Natural Collection Festival Basics

Keeping packing to a minimum is hard enough but when you're packing for a festival, you really need to be ruthless when it comes to necessities. Personally some deodorant and a packet of wet wipes just won't cut it for me, I need something to at least make me feel a bit more alive and basic make-up can really help.

I recently featured Natural Collection and recommended it as a great brand for anyone who is a bit of a beginner when it comes to beauty. Even if you're not a beginner, the range is fab, affordable and I believe cruelty free too. The products are also brill little festival basics too and it doesn't matter if you misplace them in your tent as they're super cheap so you can simply replace them when you get home.




I absolutely swear by Natural Collection mascara. It's the only brand of mascara I find that doesn't clump, makes my lashes look nice and long and doesn't have stupidly thick brushes so application is really easy. I usually use the LashLength but have recently been trying the Water Guard as a waterproof alternative and have found it works really well, perfect in fact for unpredictable festival weather.




In your festival make-up bag you could also pop a concealer ready for those late nights and hiding dark circles. Not a necessity as such but something to perk you up a bit and make you feel a bit more like yourself as it can be hard living out of a back pack and being caked in mud. The Natural Collection concealers are particularly handy as they come in fab lipstick type applicators, protecting them from all the heavy drinks cans you stuff in your bag alongside them.

The lip balms and nail polish are definitely not essential at all but they are great for creating a fun festival look. The polish will last a good couple of days while you're at the festival and a slick of lipbalm every few hours will keep lips hydrated as well as looking good thanks to the hint of colour.

What are your festival basics? Have you tried taking any Natural Collection products along to a festival? Let me know in the comments.

Before you go - voting in the Bloggers Blog Awards is now open and it would be great if you could vote for me for Best Beauty Blog! You can VOTE HERE

*This post contains PR samples

Beginner beauty: Natural Collection (plus giveaway)

Do you remember when you first discovered make-up or when you first popped into your local Boots or Superdrug and saw the rows and rows of make-up stands and all the pretty colours and products staring back at you? I'm pretty sure my first make-up experimentations included some awfully bright colour of Barry M Dazzle Dust smeared across my face.

My first foray into face products such as moisturiser/foundation/blush etc all started with Natural Collection, which is a brand that has been a staple at Boots stores for the past 25 years. When I was recently sent a little goody box of products from the brand it took me right back to my early teens and the idea for this little post came together.




You can discover make-up at any age of course, you don't have to be young. Some people don't discover it properly until they're much older but a brand like Natural Collection is such a good place to start as the products are so straight forward, from their uses right down to their simple packaging. Everything is super cheap too so it's great for children/teens who want to spend their pocket money or just great for those on a bit of a budget.



The Natural Collection Tinted Moisturiser was always a holy grail product for me as I wasn't a big fan of wearing foundation all day every day. Using a tinted moisturiser gives you a little bit of colour if like me, you're super pale. I usually have to go for the lightest shade as they can come up a bit orange, but you could counteract by mixing a lightener or even adding more moisturiser to it to even the colour up a bit.

As I mentioned Natural Collection really focuses on the basics of make-up and carries a range of bases, bronzes and blushes to enable you to get a simple, radiant look. They're all only £1.99 each, which is a complete bargain. The blushes are my absolute fave, they're small enough to pop in your handbag or even purse and give a lovely pigmented but natural looking peachiness to your cheeks.

The brand is really great at not making its products look intimidating. The pressed powder is great for reducing shine and fixing make-up in place. You just need a simple sweep of the brush and your done. The same goes for the bronzer. I'm not a fan of bronzer personally, they are always way too dark and scary looking but this one from Natural Collection is lovely and pigmented and gives a soft, natural glow thanks to the slight shimmer.

Altogether these Natural Collection products are so simple to use to create an every day look and they're great for beginners or for anyone who is scared of using certain products/doesn't use things like bronze and blush very often. I'd definitely recommend them to anyone who isn't confident with make-up.

