Going on holiday is an exciting thing to do, whether it's with family, your partner, friends or even on your own. But, the one thing that stresses me out is packing. Even though I've been on many holidays, I always take far too much, despite writing up a list of what I'll need. But hey, I'm pretty sure most people will take about 5 pairs of shoes even though they are going for a 4 day holiday, just incase an occasion arises to wear a specific pair.

I'm currently on holiday so I've been through the whole 'What do I want to take with me'. Not only did I have to think about the clothes I'll be taking, but also my makeup and skincare for the week. Luckily, I'm only within the UK so I'm not restricted in what I can take, like liquids, aerosols etc. but I still wanted to be as reasonable as possible. I'm not looking at wearing makeup everyday but just wanted to take some items with me so if I'm going out for dinner or a trip out, I can atleast look alive, it won't too heavy on my skin and doesn't take forever to do. I've taken some skincare pieces also, as it's important that I still look after my skin, regardless if I wear any makeup or not.


Because my skin hasn't been too bad lately, I've not been messing with the skincare products that I've been using, as I'm worried something may flare it up, so what I'm not actually taking too much. So, coming with me is:

• Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water: I've been loving this again recently. I used it ages ago, stopped and now I use it every time I want to get the makeup off my face. You don't need to use too much water to get rid your makeup, so this is a big thumbs up from me.
• Clinique Moisture Surge: I've had this for so long and I still love it. If my skin is feeling on the dry side, I only have to take a small amount and spread it over my face and it'll instantly feel so moisturised. It comes in a small pot so it's really handy to take with you on holiday.
• Pixi Glow Tonic: I've reviewed this product on my blog before and I was saying how much I loved this. I still do, which is why it's part of my travel essentials. I usually use this after I've used the Micellar Water just to fully cleanse my skin. This has been such a saviour and something that I've used where I've seen a noticeable difference.
• Superdrug Pure Cotton Wool Pads: I'll be using these with my Micellar Water and Pixi Glow Tonic. Pretty standard cotton pads, which you can get from drugstores or supermarkets. These are the ones I had lying around and it doesn't appear that I have many left but I can get some whilst I'm on holiday if I do run out.
• Simple Kind to Skin Cleansing Facial Wipes: I used to use these before I used Micellar Water, and used them again when I stopped. Even though I'll mainly use the water, it doesn't harm to take some wipes just incase. Sometimes they are good to get rid of some stubborn makeup.
• Garnier SkinActive Moisture Bomb Tissue Mask: I love these! These tissues are incredible. Whenever they are on offer in Boots at 99p a go, I tend to buy a handful because they are that good. Similar to the Moisture Surge, this is good to help moisturise my skin but I use it more of a pamper session, so I can sit back and relax for 15 minutes whilst it does it's thing. My skin just feels so refreshed once I peel it off so it's something I'll try and do once or twice whilst I'm away.

• MAC Prep + Prime Primer: I used to use the Babyskin before I was gifted this for Christmas. I've been using it the last few times I wore makeup and I feel that this helped my makeup stick to my skin slightly better. It has a SPF 50 rating so incase it's a tad sunny, this will keep my skin sun-safe.
• NARS Sheer Glow Foundation: As you probably know by now, this is my regular foundation so it's no surprise that this is mentioned in this post. This foundation is lightweight, so it's perfect that it won't be heavy on my skin.
• Collection Last Perfection Concealer: Again, the pretty regular concealer that I use all the time. This lasts a long time and can cover my blemishes and darkness under my eyes really well. I'm slowly running out so may need to locate more whilst I'm away.
• Rommel London Stay Matte Powder: I've mentioned this in previous posts but this powder just does what it needs. It's lightweight and doesn't make your makeup look cakey.
• Makeup Revolution Blush Palette: This palette is so pretty and very spring like so I thought it would be a great product to come along. I've only really used one colour but it's good to have variation.
• NYX Matte Finish Setting Spray: Once the base has been complete, I would apply my favourite setting spray from NYX. I prefer the Matte finish over the Dewy because I don't really want to look that shiny.
• For the base, I have some of my Real Techniques brushes and complexion sponge to put it all together. My good ol' trusty tools, which need a good clean (oops).

A while ago I bought myself some more ColourPop, because I simply loved it the first time round. This time however, I got eyeshadows as well as lipsticks, because I had seen other people's reviews/posts on them and the shades looked stunning. So I wanted to share what I bought, just incase you were curious on some of the lipsticks or shadows and their colours.


Although I've done a review on the Matte lipsticks previously, I have now got some which are different formulas. Alongside the 1 Matte finish, I got 1 Satin, 1 Glossy and 1 Metallic. I wanted to mix things up a little bit and see if some of the different formulas worked better than the Matte lipsticks.

Last Friday, it was my works' Christmas party and wanted to get dolled up for it. One of my colleagues that I work closely with has never seen me with a proper full face of makeup. I usually wear minimal or nothing when I'm in the office so she was excited to see me looking different but she offered to do it for me. She's so bloody good at doing make up so I happily accepted the offer.

I had no clue what colour scheme we were going to do so I just packed lots of stuff, different colours, different products and just hoped that it was going to be enough for her to work with. She spent almost an hour doing it for me and this was the final result:


Although I can't give you a 'Get ready with me' type post, I just wanted to share the products that I used so that if there was anything you liked, you know what it is.


For my face, I used the Maybelline Baby Skin pore eraser, so just to that my skin was soft and would allow the makeup to be applied nice and evenly. For the base, I used my favourite foundation, my Nars Sheer Glow Foundation. I absolutely love this foundation, such good coverage and then on the blemishes and the dark circles under my eyes, I just used the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer. I used a bit of the Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder just to to make my face a little bit more matte looking, as the foundation makes me look a little dewy. Finally, I used my B. Glowing Shimmer Block Blush 196. We used some of the white powder and used it for highlight (stupidly, I forgot my newer blush/highligher palette so we used this as an alternative, which still worked just as good).


