Friday, 14 February 2014

Three From Collection | Review

Hello,
Sorry I've been a bit missing in action recently. I'm just going to stick with my usual excuse of "eugh degree, eugh reading, eugh essays, eugh too drunk all the time". I think that should suffice really.



Anyway, between drowning in referencing and bibliographies I did manage a sneaky trip into town. Do you ever just run out of all your make up at once? It happens to me all the time! So I popped into dearly beloved Boots to stock up little essentials.

My plan was to buy higher end high street but after swatching every foundation ever and realising that I need to STOP BEING SO DAMN PALE. I settled for some bits and bobs from Collection. I find that Collection suits my colour so much better than a lot of the high end products so why would I waste money on something that's going to turn me fluorescent?

I picked up the 'Collection Cover & Go Foundation & Concealer Duo', the 'Collection Primed & Ready Smoothing Make Up Primer' and 'Collection Volumnising Mascara'.


I'd never really been into primer before and I actually when I went into Boots I was intending to by the new Baby Skin thing. I was really skeptical because of all the dodgy reviews I'd read and when I swatched it on my skin it felt so greasy that I opted against it and went for the Collection one instead. I'm really impressed by this product. I'm pretty sure it's a silicon based formula (although I can't actually get the labels off to have a look at the ingredients). It leaves my skin incredibly smooth even after I've put my foundation on top. I really recommend this, it makes my make up look 100x better!



When I bought this I didn't even realise it had concealer in the lid. Top notch job on that packaging Boots it's brilliant. You can put it in your handbag and voila two in one! The concealer coverage is really good, I really rate this product (as you can tell by how used it looks). I'm still humming and harring about the foundation. It's ok but the consistency is a bit odd and it looks really streaky if you apply it with a brush rather than a sponge.

Whenever I buy anything new I instantly don't like it - it takes a while to convince me it's actually good. This was no different, when I first opened it I didn't love it. The brush is quite brittle and not the big fluffy mascara brush I usually like. However, after using this for a week I am converted and I admit the error of my ways. This mascara is really great, it gives a really volumnised look, kind of fake lash effect. The only thing I don't get is why it says '10x volumnising' on it. Can you imagine if a mascara made you lashes TEN TIMES BIGGER? You'd look like a maniac!

Overall I'm well chuffed with the Collection things I picked up. I think they're all fairly new products to the line and they all work fantastically. Collection is definitely starting to give some of the other high street brands a run for their money.

Primed, concealed, volumnised and ready to hit the rain
So have you tried any of these products? Did you like 'em? Lemme know 

Thursday, 30 January 2014

Make It Highstreet | Screen Actor's Guild Awards 2014

Hellllo,

Blimey so behind schedule with the award season it is actually ridiculous! Many, many moons ago it was the Screen Actor's Guild Awards which saw Hollywood's finest get out there and strut their stuff down the red carpet. For some reason I always really like the SAG awards, I just think people always dress really well for them and this year was no different really. 

There were some truly lovely pieces on show and I felt like there was a bit of a tie for best dressed. Lupita Nyongo'o carried on her dress success in a gorgeous turquoise Gucci piece. The colour looked absolutely amazing on her and I really loved the statement neckline. My gal J-Law was also back to her rightful place on the best dressed look. I haven't been loving her choices this award season but this Christian Dior gown made her look like sequinned perfection. 

I love a good sequin and there were plenty on show. Claire Danes looked shimmied in big Vionnet sequins and Sofia Vegara looked hot hot hot in Donna Karan. She does hollywood sexy so well - I love her style! 

Also worth a mention is Isla Fischer who looked so sexy and classic in Bulgari. She rocked her Jessica Rabbit hair and looked like proper timeless hollywood. 

And then there were the others. Oops. Worst dressed of the night for me was Jennifer Garner. She usually keeps things so simple and classy and it looks great but I felt like her MAX MARA gown was totally underwhelming. Also Mariah Carey did what Mariah Carey does and wore a minuscule mini-dress. Classic mimi but me no likey.
Red Halter, ShopBop, £62.60 // Holly Hunter // Keyhole Wrap Dress, ASOS, £28
Pink Split-leg jumpsuit, In Love With Fashion, £23 // Julia Roberts wears Valentino // Pink Jumpsuit, Miss Selfridges, £42
High Neck Crop Top, Boohoo, £8 // Kerry Washington pairs Prada and Harry Winston // Full Midi Skirt, Boohoo, £12
Mindy Kaling wears David Meister // Blue Crossover with Gold Belt, Isme, £39

Wednesday, 15 January 2014

Make it highstreet | The Golden Globes 2014

Hey, remember many thousands of years ago there was that thing called the 'Golden Globes 2014'? Yes, I know this post is horrendously late, I've been shoved full throttle back into uni work. Why oh why do they give you essays in January? Don't they know I've got award ceremonies to watch and pretty dresses to look at?!

