A Little about FAME online & MAC By Request Collection

I briefly mentioned before that I have been welcomed on board the FAME team, (which is primarily an online based magazine that also does a quarterly print copy). It's a talent and lifestyle magazine for students and young people, with a focus on Fashion, Arts, Media and Entrepreneurship (FAME..geddit?). The thing I really love about FAME, is that it's completely voluntary; everyone gives up their time come together and produce content that they are passionate about. The team are mega supportive of all their volunteers, whether they are writers, editors or photographers, and really want to help us reach our dreams, and give us a chance to be involved in something special. I feel very lucky to be able to say I am the new beauty writer, and look forward to getting even more involved once I'm back home. (FAME is based in Hertfordshire, where I'm originally from.)

So why am I filling you in on this? Well, obviously I write beauty articles, and they are different to what I might feature on the blog but might still be of some interest for you. I've written one about some Kitchen Beauty (which is all about hair treatments you can find already in your kitchen). You can find that here.

My latest post is all about MAC's latest limited edition collection due to be released in October, which most of you probably know about, but for those of you who haven't I've written up a little article for FAME explaining how to get involved and become part of MAC history. In essence, it's up to us to vote for our favourite shades that have either been limited edition or discontinued- to be rereleased in the Autumn collection. Personally, I'm quite excited about it and to get a second change to get my mitts on some of MAC's most popular shades. Some of them I've heard of, and some of them I had to google for swatches, but there were definitely a few shades I would love to see released.

You can find out the full selection of items to vote for, and how to do so on my post here.

I voted for 3n in the lipstick category and it was a close called between Jete and Moth Brown for my eyeshadow choice, with Jete just taking the vote because it's the more unique shade out of the two, in my opinion. 

What have you voted for? Any personal favourites amongst the selection?

Nic xxx

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NOTD: OPI 'Did It On 'Em'

Hello!

I hope everyone has had a fun weekend in the lovely weather, I had a day of blogging/uni worked planned for today, but early yesterday afternoon I started to feel rubbish and was up most of the night with a horrible fever which has been coming and going all day. Which is really sucky as all I wanted to do was frolic in the sun all day. 

I painted my nails on Thursday night, so they at least have been keeping me happy all weekend. I went for Did It On 'Em, which is the limey/yellow shade from the Nicky Minaj minis (which I really really like and have enjoyed wearing all the shades.) This one is definitely the brightest of the lot, and is really eye catching. The colour does change slightly depending on the light, and it definitely leans more yellow in direct sunlight. In my opinion it's a shade that really looks best on darker/tanned skin and I've waited till I've fake tanned to wear it, and it definitely looks better than when I tried to wear it a few weeks ago. It did take three shades to go opaque, but then I do like to apply thinner layers- it dries quickly and leaves quite a glossy finish. I have got a full three days wear without any chips, which is something of a miracle for me, I'm lucky if I get 12 hours usually!

Do you have a favourite from the Nicki Minaj collection? Or any other eye catching shades for the summer?

Nic xxx

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A Couple No 7 Goodies

If you're anything like me, you collect No.7 vouchers and then either forget to spend them, or just lose them. Either way, in a bloggers world (or at least mine) it's practically a sin to not spend money when you're going to be saving.  So the other day, I picked up the Amazing Eye Pencil in Brown, and the Perfect Lips Pencil in Nude- they are two things I was after (not particularly from No 7, but at under £3 for each I thought why not!)

The lip pencil comes with its own little sharpener in the tip, which I though was a really nice touch. I actually ended up smooshing the end of my pencil while taking the photos so I had to use the sharpener and it worked really well. The lip pencil is a retractable, while the eyeliner is a standard one that needs to be sharpened. It also comes with a smudger at the end, which I do really like. The overall packing reminded me a LOT of the Estee Lauder Double Wear Pencil, but I guess you can't really differentiate too much when it comes to eyeliner packaging- so I'll forgive No 7 somewhat.

They are both impressively pigmented, and apply really smoothly. I've only worn the lip liner under lipstick a couple times, so it's obviously a little harder commenting on it's lasting power- but I guess I could say it lasts as long as your lipstick does? The eyeliner is really great, I've had it on for 8 hours now and it's still looking good! 

These two were great little deals, and have filled the holes in my collections. To pick them up for such a great price makes me very happy indeed! The eyeliner is £7.75 full price, and the lip liner £7.50, so with my two vouchers, I paid just over £5 for something that should have cost £15. I do find No 7 products greatly over priced, and only really consider them when the vouchers are available. Saying that, I had a little swatch of the new primer and it seems like it could be the such of airbrushed miracles! I should really try it properly before making such statements, I don't think relying on the effects it had on the back of my hand can counts.

The vouchers run out on Sunday, so if you've got some to use up I definitely recommend having a look at these, they both come in a selection of shades. 

Do you have any No 7 products you love? 

Nic xxx

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Review: Laura Mercier Under Eye Perfecter

My sleeping patterns have never been what would be considered 'normal', and dark circles have always been a concern. But until I started reading blogs, I hadn't really considered using a corrector, as well as a concealer; I think I always assumed they were the same thing. Bloody good job I've got all you other bloggers out there to educate me! I've tried the Bobbi Brown Corrector (although never owned it) and it is great stuff, but I guess I was just drawn into trying something new- and hadn't read too much about Laura Mercier's offerings.

The Under Eye Perfecter comes in only 2 shades; orange/yellow and mauve/rose which are supposedly formulated to suit a range of skin tones. The very lovely and helpful salesgirls told me that the mauve/rose are for darker skinned ladies, and although the orange/yellow looks ridiculously scary in the pot (and under the eyes for that matter) it really disappears and works its magic when applied under concealer.

Unlike the BB corrector, this is not creamy at all, and it's actually why I've enjoyed using it more. It's solid, so all you do is gently press your finger into the pot to slightly melt the product and use a dabbing action to cover the dark circles. The teeeeniest bit goes really far, and I think will end up lastly much longer than the BB equivalent- it is priced at £1.50 more, but you also get an extra 0.3grams.

So does it actually work? YES! I am really really impressed with this product, and really happy as I didn't get on well with my LM primer at all, or maybe it just didn't get on with my foundation? Anyway,  I digress... I just went to double check the size and saw a couple reviews saying that they found it worked even better when mixed in with the concealer on the back of the hand before applying, I haven't tried that but I definitely will. You do need to make sure you dab and blend out well, otherwise I found there can be a little creasing but when applied properly I didn't notice any at all. I use my MAC Pro Longwear concealer on top and don't powder. I was semi tempted to pick up the Secret Brightening Powder as well, but I'm glad I didn't as I'm not sure how much difference it actually made, and when I got in my car and looked in my visor mirror, I saw I was sparkling as if I'd whacked a bit of glitter under my eyes...errr, no thanks!

The Perfecter costs £18.50 and is available from House of Fraser or Space NK.

Has anyone else tried this correcter? What did you think?

Nic xxx

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And the winner is....

Thank you all for your entries, and for those that wrote a little something extra, I will definitely take them on board and expect to see some of them in the near future.

The winner is Yu (Let's Make Yu Up)!! Which is extremely apt, as I'm not sure if I would even be blogging with her encouragement, so the universe has intervened on her behalf! I used random.org, as you can see from the screenshot below.

Thank you again for following, and taking the time to read. I would love to hear from you, so feel free to comment/ask questions/ requests whenever you feel like it.

You may also have noticed my blog has had a little overhaul, it's probably going to be a bit of work in progress, albeit very slow, which I will fiddle around with when I have time. But I am fairly happy with, and loveeee the colour- hopefully you all will agree. :)

Nic xxx

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