Trend Alert: Red lips

Maybe its just me? but recently I've been seeing the infamous red lip sweep across all of fashion and beauty with celebs being the first to start the re-trend, its like some kind of beauty virus that people have picked up, even I myself have dabbed in a bit of Red lip wearing over the holiday so far, but why red?

I think I can answer that question for you, Red lips are not only a classic staple in your makeup bag but they suite ANY skin tone and hair colour, whether your dark skinned or light skinned, blonde or brunette you can sport your very own shade of red from a dark ruby to a popping poppy colour.

However what I have also noticed is that there are some kind of unwritten rule for wearing this amazing colour on your lips, even though like I said before its a colour which suits everyone, bear in mind there are also very many shades of red to choose from and you have to find the right one for you. for example women with pinker tones to their skin will fair better with reds which are almost plum in tone, whilst women with a lighter/yellow skin tone fair better with far warmer coloured reds instead of a very bright colour which would wash them out. Also if you pick a colour red you love but feel your not comfortable enough to actually wear it blend it out on your lips, and maybe add a nude lipgloss to make it less overpowering.

I think anyone can wear a red lip its just having the confidence to do so, another good tip is to not go heavy on the eyes as well, this would look too much and make the makeup look too full on (unless that is what you want) but on a day to day basis this is a good tip. Don't forget to apply a similar coloured lip-liner beforehand as the colour tends to bleed because its so intense.

Rita Ora wearing her staple red lip colour

Jesy Nelson from pop-group Little Mix sporting
her own shade of Red

Hunger games star Jennifer Lawrence owning the Red-lip trend

Travel Diary one: Cuba

Hello again, I'm back from Cuba! It was a fabulous holiday and definitely a destination I would recommend on a whole but it did have a few ups and downs (drama seems to follow me about everywhere!) a few personal things occurred on my holiday which I wont discuss but definitely made me want to just go home (thankfully it was at the end of the holiday so I was already home sick as it were)

Me and my family stayed in Varadero its located on the 'hook' of the island, where the Gulf of Mexico is, hence why the sea is so warm ( like an luke warm bath) when we were there we experienced a lot of thunder storms of a night time and even got caught on one on the beach one day which were just crazy considering that one minute it was scorching hot and sunny and the next it was like a torrential down pour well equipped with thunder and lightening. To be perfectly honest though it was such an amazing experience despite it being rain, and it cleared the air because it was often very very humid.

We visited Havana one day ( or as the locals call it La Habana) which was an eye opener because it is a very poor city despite it being their capital. However that doesn't take away from the fact that it was full of culture and history and someone where you just have to visit because its like going to France and not visiting Paris and the Eiffel tower! Our tour guide was very helpful and it was just a nice experience for us all.

Overall my holiday was very enjoyable and I would definitely go back there especially to buy some more Rum and Cigars, wow they do LOVE Rum its the base for EVERY cocktail...but it is LUSH!

Adios,

Aimee x

p.s my camera is currently packed away in my suitcase for holiday numero dos so I havn't been able to post any just yet, but I promise after Spain I will get my bottom in gear and post some! I might even be creative and do a little slide-show style video ;)

My thoughts on previous products

I promised I would give my opinion on the small selection of products i had bought in the little haul I showed you guys so here goes!

Firstly ill start off with the Rimmel London Wake me up foundation...
I don't think this is going to come as much of a surprise to anybody here but I loved it! My first thought when I applied it was that it was light coverage but definitely build-able once i had worked it in and added a bit more in the areas I felt needed more (such as my forehead and cheeks where I have blemishes) It leaves your skin feeling soft and definitely does the job of 'waking you up' because it looks like your skin is glowing and gives you a pick up. HOWEVER ( I know I hate having a however) its not the foundation for me :( I know I have such positive things to say about it! but I think ill be converting back to my trusty 24 hours foundation, the only reason this is is because I have oily skin and the wake me up foundation is a dewy finish which I had my suspicions but kept up with it and soon learned that throughout the day and (sorry gross bit coming up) my oil and sweat built up and shone through the foundation making it look VERY shiny and not appealing at all it also meant i had to keep applying my press powder twice as much as usual which was a pain in the bottom to say the least! I don't therefore recommend if you suffer from oily skin like me, however I think it would be great for dry or combination skin.

