Reunited With My True Love

TRUE LOVE
This week I was reunited with my one true love... My MAC retro lipstick.

I lost this gorgeous lipstick  a few weeks ago, and after searching my dad's car and sadly not finding it, I resigned myself to the fact that it was gone. I decided I'd buy a new one to replace it as soon as I could because this lipstick colour is just too lovely to not have in my life. BUT THEN, my dad phoned me and told me the good news: the man he works with had found it under the car seat! I was probably a little bit too happy since it is just a lipstick (don't tell it I said that...) but my week had been made! And we were finally reunited later that day. It was a good day for my lips.

RETRO
MAC retro is a very 90s shade, with hints of burgundy and brown running through it. It's a lovely colour for the winter months particularly, but you can totally rock it in the spring and summer too (I know I will be, gotta make up for lost time, yo). This lipstick is from MAC's matte line, but it's not too drying. I find that if you just apply a little bit of lip balm before you put it on it's fine. Being matte means that it's a fairly long-lasting lipstick. The colour doesn't really fade when eating or drinking, and you could probably get away with not reapplying throughout the day - perfect for us lazy lipstick wearers!

THAT'S IT
Just a little post today, but I had to document this happy moment. God, I love MAC Retro <3

Thanks for reading, make sure to follow me for weekly posts :)

Hope you're having a rad day.

Love Chloe x

HAVE SOME LINKS
MAC Retro - http://www.maccosmetics.co.uk/products/spp/shaded.tmpl?CATEGORY_ID=CAT168&PRODUCT_ID=PROD310&SKU_ID=SKU3061
Me on youtube - https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGiddyElf

A Cruelty Free Makeup Bag - #BlogforBunnies

SO WHAT'S THIS GUNNA BE ABOUT?
Recently I have been trying to have as many cruelty free products in my makeup bag as possible. At this stage my makeup bag isn't entirely cruelty free but I'm getting there. I'm focusing on trying to get my drugstore makeup cruelty free first as this is what I use everyday and purchase most, so that's my main priority right now.

Everything cruelty free in my makeup bag.

So here is everything from my makeup bag that is cruelty free (as far as I know anyway, if I'm wrong about any of these brands being cruelty free please let me know. Also please know that some of the parent companies are not cruelty free for these products, e.g. bare minerals and urban decay). And now it's time to explore some of these products in more detail! These are my favourites out of my cruelty free collection.

NSPA OIL FREE MOISTURE GEL
This is my all time favourite moisturiser, and it's because of that key phrase 'oil free'. I have oily skin and so I obviously don't want to be adding extra oil to it, so this moisturiser is perfect. It's super gentle, hydrating and refreshing (especially on those early mornings!). Nspa is the brand from the UK spa called Nirvana, and so the scent of this is very reminiscent of that in a spa, and so it makes it feel like a lovely treat when you use it, despite being an everyday product.

NO 7 STAY PERFECT FOUNDATION
(Before I start I want to just say that i'm pretty sure this is cruelty free as No7 is part of Boots, who is cruelty free, but it's not 100% certain that No7 is. Hopefully it is though otherwise I'm going to have to find a new favourite foundation!) This concealer is another one of my oily skin savers. It's oil free and designed to last all day - they say 24 hours but firstly who is wearing makeup for 24 hours? And secondly it doesn't last 24 hours but it does last a hella long time. It creates a natural finish and is fairly high coverage so it's great for covering up any dark circles or blemishes if you want to. Also this lasts for so long. I've had bottles of this for months and months before, so it's definitely worth the money.

KIKO FULL COVERAGE CONCEALER
I love this concealer. One second you have a spot, put this on it and it's gone. It covers blemishes so well and you can't even slightly see them under the concealer. IN. LOVE. I honestly can't think of anything else to say about this product, except that it's perfect and you need it in your life.

REAL TECHNIQUES EXPERT FACE BRUSH
I wanted to include a brush in this list so that it wasn't just about actual makeup products, so let's talk about the real techniques expert face brush. This brush provides such a natural and flawless finish for your foundation and I don't know where I'd be without it. And can we just take a minute to appreciate the softness of it?! Ugh. It's so lovely.