For the eyes, we used 4 different ColourPop Eye Shadows; Brady, Drift, Shop and Supermodel. These colours go so well together that it created some kind of shimmery, rose gold smokey eye and the final result looked gorgeous. We also used some Barry M black Liquid Eyeliner, to get a nice wing and compliment the eye shadow goodness that was created. So that I didn't get my eyes poked, I did the eyeliner and mascara myself. I used the Avon Glimmerstick Diamonds Eyeliner in Smokey Diamond. Although you can use any regular eyeliner pencil, this is what I had in my makeup bag at the time but because there is a little bit glitter/shimmer, I thought it would go with the festive look. I also just my Maybelline Lash Sensational mascara, to give me super long lashes.

To finish off the eye area, we filled in my brows with the Archery Brow Pencil and then tidied them up using the brush on the other end.

For lips, I decided to go for a newbie to my collection, Viper by ColourPop. This colour looks so different in the tube than how it actually came out, but I think it really finished this look off nicely.


To keep everything intact, I used my NYX Matte Finish Setting Spray, so that it will keep the look together for as long as possible (although I drunkingly cried/smudged it all off by about 10pm, oops).

I hope you enjoyed reading this post and if you have a Christmas party coming up, it helped you come up with your makeup look.

Do you have a set look for parties, or do you like to mix it up?

Look after yourself,


This blog post is not sponsored and all opinions are my own and honest!

One of my work colleagues has a good eye for makeup and recently mentioned to me about ColourPop, a US based brand that are cruelty-free, who sell some really good looking products. During my lunch break, I had a look on their site and was just in awe of their Ultra Matte Lips range. They have such beautiful colours, ranging from the bolds, the brights, the nudes and the dark shades and really wanted to get some, but they don't actually sell to the UK. It's a shame because I think that the brand would fit in so well into the UK and could potentially become really popular over here, as they are quite a unique, alternative brand. Before placing an order (the others wanted some too), she bought in the ones she owns and all of us did a quick little swatch on our hands and they were just perfect and beautiful and it really helped me decide on the kinds of shades that I wanted.

After waiting for so long, THEY FINALLY ARRIVED and the first thing I did was do some swatches, to see if I was happy in what I chose, as you tend to find that the colours on the website look so different when you actually have the product in your hands but I think I had made some really good choices.


First up, Are & Be:


This was probably the riskiest one for me, as I felt like it could really drain me out, make me paler than I already am. When I saw it in the tube, it was lighter than I though, thinking that it was actually going to look alright on me, but then it definitely came out darker than it looked in the tube. It's slightly more purple than I had imagined and looking back on it, it was a risky one but if I team it up with the right makeup everywhere else, it could work. I'm just not used to having dark lips like that but hey, I'm still really happy with the product. It applies really easily and nicely although I think I may invest in a lip liner for this colour, or get a real thin brush to apply this, just to be really precise and neat. I would give this a 7/10, purely because it came out a lot darker than I thought.

Next up, Clueless:


I really like this shade. It's definitely how I thought it was going to look, but again, was a smidge darker on skin than was in the tube but that's just something that happens I guess. It's a really nice pinky, nude shade, which could go well with either a soft or bold eye. This one has a real nice soft touch to it when it has dried, which I hope is a good indication that it's not going to go really dry and crack after a short period of time. I'm going to give Clueless an 8/10.

Third up, Lumière 2:




Lumière 2 was the one that all of us picked, so was obviously going to be a clear winner. Upon swatching it, it came out slightly darker than Clueless, but appears more purple toned, so again, was a bit more darker than I had originally anticipated but that doesn't matter, as I'm willing to try and get into more of the darker, daring shades, as I don't do it enough. The more I do it, the more I don't freak myself out in a mirror. Like with the others, it applies really nicely and dries really well and as long as it does that, then it's serving it's purpose. I would give this one an 8/10.

Last but not least, Scrooge:




This is probably my favourite shade of them all. The colour is so beautiful and bold. I think the formula for Scrooge is slightly different to the others, feeling a little more thinner (which could be down to the pigment of colour they've had to add) but that's not really a problem for me, as it still goes onto my lips so well and still dries matte like it should. After a while, I honestly didn't feel like I even have any lipstick on because it was so lightweight and wasn't drying out my lips at all. I've even been drinking tea whilst having it on and although it was leaving a bit of a pinky/red lip mark on the mug, the product didn't even budge. I'll give Scrooge a 9/10.

Overall, I'm really happy that I've been introduced to this brand as it's quite hard to find one who can sell a good, quality product and it be within a low budget. I mean $6 for 1 (which would be about £4 - £4.50 in the UK), is pretty darn good in my option. I'm quite interested in buying some of their Super Shock Shadows and Blushes, but would easily buy more of their Matte Lips again.

I've been told about (and also read) that there are some companies who can deliver products to the UK even when they only ship to USA (or other specific countries that you don't live in). What they do is that when you sign up, you are given a US address (which is in their warehouse or something), you buy the products you want, selecting the US address as your delivery address and once they've received it, you can then tell them where to deliver it and you pay the postage, which I think is genius. It means that we aren't missing out on some good products but hopefully, it'll encourage the companies to allow shipping to your country if they hear some really good feedback on what you've bought. This is probably what I will do if I want to buy their Shadows or Blushes or more of the Matte Lips.

Do you own any ColourPop Cosmetics products? What do you think of them? Let me know in the comments below, I'd love to hear your thoughts.


Look after yourself,


This blog post is not sponsored and all opinions are my own and honest!