overall rating out of 10 : 7/10

MUA mosaic blush in English rose shade 3...
I loved this blush, I said when I swatched it that it actually appeared to have a slight highlight in it and I was worried that it would be too shiny on my skin but actually the colour and highlight are a perfect combination giving the cheeks a cute and natural glow. I believe its an all round colour and can be made to look good with any makeup, definitely a bargain find as well and I would recommend it to any body!

over all rating: 9/10


MUA single eye shadow in the colour pearl...
Again i was very happy with this product, it looks very dark and shimmery in the packaging but applied and blended (especially into the crease) it becomes this lovely brown-y shimmery colour which i found was really amazing with my brown eye pencil (also from the MUA range) It lasted all day, however I would definitely wear a base so it doesn't shift, I often opt for a nude eye shadow or concealer before i apply any eye shadow especially if its dark.Overall I think that this is another bargain product and I think its going to become one of my future favorites!

over all rating: 9/10

Last but not least...MUA nail varnish (new range) in the colour Koala bear

Guys...I'm sorry but this is nothing to write home about, i didn't know what I was going to expect for a pound but seeing as some of their other range is a pound (such as eye shadow and eyeliner) and those products are amazing I thought this product was going to be the same however i was very much mistaken. First application of the product i found the colour was extremely sheer even though its a dark grey colour, so I applied another coat once it had dried and didn't find a lot of difference. Several coats later (baring in mind its such a small bottle) the colour had finally shone through. My trouble after that was waiting for it to dry which took a LONG time and again didn't impress me one bit. I wanted to test it over a good period of time and so decided to do it over a course of 4 days as this is the average number of days my Barry M varnish seems to last for. Let me tell you, by the second day half of it had peeled off and one nail was completely varnish free, I was not happy one bit especially when I came out of the shower to find it had all chipped...I was gutted to say the least. My final bit of advice would be not to buy this product because even though its cheap it last 2 days max and to be perfectly honest it works out more expensive because you have to keep reapplying it after them 2 days, I would stick with my trusty Barry M because its good value for money.

over all rating: 2/10

Thanks for reading, If you liked these reviews please feel free to leave a comment below and let me know if you have tried any of these products and what you think of them!

Aimee x

Thrifting through town and a little update for you...

I know its been a 13 days precisely since i wrote a blog post because i have been a very busy bee recently! However I thought it was about time i updated so here we are now.

On Tuesday me and my friend Sarah went shopping, but we didn't go to your usual high-street shops oh no, WE WENT THRIFT SHOPPING  *cue Macklemore song* ok so no i'm not American and no i don't live near any thrift shops as such but correct me if i'm wrong here but i consider charity shops thrift shops because they sell old clothes and such do they not?

Personally I was surprised at the things they had in there, and how many there actually was in my home town! On the way to the bus stop we stopped by a little shop which was seriously the tiniest place i had ever come across but was jam packed with bargains. This does mean that i picked up an item, of two should i say as shoes come in pairs! Ok so i got really excited because i can never find shoes my size in any of these kind of shops they are always smaller sizer or larger sizes or just things i would never wear at all. However as soon as i walked in it was like a slow motion eye opening moment when i saw these high-heeled burgundy shoes and my face was honestly priceless!

I picked these shoes up and inspected them further (you can never be too careful with these shops, people give them away for a reason) and found that A) they had probably been warn only twice because they were in amazing condition, the heel wasn't even warn down for crying out loud! B) They were a size 5 and fit perfectly! and C) THEY WERE NEW LOOK SHOES! which can i just say are normally 20 quid which is a bargain anyways but for £4.50 (yes i did just say that) I don't think i could complain at all could I? Plus I felt good handing the money over to the women at the counter because i knew that money would go to someone in need or an establishment that caters for people in certain circumstances.

Unfortunatly our luck had ran out there as we couldn't find anything else as amazing as those shoes *sad face* but i promised Sarah we would find some more bargains elsewhere :) I would love to hear your stories on your 'Thrift shopping experiences' so please feel free to comment below your stories and ill make sure to read them!

Thanks for reading,

Aimee x

A cheeky little drug store makeup haul...

So here i am a few days later already posting things! I know I only just started my blog on Friday but i hate leaving things bare so i decided to do a little bit of a makeup haul for you guys, and when I say little I mean its the bare minimum but its always nice to see what people have bought - I know I  always love being nosy and looking at products people have newly purchased it always gives me ideas on what to look out for.