This is a brand that a lot of people pass by when in Boots but I'd definitely recommend giving it a go, even if you're accomplished at applying make-up. I swear by the brand's lash length mascara, I use it everyday and it's absolutely brilliant!

Have you tried anything from Natural Collection before? Let me know in the comments.

If you want to win all the Natural Collection products featured in this post then just follow the below: (UK only)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*This post contains PR samples.

A mini Boots haul: NYX Cosmetics Prismatic Eye Shadows

There had been rumblings about NYX Cosmetics coming to Boots for quite a while but I never thought in a million years that my local Boots would get its own stand. If one did come to Weston-super-Mare I thought it would probably mean it would be in the store in the town centre, not the one that's near me but low and behold I saw a sign on the front doors saying it was near!

The new counter was finally 'launched' at my local store on May 3 and when I popped in it was absolutely swarming with girls checking out the latest offerings. Now I know NYX isn't a new brand but now it's much more accessible and because of this, I've finally been able to give it a try. I ummed and aahed over what to buy but finally ended up picking up two of the Prismatic eyeshadows.

What really caught my eye about these was the fab range of colours available and the cute silver pots with bow shaped catch. I picked up a gorgeously pigmented bright copper colour, called Bedroom Eyes and I also opted for something a bit different for me in the super metallic green Jaded shade.




Just looking at the shades in the pot I could see they were super pigmented and at £5 each, these are great fun to mix and match. When I first plonked my brush into the pan I was really surprised at how soft the shades felt under the bristles, almost velvety. They apply like a dream too, the pigments cling onto the eyelid and stay super bright and sparkly all day long.

As you can tell I'm really impressed and these are two cute little additions to my make-up collection. The silver pots are just adorable and look much more expensive for £5. They are bargainous eyeshadows with great colour pay off and staying power, proving you don't need to spend the big bucks on a high-end name.




Have you tried anything from NYX cosmetics? Are you excited about NYX coming to your local Boots? Let me know in the comments.

Kiko haul

I don't often do haul posts, mainly because I literally only have a Boots and a Superdrug in my local town so it's not often I can go to 'proper' make-up counters and shops. You might have read here that recently I went on a shopping trip to Bath where there is a very lovely little Kiko store. As soon as I saw it I marched straight over, it was absolutely packed but it's a beauty blogger's dream!

I am a big fan of Kiko and in the past have been sent quite a few products to try for the old blog. I wanted to pick up a few new bits but found out that you have to make a minium of £25 order on the website, which in this day and age I find very odd. Especially as at the time I only wanted a couple of nail polishes.

Anyway, the main display in the store was packed full of the absolutely gorgeous 'Trend' limited edition collection and while it was extremely tempting to pick everything up, I was very well restrained and only picked up something I would actually use, which was the eyeshadow and kajal pencil in 05 Anthracite and Metallic Rose, which has a shimmery pinky peach colour on one end and a smokey grey on the other. I can't wait to try it out. The peach shade is definitely something different for me but it works pretty well with the grey. I kind of wish I'd picked up a couple of other colours too!



I was also in the market for a nail file as I find myself needing one more often but weirdly never having one. It's one of those products that you just expect to have knocking around somewhere. I know I get sent free nail files in random parcels so I don't know where they have got to so I picked up the purple glass nail file, which was only £2.50! I need to make sure I don't loose it!

I also wanted to get my hands on a couple of polishes from the Candy Nails range, which I've been seeing absolutely everywhere recently, and I knew I had to snap it up quick as it's another limited edition range. After much deliberation I opted for one of the gorgeous pastel Frozen Smoothies polishes in 013 Glossy Doughnut (brilliant name!) and the super sparkly Sugar Sparkles polish in 31 Berry Delight, which is absolutely gorgeous. I think they both look absolutely lovely together, very kitsch.

At the checkout I also fell for the till operators upselling skills and picked up a Pump It Up Volume & Curl mascara as they were £5 off. The brush has a hollowed middle between the two bobbles, apparently for better distribution of the mascara. I'm not too sure it's going to be my kind of thing but thought I'd give it a try!

