The Autumn Tag

With Autumn now upon us I've decided to have a go answering the autumn tag by the lovely Georgina from Makeup Pixi3. Hopefully it will give you all a chance to get to know me a bit better too!

1. Ok we're talking Coffees what's your favourite seasonal drink from Starbucks/ Coasta/Cafe Nero etc?
The Luxury Hot Chocolate from Cafe Nero, it's so rich and chocolatey its to die for! It's also delicious as a takeaway/contraband drink sneaked into the movies!

2. Accessories - what do you opt for, scarf, boots, gloves? 
It's all about Snoods for me: they're great because there's no trailing scarf and they're harder to lose because the fabric is in a loop. My favourite is Oliver Bonas animal snood. I might look for some touch screen  gloves this year.

3. Music - what's your favourite music to listen to during Autumn? 
I don't really change my music according to season and I only get the Christmas music out a week or two before the big day otherwise it's too much.At the moment I'm listening to a lot of Taylor Swift, Trespassers William, Lissie and Ellie Goulding.

4. Perfume - what's your favourite scent for this time of year?
I generally stick to my signature DNKY Be delicious see my DNKY Be delicious review here

5. Candles - what scents will you be burning this season? 
I don't use candles because it triggers my asthma.

 6. What do you love most about Autumn?
Sunday night period drama wrapped up in a fleece blanket. I also love watching the leaves turning orange and red and yellow. Also seeing conkers because it was a school  obsession when I was growing up so it reminds me of that.

7. Favourite make up look?
In the past it's been a grey/silver smoky eye with pink lipstick but now I'm more adventurous I'm going to start using Maybelline's colour tattoo in Pomegranate  and wear more berry lipstick.
I also love Bobbi Brown's pot rouge (Blush and lip cream)  in powder pink as it gives that flushed just come out from the cold look.

8. What are you looking forward to most in Autumn? 
My birthday and Christmas! Also finding a nice pub in London with a fire to sit and read and start my writing  (I'm in the process of writing a novel) if anyone has any suggestions please let me know in the comments.

The Unsent Letters Of A Make Up Fan

This post is inspired by Gaia at The Non Blonde's hilarious post: Dear You- Unsent Letters, A Very Cranky Edition and I decided to have a go writing letters of my own, only these are mainly fan letters.

Dear Sephora,

I would love you to come to the UK, fall in love and make a home here. I appreciate that you send care packages to the UK but it's not the same. While you have many properties in Europe(9 in total:France,Spain,Italy,Portugal,Romania,Turkey,Czech Republic,Greece and Poland) I live in hope that you will one day also settle here. You don't have to give up your American citizenship.

Have a think, sleep (beautifully) on it,

Love your biggest fan.
____________________________________________________________________

Dear L'oreal Paris,

Please don't be offended but sometimes less is more. Your lipsticks are too perfumed and it can put people off, especially those with allergies. It would be wonderful if you could perhaps have an unscented version or at least tone it down a little, make it a bit more modern and contemporary, we don't all want to smell like little old ladies.

Sorry not sorry,

Bought No. 7 lipsticks instead.
____________________________________________________________________

Dear Lorac,

I have always admired you from afar, from your beautiful Pro Palettes down to your lovely lipsticks. Unfortunately I can't afford the air fare to whisk you back to Britain.Perhaps someday you'll make my dream come true?

Yours hopefully,

A British beauty blogger.

Quick Make Up Collection Declutter

I decided to have a quick clear out of my make up collection, so I rooted through my all my nail polishes and streamlined my eye shadow palettes.  Unfortunately genius that I am I gave away some items before writing this post. While I've conditioned myself like any other beauty blogger to photograph new make up before I use it, I forgot to keep hold of all of these items before I gave them away, so forgive me for the Orly stock photo.

ELF 32 Eye shadow Palette
This was a free gift with my first ever order from ELF, and it actually put me off buying eye shadows from them as the wear time on these is incredibly bad, the shadow just slides off within an hour or less (I have moderately oily lids.)  However paired with a eye primer these last as long as other eye shadows. I don't feel they're good quality and apart from the peach shadow I don't feel I'll miss the other colours. My Smashbox Wondervision Mega palette (holiday 2013) has a lot of similar colours and of better quality.I don't find myself using this palette on a regular basis. The glitter shadows are bad they look cheap and tacky and as if they come from a child's make up palette. Don't get me wrong I'm not hating on ELF- I actually love their long lasting eye shadows and cream shadows I just didn't like this palette.

Sleek  Supreme Eye Shadow Palette
I went through a phase of buying every sleek eye palette release as they are usually very pigmented and good value for money. But after awhile I realised that many of the colours I already had in other palettes and now I only buy those palettes that are truly different from what I have. I find these shades are very ordinary and honestly a bit drab. I'm going to rescue the third shade bottom row for a cheek contour shade and maybe the matte yellowy beige at the end of the row for an natural looking eye shadow base.

MUA Matte Ever After Eye Shadow Palette

I decided to throw this out because many of the shades didn't show up on my skin and I felt the brown shades weren't unique and could be found in other palettes I had.

MUA Lip Pencils in Brooding Plum and Red Drama
These tend to smudge and I have better lip liners in these colours that work better.

Downton Abbey Nail polish in Satin Pink

This came as part of a set and while I felt I would wear the other colours (a red and dark purple) I felt that I wouldn't really wear such a pale pink. I was hoping it would do for a french manicure but I was wrong.

Orly Nail Polish
Unfortunately I gave this away before noting down the colour it was probably Coutry club Khaki or Dare To bare. I actually got this free with a magazine but after experimenting with the Greige trend I felt it wasn't for me, I didn't feel it looked very flattering on my nails.