Here are all the items i bought today :) you'll soon learn i'm a sucker for the MUA  products,
especially the  things from the new range!
from left - right
Rimmel London wake me up foundation in 100 ivory
MUA mosaic blush in English rose 'shade 3'
MUA new line of nail varnish in the colour Koala bear (how cute its that name!)
MUA single eye shadow in shade 12 Pearl

 Apologies for the angle of these two photos, silly me over here forgot to switch them around when i loaded the pictures onto my laptop!

Rimmel London 'wake me up' foundation is always the talk of the town - personally My favorite products from the Rimmel London range are their foundations and cover ups (match perfection concealer is perfect under the eyes and on the brow bone) so i was definitely eager to try this foundation but for some reason I haven't had time to go out and buy it, but this is it i can't put off trying it now!

Above is just a swatch of what the product looks like on my skin - i have pale skin so i have to go for the lightest shade they have which is 100 ivory, unfortunately the only downside to the Rimmel products is that even though this is the lightest shade, they always seem slightly orang-y and dark on my skin which is why i have to blend it out. Nevertheless i am excited to use this product and will be posting my thoughts on a later date!

The next product I picked up was the first from the MUA range. Again this product was something I have had my eye on for awhile and I really wanted to buy it but I kept telling myself I didn't need it. However i purchased it today, and at just £2.50 i'd say that is a bargain!

English rose shade 3 is a gorgeous shimmery pink shade, at first glance it looks like a series of matte colours, but when i swatched it i found out that it was a soft pink shimmer colour, which of course i fell in love with! I always love multi-purpose products and know this is going to look amazing with a summery look. 

The next item I picked up was another MUA product, about a couple of months ago now I picked up the MUA Undressed me two palette which is part of their new range. Its been highly likened to the Naked palette 2 from Urban Decay and therefore I thought i would try it for myself seeing as i'm on a budget and can't really afford to splash the cash on one of them. I was pleasantly surprised when I picked the palette up for 3/4 pounds and it was AMAZING. The colours are all  various shades of nudes and there is about 3 matte shades, with the rest shimmery and beautiful. Not only are they lovely colours but HIGHLY pigmented which is crazy considering the palette cost less than a pair of shoes from Primark! So i wanted to set myself a challenge to see if their older range is of the same quality. Therefore (sorry after that massive rant) I decided to pick up one of their £1 single eye shadows, and when i saw this amazing shimmery, grey/blue with green specks in it (sorry pants description i know) i thought 'I have to have this!' and for a pound you cant go wrong, so again very excited to try this product!

Here is a real close up of the product from MUA in 'Pearl' Its such a nice colour i can't wait to see what it looks like.

Lastly I purchased  something from MUA's new range which is one of their  £1 nail varnishes.
I was so excited to try this product, I think this is the one i have anticipated the most! I have
a slight obsession with Nail polishes and will not cheat on my lovely Barry M but...I had to try this product, and needless to say they are obviously popular because when i got to the Superdrug in my town centre there were only a couple of shades left, but i didn't really mind i wanted a nude-y/grey colour anyway so this was a perfect purchase for me.

I am also slightly obsessed with funky names for things, so it was an added bonus that it was called something so cute
like Koala bear!


So there you have it, those are all the items i bought today, i was so eager to show you guys so I am very sorry that i have not been able to post my thoughts on them yet but i promise i will once I have tried them out. Thank you very much for reading and I apologies for it being very rambl-y and a bit out of control.

Thank you again for reading and  I really hope you enjoyed it, I would love to hear from you guys so don't be shy if you would like to ask something/say something please comment below :)

Aimee x

p.s I have recently written up my review as this is a about a week and a bit later and have had time to test them, so check out the review here: http://maquilliagemonster.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/my-thoughts-on-previous-products.html

A short and sweet introduction..kind of

I have been contemplating writing a blog for awhile and i thought why not now? Nearing the end of year 11 and my GCSE exams (thank God!) i realised i will have plenty of time on my hands and well, nothing to do so here I am creating a blog -something any sane person would do with their free time. 

A quick, short introduction to what it is i'm going to be talking about and discussing on here, well if you weren't forced to take French in school like i was unfortunately made to then you might not know what the word 'Maquillage' actually means, it means makeup in french and of course the monster part on the end is just an added thing to spice up the name. 

So that what i want to discuss, makeup and beauty i don't know how good it is going to be so please bare with me. I have wanted to start a blog for a very long time now like i said, the only thing stopping me is time and confidence but i have finally made myself do it and just see what happens, i hope i receive some support and have lots of things to write in the future, but for now i am going to go and make a well deserved cup of tea and sit on my bottom in front of the T.V.

Thank you for reading :)

Aimee x