I'll try and report back soon on how I found most of these products. The nail polishes will definitely be featuring in an upcoming Manicure Monday post so keep an eye out for those!

Have you picked anything up for Kiko recently? Let me know in the comments.

Spring clean your make-up collection

So spring has well and truly arrived and I don't know about you but I have that 'spring clean' itch that makes me want to sort things out and get rid of all of the clutter in my house. The easiest thing I thought I'd start with is my make-up collection, which is a ridiculous size, especially when I only wear mascara and eyeshadow on a daily basis and even then I use the same palette again and again! I thought I'd share a couple of my top tips for helping to de-clutter your make-up collection or make-up bag, hope they help!



Wash your brushes
Probably one of the most obvious things to do when spring cleaning. I definitely don't wash my brushes often enough so they're in desperate need of a good clean. Not too long ago I picked up the Lottie London Soap Star Solid Brush Cleanser, which makes washing brushes a quick and super simple process so I'd definitely recommend picking this up or something similar. Alternatively, you can use baby shampoo to wash your brushes or simply some warm water and lots of scrubbing power!

Get rid of out-of-date products
The thought of how long some of my make-up products have been sitting in my make-up bags or pots for is quite disturbing. 'They' say that mascaras shouldn't be used after three months so if you have any that are older than this then definitely chuck them in the bin. It's so important to keep on top of your mascara use as they can attract nasty bacteria and lead to eye infections so if they're a bit dry or smell a bit funky then it's definitely time to get rid!

Lipsticks and foundations can last a little longer than mascaras, from six months to a year roughly. Liquid-based make-up is the most important one to keep your eye on as it can seperate and grow bacteria a lot easier than non liquids. My rule is if it doesn't look right then it's better to be safe than sorry and say bye bye!

I recently went through my collection and a couple of the liquid-based products that I've had for a LONG time had separated and had an alcoholic/chemical smell to them (gross!) so they went in the bin!



Invest in make-up bags or make-up storage
In my bedroom I keep all my make-up on a shelving unit. It gets really dusty so I have invested in lots of make-up bags to keep things nice and clean and reduce dust. It's also a good idea to invest in some make-up brush pots so your brushes are easily accessible and maybe some clear plastic storage so you can still see which products you have and choose which ones you want to use but you can keep them organised and tidy. Nothing annoys me more than seeing products rolling around all over the place!

Donate any doubles
I don't know about you but I have so many doubles of the same nail polish shade and so many eyeshadow palettes that contain nude/brown shades that I've lost count. It's time to sort through them all, decide which ones you absolutely do need to keep and maybe donate any doubles to family or friends.



Reduce your numbers
If you're anything like me then you'll have a huge collection so it's always a good idea to regularly reduce the number of products you have. If you haven't used anything in three months or more then get rid - chuck it out or donate it to family or friends, it's up to you. Think about creating a capsule collection so a range of very basic shades, products for creating the perfect smoky eye and ones that you keep for special occasions or for best, such as that gorgeous Chanel eyeshadow!

Have you got any make-up collection spring cleaning tips? Leave them in the comments!

My favourite beauty products of 2015

What a year 2015 has been for beauty. There have been some amazing releases so I thought I'd have a look back and talk about some of my favourites. One of my most recent favourites, and a brand I've only recently discovered, is Zoeva. In particular the Cocoa Blend palette, which I absolutely adore. I have been using the palette on a daily basis and I particularly liked this rose gold eye make-up look I created with it, what do you think? I was a very lucky girl and received the En Taupe palette for Christmas from my boyfriend, which I can't wait to use!

Barry M always knock it out of the park and I particularly loved its new Gelly Hi-Shine range, which made really lovely alternative Christmas nails, and its release of new glitter polishes, which were perfect for a more traditional Christmas nail look. I was also really impressed with its autumn offerings in its Speedy Quick Dry range. The shades on offer were just perfect for the autumnal time of year and I can't wait to see what the brand has up its sleeve for 2016.