2TRUE EFFORTLESS EYELINER
I have been using this eyeliner for years now. It's really long-lasting, and I never have issues with it budging throughout the day. The brush is silicone which makes it really easy to apply, even for those not so practiced in the liquid eyeliner field. Now this brand is exclusive to superdrug so you might not be able to get your hands on it everywhere, but if you can I urge you try it! Plus it costs about £2, and there is nearly always an offer on it, so it doesn't hurt your purse too much either.

LET'S WRAP THIS UP
And that's it. I have spent many years collecting my staple products and exploring different brands to find what I like, so it was hard to pick out just a few items from my makeup bag to tell you about in detail! If you have any recommendations for cruelty free brands let please let me know in the comments, i'm always on the lookout for rad, animal friendly brands to try out.

Thanks for reading. I hope the rest of your day is wonderful!

Love Chloe x

OH, YOU WANT SOME LINKS? HERE YA GO.
Moisturiser: http://www.nspa.co.uk/products/oil-free-moisture-gel-step-4/
Foundation: http://www.boots.com/en/No7-Stay-Perfect-Foundation_1376459/
Concealer: http://www.kikocosmetics.co.uk/make-up/face/concealers/Full-Coverage-Concealer/p-KM00102003
Brush: https://realtechniques.com/shop-collection/expert-face-brush
Eyeliner: http://www.superdrug.com/2True/2True-Effortless-Eyeliner-Shade-1/p/312479#.VQb5uUtZ5FI

My MAC Eyeshadows

MAC eyeshadows are amazing. Like seriously amazing. And every time I'm in a MAC store, I spend ages studying their eyeshadow stand, reading the colour names and swatching them on my hand. At the moment I only own four of their eyeshadows, but if I wasn't a student who needed to use my money for food, I would definitely own more! 

They're incredibly pigmented, and the colour will stay on for hours without creasing (when I use primer anyway... Darn my oily eyelids, haha!).

But you've probably heard all this before, so let's begin the short tour of my MAC eyeshadow collection. The theme of my shadows (yes, they have a theme, bit fancy, eh?) is The Great Gatsby. This is because my sister bought me two of these shadows for my eighteenth birthday, which was Gatsby themed, and so when I purchased the other two I made sure they could be linked to Gatsby too. 

AMBER LIGHTS

Amber Lights is a gorgeous bronze coloured shadow, and was actually my first MAC eyeshadow. It has a little bit of glimmer in it which means it's perfect for adding some sparkle to your look. As I have brown eyes I can't confirm this, but I've heard that Amber Lights makes blue eyes appear a more intense blue, so all you blue-eyed kids need to try this shadow out! The Gatsby theme comes in here because of the black and gold style that was fashionable in the 1920's. 

'Amber Lights'

SUMPTUOUS OLIVE

I love the name of this shadow, it always just makes me picture really glamorous, curvy olives for some reason and it just makes me laugh. It's also a lovely eyeshadow. It's a sort of forest green colour, so it isn't too in your face, but really compliments green outfits (obviously). I chose a green eyeshadow for this palette to represent the green light that is in The Great Gatsby. 

'Sumptuous Olive'

NYLON

Nylon is the perfect inner corner colour. It's pure white with a little glitter speckled in it. I tend to use this on the inner third of my eye to highlight, but as it's such a stark white, I extend the highlight further into my lid and blend it out with the rest of my eyeshadow. I also like to wear Nylon as an all of over the lid colour, especially in the winter as it creates a lovely frosty look. I have to admit I mostly bought nylon because I'd heard so many people talking about how good it was, but hey, white can fit in with Gatsby aswell... I don't have a definite reason why, but let's just go with it.

'Nylon'

BLACK TIED

Black Tied is a gorgeous black shadow, and it's full of glitter too. And because of the glitter, this is perfect for wearing on a special occasion. I tend to wear this blended with nylon, as the two colours obviously contrast well against each other. This shade ties in with The Great Gatsby theme as gold and black was a fashionable design in that era, as previously said. 

'Black Tied'

And that's it. Those are my four shadows and I love them all! I hope you enjoyed this post, and if you have any MAC eyeshadows, or recommendations for MAC products, let me know in the comments; I'm always keen to know what I should treat myself to next! 

Love Chloe x