My MAC lipstick collection

Hi everyone,

I decided to do a blog on my MAC lipstick collection I don't have a huge amount from the range but as my collection builds I will add to this post. Be warned this is a slight addiction I haven't been able to buy another lipstick since I bought my first MAC one. I just find that the quality is amazing and they last so well on the lips.

For this blog I have split my lipstick collection into different finishes. (MAC have different finishes in the lipsticks they make.) The finishes that they make are Matte, Creamsheen, Satin, Amplified, Luster, Retro Matte, Amplified cream, Creamsheen pearl, Frost and Glaze. I have three Matte finishes, two Creamsheens, one Satin and two Amplified. 

I currently own 8 lipsticks from MAC.

Matte

Matte finish is the most drying of the lipstick finishes some more than others I find ruby woo (Retro Matte) far to drying and so I wouldn't buy it. Matte lipsticks give full opaque coverage and last for about 6 hours. As the name suggest they have no shimmer or sheen to them. These are best if you don't want to be reapplying quite often.

Velvet Teddy is a nude/mauve with a hint of pink in it. It is very similar to Mehr but has a more brown/mauve tone to it. 

Mehr is a subtly blue-toned medium pink/nude. I love wearing this on an everyday basis its so easy to wear.

Pink Plaid is a beautiful blue toned pink. This is really pretty and girly without looking like a barbie doll.

Creamsheen

The finish on this lipstick is very creamy and has a really nice glossy finish to it. They only wear for around 2-3 hour so it is one you will need to reapply throughout the day. This finish has a good pigmentation but not as full coverage as the matte or amplified. 

Crosswires is an amazing coral with red tones running through it. I bought this one for summer so I haven't really got any wear out of it yet but i can't wait until I do.

Modesty is a really sheer nude lipstick and can be worn even if I don't have any other makeup on its really creamy and I actually feel that this moisturises my lips well. 

Satin 

Satin finish is a mostly matte finish with a hint of sheen in it. These shades tend to wear for about 5 hours. They have a good opaque colour and feel nice on the lips.

Amorous is a brown/plum shade with a subtle hints of red. This is a really sophisticated looking lipstick and really nice for nights out.

Amplified 

Amplified is a creamy formula with real staying power and the colours pack a punch. This lipstick is has a nice sheen when applied and lasts approximately 4-5 hours.

The first one I have is a limited edition Viva Glam lipstick. Each year MAC select a celebrity and they pair up to create a lipstick and lipglass. The point of this is to raise money for charity. MAC give all the money made from this range to the selected charity Aids.

Miley Cyrus has created a really bright hot pink it looks amazing on and your giving to charity so win win. 

Vegas Volt it is a gorgeous coral colour it is quite bright so if your not someone who normally wears bright shades give this a go it will look amazing in summer. 

If you are unsure about any colour always ask to try it on MAC will sanitise every lipstick before you try it on as the colour in the tube will always look different on the lips as everyones lips are a different colour. If you still feel weird about trying on the lipsticks even though they are sanitised swatch a bit onto the inside of your finger it won't give a true representation of what it would be like on your lips but it is a bit pinker than the top of your hand.

Quick Summary

Favourite shade of all - Velvet Teddy 

Least favourite shade of all - CB96 (I don't own this) 

Favourite finish - Matte 

Least favourite finish - Frost 

Shade I'd recommend - Modesty its a good lipstick for daytime or neutral lip with a smokey eye. 

Best wear time - Matte around 5-6 hours 

Worst wear time - Lustre around 2 hours 

First shade I bought - Velvet Teddy 

 Latest shade(s) I bought - Modesty and Pink Plaid 

MAC lipsticks - £15.50 each What are your favourite MAC lipstick shades? Which shades do I need in my collection? 