Much like 2014, 2015 was a great year for Makeup Revolution. This year I particularly enjoyed its eyeshadow palette offerings, especially the New-trals vs Neutrals palette, which contains some gorgeous autumnal shades. The brand's sub-company I Heart Makeup also released the Pink Fizz palette, which contains the perfect pink champagne-esque eyeshadow colours. It was a great discovery for me as I don't usually go for pink eye looks but this has definitely changed my mind. The Unicorns Unite lipsticks were also a popular product this year and one of my most liked photos on Instagram. The colours are super magical looking and they have great pigmentation and staying power.

Seventeen Cosmetics was another brand that did great things this year. I particularly loved its Endless Effects Nail Kit, which I stumbled across in Boots one Sunday afternoon. I was super impressed with the price and it brought the fun back into nail painting with its fab effects and colours. I would totally recommend picking up the kit if you come across it. It's one of my absolute favourites! I also gave Seventeen's Cheek Stamp Blush and Define & Conquer palette a try, but one of my absolute faves of the year was its Easy on the Eye Palette. It has become a palette I use regularly and the blue/purple/green make a nice alternative to the usual browns/greys I wear.

Another palette I really loved and a brand I only discovered recently was Eye of Horus' Sheba Mystical Goddess Palette. I have to admit when it arrived I was surprised by how tiny it was but the shades are absolutely lovely and helped me create such a lovely purple eye look, something I wouldn't usually wear.

Aside from makeup there was a skincare brand that I discovered and have really enjoyed this year and that is Vichy. It has become a brand that now features heavily in my daily skincare routine. The Aqualia Thermal Range has really helped my skin moisture wise this year and Purete Thermale range has cleared it of any imperfections, which I'm super happy about!

This has turned into quite a list of products - it's amazing how many you get through in just a year and this is only a small handful of my favourites. Let me know in the comments what your favourite products of the year have been, beauty or otherwise.

Seventeen Long Lash Mascara

I'm always looking for new mascaras and I'm usually pretty unsuccessful. Most mascaras are all about volume and 'pumping up' and those mascaras often have very big brushes, which aren't ideal for my short, camel lashes, which literally point outwards instead of upwards. In my search for mascaras I'm often looking for ones that make lashes longer instead of fuller and give them a bit of curvature. Long thin brushes are definitely the best for me so when I was introduced to Seventeen's new Long Lash mascara I knew it would be the perfect mascara for me!

The brush is a specially designed 'mini' brush, which makes it so much easier to coat the lower lashes and really get into the corners of the eye, which is something I usually struggle with. They definitely give my lashes a good amount of length, without being becoming too spidery or clumpy and it stays put all day long too.

From December 31 you'll be able to buy this beauty for £6.99 - will you be picking one up? Let me know in the comments.

*This post contains a PR sample

Makeup Revolution I Heart Chocolate Pink Fizz Eyeshadow Palette

Back at the beginning of the year I was absolutely raving about Makeup Revolution's Naked Chocolate palette. It was full of gorgeous shades and it had a slight chocolatey whiff about it as well. I was devastated when I accidently broke the hinge but carried on using it until I think I left it in a hotel room, argh! I did order another one to replace it and love it just as much! When the brand released a couple of new palettes recently, including the Pink Fizz palette, I knew it would be pretty fab!

I was very kindly sent the Pink Fizz palette and on first impressions it's not a palette I would usually go for shade wise. I usually go for neutrals/browns/nudes etc but Pink Fizz is full of super shimmering and matte pinks/golds as well as a couple of browns. I was immediately drawn to the brown shades of course but to change things up a bit I have been experimenting with the prosecco pink fizzy sort of shades and actually really like them.

They're super pigmented and blendable and perfect for the upcoming party season. I would have liked it to come with a better brush as I don't think anyone is keen on those horrible eyeshadow sponges but other than that I'm super impressed with this palette. The shades stay put all day and I think they'll suit anyone! You probably won't find any pink eyeshadows in my collection so this palette is staying firmly part of it now and I'll be whipping it out this New Year.

