, especially some of the more nude-pink shades as I can imagine these to be just beautiful. 

Let me know what you think!
Have you tried any of Daniel Sandler's products?