Anyway, moving swiftly back to the Golden Globes. Hurray, I love the Golden Globes, they feel very shiny don't you think? So let's hop straight in at the deep end with my favourite dress of the night which belonged to the beautiful Emma Watson. Emma paired her backless Dior dress with a pair of cigarette trousers. I absolutely love it when ladies get away from the predictable dresses and this choice did it for me. Just like the People's Choice Awards there were loads of bright colours on show; Lupita Nyong'o looked gorgeous in Ralph Lauren, it was a potentially tricky colour but it just looked beautiful against her skin. I didn't even have that much of a problem with Lena Dunham's custard yellow dress - it takes bravery to rock custard.

The award organisers must have been giving a lot of 'plus ones' because the red carpet was chock full of expecting mums. They were all styled so well, I'm so glad pregnancy clothes are more fitted now, like Olivia Wilde's Gucci sequinned dress, rather than those horrible baggy sacks stylists used to make pregnant actresses walk around in a few years ago. Drew Barrymore looked bloomin' lovely in a floral number from Monique Lhuillier. I also really loved the unusual cut of Kerry Washington's dress, the add-on cape not only made her look well-proportioned but also nicely highlighted her baby bump - good combination.

As always there's some bad dresses. I was so disappointed in my favourite lady J-Law, her Dior dress wasn't awful by any stretch of the imagination but she normally dresses so well that it just didn't seem very her. I wasn't a fan of Julia Roberts shirt/dress/thing looked like she was attending the '97 Golden Globes rather than the 2014. My least favourite dress of the night belonged to Zoe Saldana, which I really couldn't believe. She looked beautiful as always but the dress looked like a wardrobe had thrown up on her. Just pick one style!!

What dresses did you like? Which did you hate? Let me know 

L-R One-shoulder Maxi, Missguided, £14.99 // Amber Heard wears Versace // Chiffon One-Shoulder, House of Fraser, £34.50

L-R Lace Plunge Dress, Missguided, £34.99 // Amy Adams in Valentino // Red Halterneck, New Look, £28

Sequinned Midi Dress, Missguided, £44.99 // Olivia Wilde in Gucci

L-R Plunge bodycon midi, Boohoo.com, £12 // Reese Witherspoon in Calvin Klein

Sunday, 12 January 2014

Make it highstreet | People's Choice Awards 2014

Helllo!

So it's award's season hurrrah!! Award's season is my third favourite season of the year - following Christmas season and birthday season and way above exam season! It all kicked off to a leisurely start with the People's Choice Awards. I'll be honest the People's Choice are never my favourite award season...mainly because I don't really understand the point of them. But any excuse to lust over pretty shoes and men in tuxs is a winner with me.

I wasn't blown away by the dresses on show but there were definitely some that caught my eye. My winner of the night had to be Naya Rivera. Every morning I wake up a little sadder that I do not look like her - the woman is a goddess and she looked beyond goddess in a gorgeous Michael Kors block mullet dress. Honourable mention has to go to Anna Faris for breaking the red carpet mould and going for a chic Naeem Khan trouser suit. I love it when leading ladies get away from the stereotypical dresses.

There were some lovely pops of colour on the red carpet too, a lovely counteraction to the miserable grey skies we've been seeing at the moment. Jillian Rose stood out in her lovely coral dress and Lucy Hale really brought that summer vibe in a Gabriela Cadena floral piece. Jennifer Hudson, who pretty much always looks awesome, shone in a form fitting and gathered white dress by Kaufman Franco.

Of course there's always some dresses you're not going to love. Heidi Klum was way way overdressed in Armani for what I always think of as one of the more 'casual' award ceremonies. For me, Kat Denning's rose patterned dress by David Meister Signature was just a little too old fashioned especially when compared to her co-host Beth Behrs who was looking really great in Guilietta monochrome. There's something about Kat Denning's style that just doesn't suit my palette...I honestly think it might be because I went to school with a really annoying girl who looked just like her. Fickle I know!

So if you wanna create your own little red carpet at home I've found a few dupe-like things on the highstreet. I know it's January and we all got no place to go...but we can still get all dressed up!

Hope you like these! What was your favourite red carpet dress? Are you excited about award season?


L-R: Naya Rivera looking hot to trot in Michael Kors // Block Dress, Asos, £82.50
L-R: Bandeau Midi Dress, Missguided, £29.99 // Jessica Alba in Jason Wu // Zip Front Skater, Asos, £55
L-R: Crochet Collar Dress, USC, £26 // Sara Bareilles looking preppy in Jill Stuart // Lace Collar Dress, Littlewoods, £29
Pu Leather Dress, Nelly.com, £39.95 // Shaun Robinson rocks texture mix // Leather Skater Dress, Dorothy Perkins, £32.99