Have you tried the new Pink Fizz palette? Let me know what you thought in the comments.

*This post contains a PR sample.

Eye of Horus Sheba Mystical Goddess Eye Shadow Palette

Recently I mentioned I had a Beauty Bay voucher burning a hole in my virtual pocket. That's a lie, it was barely in my virtual pocket for five minutes before it was spent - I knew I wanted to buy a couple of bits from brands I hadn't used before so alongside the Zoeva Cocoa Blend Palette I also picked up the Eye of Horus Sheba Mystical Goddess Eye Shadow Palette. I must admit I was sold purely on the Egyptian-esque packaging alone. I loved the imagery as I've always been a big fan of Egypt and the Egyptians, it was one of my favourite subjects back in school!

I opted for the Mystical Goddess Palette because the baked, metallic shades and the pretty plum colour just called out to me. I loved the combination of the three shades and they not only work well together in the palette but they look fab once applied too. It was a tad on the more expensive side at £22.50 and when I received it I was quite surprised at how small it was - although I should have expected it due to there only being three shades.

I definitely don't regret buying it though. The lighter shades 'Artifact' and 'Enchantress' are gorgeously sun-kissed, metallics that work really well as bases or highlighters and the plum 'Royal Abyss' shade is absolutely perfect for this time of year, it would look fab with heavy black eyeliner, for a very Egyptian inspired look.

On application the plum shade was actually not as vibrant as I thought it might be, but it kind of worked out for the best because I was able to create a purple/plum eye look without looking like I've been punched in the eye - something very difficult to achieve! If you did want the purple shade to be more vibrant, it can be applied wet for something a bit more outstanding.

I swept the plum shade all over my lid and it's gorgeously pigmented with the perfect amount of shimmer. I also popped on the 'Enchantress' shade into my crease and blended it slightly to create such a gorgeous look, if I do say so myself!

This is definitely my new favourite palette and it is such a nice change to wear eyeshadows that aren't the usual brown/nude that I go for. I would totally recommend giving Eye of Horus a try!

Have you tried the Eye of Horus brand? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Rose gold eyes for autumn/winter

I was recently given a Beauty Bay voucher to spend so decided to pick up a couple of bits from brands I hadn't tried before, Zoeva being one of them. I've never tried anything from Zoeva, but have seen them on lots of different blogs in the past and always wanted to give them a go. Alongside two brushes, which are both absolutely gorgeous by the way, I picked up the Cocoa Blend eyeshadow palette.

A few weeks later I was kicking myself that I didn't wait and buy the En Taupe palette but with Christmas coming up, I'm hoping Santa might get it for me!

I always thought Zoeva palettes were ridiculously expensive but I was clearly wrong as the Cocoa Blend palette was £15.50, which I think is pretty reasonable, especially since it has some gorgeous colours in it. A lot of blogs have said it's a good dupe for the Too Faced Chocolate palette but at a fraction of the price!

My favourite colour combination, and the look featured in this post, is a mix of the brilliantly red/berry shade Warm Notes with Subtle Blend, which is a lovely gold shimmery shade. Used together these create the perfect rose gold look. I knew I was onto a winner when I went for an eyebrow wax and the beautician complimented me on my eyeshadow, she said they were prefect for autumn and I definitely agree!

Aside from Warm Notes and Subtle Blend, there's also a gorgeously glitzy/black shade called Infusion, which is perfect for a smokey look. The rest of the shades are perfect for more neutral/autumnal looks with a hint of auburn from the Freshly Toasted shade. All in all I'm so impressed with this palette and I feel like I need the entire range now! The only downside is that it doesn't have a mirror, which would be so useful!

I'm so glad I picked this up on a bit of a whim and you'll be pleased to know I have sent a link to the En Taupe palette to my boyfriend in case he's wondering what to buy me for Christmas!

Have you tried any Zoeva palettes? Let me know in the comments.