I do have one more lipstick which is a fake I wasn't going to include it but I thought if I do it may stop other people from accidentally buying fakes and then not being satisfied with the product that they think is from MAC. I have since thrown this away so have no photos of it. The packaging is noticeably cheaper and a lot lighter it the MAC logo is larger and also higher up the lipstick bullet also doesn't have the signature Vanilla fragrance, it smells like fairy liquid. Colour payoff is good but doesn't last for more than half an hour and feels gritty on the lips. I bought this on Ebay and I am not saying that everything on Ebay is fake but I don't think i will ever buy any makeup products of it again. Any makeup will be bought directly on the website or in a shop. However if you are going to buy a lipstick of another website just look out for these signs and compare a photo to the one online see if you can spot a difference.

http://www.maccosmetics.co.uk Thanks for having a read if you liked this post check out my other blogs and like subscribe or comment. 

Emma 

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Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream

Hi everyone,

I have a review for you today not a very long one but one I thought needed to be done as there seems to be a lot of hype about these products recently.

I decided to try the Elizabeth Arden 8 hour creams after hearing all the raving about them. Personally I wasn't all that impressed for various reasons. I decided to get them after I seen them in the Black Friday sale on Amazon. I got the 8 Hour skin protectant for £11.99 on Boots it is currently retailing for £26. I got the 8 Hour lip treatment for £12.11. On Boots it is currently retailing for £18.

So after using them for about a month I really don't know what to think of them I can't see any major difference in my skin, at the start I was almost trying to kid myself that they were doing something or maybe another few days I will see a difference but after a month of use I had to suck it up and admit that they weren't doing anything.

The larger tube has a strange smell and is quite greasy feeling on my skin. The smaller tube is a lip treatment but can be used anywhere on the skin it doesn't have the smell and isn't quite as greasy feeling. Both of the creams are quite heavy feeling I wouldn't say that they are sticky but I can definitely feel them on my skin. The lip treatment gives a bit more moisture than the cream in the large tube however in my opinion neither of them are something I would be reaching for to give my skin a boost.

Left: 8 Hour cream nourishing lip balm SPF 20

Right: 8 Hour cream skin protectant

Although I know a lot of people love these products they are definitely not my favourite creams, although I would personally consider them more of an gel or balm type texture.

I will maybe give them another go in a while and see if my opinion changes but for now I'm defiantly not in love.

I do just want to say that this is my opinion and my skin is of course different to everyone else's skin so do not let me put you off buying it if you want to try it or someone has recommended it to you.

If anyone has tried a cream that they really love please comment and I'll give them a go.

Thanks for reading if you liked this check out my other blogs and subscribe and share.

Emma 

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Wheaten Bread

Hi everyone,

I have a very simple recipe today for wheaten bread (this is for you Magi). Hope you have fun making it.

It took me quite a while to find a recipe that was simple enough that you probably have all the ingredients in your cupboard and nice enough to blog about. So here it is and it tastes delicious especially with some homemade strawberry jam (coming up in a future blog post!).

Ingredients

12oz wholemeal flour

12oz plain flour

2oz unsalted butter (room temperature)

3tsp baking soda

1tsp salt

Carton buttermilk (1 pint)

Method

Mix all your dry ingredients into a bowl.

Add your unsalted butter and use the rubbing in method until it looks like breadcrumbs.

Mix in the buttermilk slowly with a wooden spoon until it forms a dough consistency.

Divide into 2 1lb tins.

Bake at 180 for 3/4 hour.

Instgram or tweet me your pictures if you decide to have a go. Happy baking and I'll see you next Monday. 

If you like my blog don't forget to like, subscribe and share it with your friends.

Emma 

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Peanut butter and chocolate cookies

Hi everyone,

 I have a recipe I really must share I get requests for these all the time at work and at home, friends and family just can't get enough.

Peanut butter and chocolate cookies!

Ingredients

 230g Unsalted butter (room temperature)

210g Caster sugar

 210g Soft light brown sugar

2 Eggs

1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract

 240g Crunchy peanut butter

360g Plain flour

2 1/2 Teaspoons Bicarbonate of soda

1/2 Teaspoon salt

As much chocolate as you want I use 1 cup each of dark and milk chips

Method

Preheat the oven to 170°C.

 Place the butter and sugars in a mixer with the paddle attachment and cream on medium/high speed until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula in between additions.

Turn the mixer down and add the peanut butter and vanilla extract.

Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt mix well until a dough is formed then add the chocolate very slowly on a very slow speed.

 Divide the dough onto the prepared baking trays. (The cookies will spread so about 6 per tray).

