A Belated Valentine's Day Post

Hi ladies! Sorry this post is a bit late. Above are the things my boyfriend got me for Valentine's Day. Obviously nothing huge, because our real gift to each other was the Kinect for our Xbox360, which I love by the way. We've been playing Dance Central, Kinect Adventures, and the EA Active 2 game which gives you such an amazing work out. I'm hoping to get back into shape, because I stopped doing Pilates a long while ago. Not sure if I'll lose much weight though seeing as we're not exactly dieting, but oh well, it's fun anyways! But back to the topic of this post, Valentine's Day! So because we'd already gotten each other our big gift, we just exchanged some small things on the actual day. I was sleeping in and he came home with a latte, a rose, a cupcake, some strawberry gummies, and a heart shaped balloon! He had me at latte, lmao.

Yummmmy!

The pretty rose he got me. Sadly it was wilted by the time we got home from dinner, because I'd forgotten to put it into water. I do get my black thumb from my mother.

For dinner we planned on going to Hache, a delicious burger place, but we got there too early so we stopped for drinks first and then made our way over. We got there at 8:50, they were packed, and we said we had a reservation and the lady checked her list and gave us a snotty look and went "It's for 9..." As if we weren't aware when we made the reservation for! At least tell us nicely to have a seat. I don't care how busy you are. But anyways, that's probably the last time we'll go there. The past few times we've gone they've been relatively empty but it still took them ages to get around to us to simply take a drink order. -eye roll- Talk about terrible service! That's just the one in Camden though, there's another one in London that's far nicer but a bit more difficult to get to. Sorry...-end rant- So we just left and went to eat at a Chinese buffet down the road that's another favorite of ours. Didn't even tell the lady we weren't coming back, so I hope she held a table for us. -evil laugh-

Here's the makeup I wore! Because it was a couple of days ago I can't recall what I wore, but I know I did a pink/gray subtle smokey eye and wore MAC's Snob on my lips:

What did everyone else do for Valentine's Day?

Smokey Valentine's Day Eye

Hi ladies! Tonight I've got a Smokey Valentine's Day eye look for you. Again, I used my Coastal Scents Think Pink palette. It turned out a bit more purply than I intended, but I think it can still work for Valentine's Day!

Close Ups:

What's everyone's plan for Valentine's Day? Me and my boyfriend haven't really made any, other than split the cost of a Kinect for our Xbox, tehe. Can't wait for it to come, the dancing games look really fun and like a good work out.

Valentine's Day Looks

Hi ladies! This morning (I know, 5 am, wtf Lauren, again, messed up sleeping pattern, that's what writing a dissertation will do to you!) I felt like playing around with my makeup (I can't remember the last time I wore any) for a Valentine's Day inspired look. I did a couple different takes on it, so here we go:

Look 1:

Eyes:

Coastal Scents Palette: Think Pink (for details on the eyes see below!)

MAC Paint Pot in Bare Study

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil in Zero (waterline)

17 Wild Curls Mascara

Lips:

Rimmel Lipliner in Eastend Snob

MAC Snob

NYX Mega Shine Lipgloss in Salsa

Face:

Revlon Photo Ready Foundation in Vanilla

MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NW15

Rimmel Hide The Blemish Concealer in Ivory (under eyes)

Bare Minerals Mineral Veil (set undereye concealer)

Benefit Dandelion (all over the face)

Benefit Coralista (blusher)

17 Instant Glow Bronzer in Light

Look 2:

This second look is essentially the same as the one above, just a more subtle blusher, no bronzer, and a magenta red lip!

Close up of the eyes:

Other lip suggestions:

A red lipgloss by Lorac, MAC Viva Glam Gaga Lipglass, and MAC's Angel lipstick. Or obviously any red or pink lipstick/lipgloss you fancy!

What do you think? =)

Kat Von D Christmas Haul

Hey ladies! So I'm aaalmost done with all of the posts I need to get up of my Christmas gifts. Today I've got the two items I received from the Kat Von D line from my twin sissy for Xmas.

Kat Von D Kat Eye Brush Set:

This set comes with 5 brushes for your eyes all packed nice and neatly into a lovely little travel brush roll!

There's even a flap that goes over the brushes to keep them nice n safe.

Eyeshadow Brush:

Personally I think this might be a bit too big for me in terms of an all over the lid kind of brush, but I could definitely see myself using it as a highlight brush, etc.

Blending Brush:

Yay! I've finally got one! I usually use my crease brush to blend, and while it does a fine enough job of it, it's nice to have a separate one specifically for blending.

Smudge Brush:

I definitely do not own any brush like this! I imagine it's great for the upper and lower lash lines when you want to smudge/smoke out your look.

Eyeliner Brush:

While I have an angled eyeliner brush, I don't have a straight one. It'll be nice to try this one out and see which I prefer. It's very sturdy though, so I can imagine it'll be great for applying a precise line without it wobbling and making the shadow go everywhere.

Brow Brush:

To be honest, I'll probably just end up using this as another eyeliner brush, because I don't fill in my brows. I've never really seen the point...they're rather dark as it is. But maybe I'll experiment with it one day!

Kat Von D True Romance Eyeshadow Palette in Ludwig:

I already have one of these palettes, the True Love one, and while the quality / pigmentation of the shadows are amazing, I just don't find myself using them as much as I'd like. Largely because they're purple shadows and I've been into neutral eyes ever since the Naked Palette. BUT!! This palette is a neutral palette, aside from the 2 green shades, but even then, I do regularly find myself wearing green eyeshadow, so I think I may find myself using this palette on a daily basis. But enough of my jibber jabbering, let's get to the photos!

Oooooh aaaaaah.

Does anyone else spy some Urban Decay Naked Palette dupes? Virgin? Sin? Sidecar? Smog? Or am I off my rocker?

Swatches:

Swatches:

Clay was the only shadow that was a bit chalky and hard to swatch, but I think it's because there's some chunky glitter in there. I can see myself doing numerous eye looks with this palette and can't wait to play around with it finally!

What products have you tried from the Kat Von D range? Thoughts?

Benefit Christmas Haul

Hi ladies! Tonight I've got a post on the Benefit goodies I received for Christmas. I got 3 of their boxed blushes and their Stay Don't Stray primer.

Dandelion Blush:

A very light baby pink blush with a tiiiny bit of shimmer.

Swatch:

I used this today. While it's not crazy pigmented it's pigmented enough to make a nice subtle pink cheek.

Coralista Blush:

A shimmery coral blush. I absolutely love the packaging on Benefit products.

Swatch:

I think this looks gorgeous but I still haven't tried it out on my cheeks yet.

Georgia Blush:

A very light peach color. Smells lovely as well, tehe!

Swatch (in the middle, the one to the right is Coralista) :

It's really hard to see, and to be honest, when I applied it to my cheeks I felt like it didn't show up, but I'll have to give it another shot!

Stay Don't Stray Primer:

This is described as a primer for both eyeshadows and concealers. I always like trying out a new primer so woo hoo!

The thing is, it's pretty pigmented, so I'm not sure how it would work under the eye, especially if that's not your skin color. But then again, I did use WAY too much (be careful, a pump of that stuff is far more than you need) so who knows! I'm curious to see what it's like under the eye.

On the left: no primer. On the right: with primer:

As you can see, the ones with the primer are more intense.

Then I did my test of swiping a tissue over them:

And of course, the primed side holds up!

Does anyone else have these products? Do tell me how you like them!