 Bake for 12-15 minutes or golden on the edges depending on how gooey you would like them.

 Once baked leave to cool slightly on the trays before setting out onto a cooling rack.

Lastly enjoy your gorgeous cookies they are sooo delicious.

Don't forget if you liked this blog please share like and subscribe. Check out my other blogs which are full of recipes and other fun things.

Emma

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MAC haul :-)

Hi everyone

Ok so I know this will come as big surprise but when I was at Ikea in Belfast getting my Alex unit to put my makeup in I had to call into MAC because I had 6 empty containers and for anyone who doesn't know when you have 6 emptys from MAC you get a FREE lipstick. So be sure to keep any empty you have.

So I got a lipstick I wouldn't really have bought myself called Crosswires and because I was there I also got two other lipsticks I had been eyeing up for a while called Mehr and Amorous, and to add to my already full hands I picked up a lip pencil in Brick and an eyeshadow in Embark. Like a kid in a candy shop when I go in there.

Crosswires is a beautiful coral-pink colour. It is a creamsheen so will last 2-3 hours on the lips but leaves a nice pinky stain for another few hours after.

Mehr is a subtly blue-toned medium pink. It has a matte finish. The colour coverage is opaque, and the finish is mostly matte. The texture is soft and creamy. This shade wears for 5-6 hours. 

Amorous is a satin finish and will stay on the lips for about 4-5 hours the colour looks a little daunting but it is a gorgeous colour on the lips a pinkish plum. 

I picked up a lip liner in colour Brick MAC describes this as a golden red personally I can't really see any gold but more of a true red colour great colour for lining with Russian Red lipstick (P.S. first ever MAC lip liner I have bought)

The eyeshadow I picked up is called Embark. I got it to go with the Swiss chocolate eyeshadow from MAC. I needed something to deepen the outer crease area of my eye when wearing Swiss chocolate. This eyeshadow is a very intense brown with red undertones and a matte finish.

Thanks for having a read if you liked this blog take a look at my others and share and subscribe.

I buy all my MAC products either in store or online at http://www.maccosmetics.co.uk 

Emma

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Coffee ring cake

Hi there I have here a gorgeous coffee cake recipe for you the smell drifting through the house when you bake this is amazing. So have a go.

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons of instant coffee

 450g Unsalted butter room temperature

 450g Caster sugar

 8 Eggs

 450g Plain flour

 2 Tablespoons baking powder

 2 Teaspoons cocoa powder

Method

 For the coffee essence put the granules and 170ml of boiling water into a saucepan and boil on a medium heat until it has reduced by about half. Remove one tablespoon to be used later in the frosting.

 Preheat the oven to 170°C.

 Place the butter, sugar and coffee essence in a stand mixer and beat with a paddle attachment until fluffy.

 Add the eggs one at a time scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula in between each addition.

Beat in the flour,  baking powder and cocoa powder slowly until all is combined.

Pour mixture into a prepared ring tin (25cm) bake for 40-50 minutes using a metal squewer to test if it is done.

Ingredients for frosting

 1 Tablespoon of the coffee extract

 250g Sifted icing sugar

 25ml Whole milk

Method

Add the Icing sugar and whole milk to a bowl mixing slowly with a hand mixer or a stand mixer when combined add the coffee extract. Spread onto the cake and sprinkle with flake.

Emma 

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Don't forget if you liked this like, share and subscribe. Have a look at my other blog post to see more yummy recipes.

I got my hair cut

Hi everyone,

I'm not sure if anyone reads my blog enough to care but I got my hair cut and OMG I love it. I have always had really quite long hair but recently I have been hating it basically just tying it up and nothing else. So to the absolute delight of my hair dresser i asked her to cut it up to almost a bob (she's a little bit strange like that she loves to cut long hair of) so here are some before and afters.

As you can see from the pictures its shorter at the back than it is at the front. I am so happy that I did this it has allowed me to really do something with my hair and not be afraid of curling it and it falling out after an hour (also the hairdressers don't curse my name when i come in to get my hair put up). Over all if you are thinking of getting the chop do it! It is only hair and it will grow back, if you don't like it wear extensions.

Emma 

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