Eleanor Katherine Grace

Oh hi!

I’ve been poorly this week 😦 sad face, so I decided to cheer myself with some retail therapy…again.

My mumma is getting married this week, (eeeeeeeek!) and my sister and I are bridesmaids. This means hundreds of photos, naturally, so I have been thinking a little bit about my makeup on the day, in terms of longevity, SPF flashback and keeping shine at bay.  As I wrote in an earlier post, I am OBSESSED with Becca foundation, so I will be wearing one – or probably a mixture – of those on the day, but I really wanted an amazing mattifying powder that I could trust to keep me shine-free for the day. (or at least for a few hours, I’m not expecting miracles.)

Enter: Ben Nye Luxury Powder in Banana:

I ordered this powder after reading about it ageeeees ago, and being the contour/highlight Kimmy K’s face obsessed person that I am, I finally decided to get my hands on some of this seemingly magical product.

Now, I’ve only used this powder a couple of times, as I said I’ve been poorly this week so I have been mainly looking like a troll day to day, but on the occasions I have used this powder I LOVED it!  It is so finely milled, so it is barely noticeable on the skin at all, which I wasn’t used to with powders I have used in the past.  I used the powder under my eyes to set my concealer, and the Banana shade helped lift the shadows in that area and stopped any eye makeup transferring onto my face.  Banana is, as I’m sure the make-up obsessed know, the most popular Ben Nye shade, it’s the one Kim Kardashian wears, and the highlighting and contour that her makeup artist Mario does for her is SO beautiful, resulting in that ultra highlighted look underneath her eyes that is replicated by so many.

I got my powder from here: http://www.preciousaboutmakeup.com – it arrived next day even though I missed the deadline for Next Day Delivery by approx an hour! Amazing!

I’m thinking of doing a makeup before and after to show you the powder in full force, so I will keep you updated on that!

Next: MUA Eyeshadow Palette in Undressed:

Now I’ve mentioned this brand in a previous post, I just love it!  You can get it at Superdrug in the UK, and it is so cheap! This palette was £4!

I have another palette by MUA called Heaven and Earth, which is some slightly earthier, warmer browns and golds, but I wanted to try the Undressed palette as it has been dubbed a dupe of the Urban Decay Naked palette which is a cult favourite.  I was not disappointed! I have yet to use this palette on my eyes, but when swatching the shades on my hand I noticed straight away how pigmented and gorgeous they are.  Sometimes shades can look amazing in the pan, but as soon as you swatch them they turn into nothing-y shimmer with no colour at all – this was not the case with this palette.  The shades are also super similar to the Naked palette, for a fraction of the price.  So, for anyone after a go-to eyeshadow palette with a wide array of colours for different occasions – for £4 you really can’t go wrong!

Get the MUA Eyeshadow palette in Undressed here: http://www.superdrug.com/

On the MUA theme, I couldn’t resist picking up one of the Eyeshadow Trios in Chocolate Box:

(This picture definitely does not do it justice) but I was just so tempted by the gorgeous bronzey shade at the top of this trio! I love browns and golds etc on the eyes anyway, I will often use these colours for a softer smokey eye, and I can confirm that the colour translates beautifully onto the face, it is so shimmery and eye-catching without being full-on glittery – a definite bonus in my book.  The back of the packaging also gives you a little 3-step guide on how to use the colours together to create a pretty look, something that is handy if you’re not an eyeshadow expert.

Get the Eyeshadow Trio here: http://www.superdrug.com

Although I didn’t buy this product, I just wanted to show you this nail colour that is giving me LIFE at the moment:

This is my mum’s Nails Inc polish in Covent Garden Ballet (as a dancer I love this name) and I just think it is so beautiful, it is a light grey, but with a slight pinky iridescent sheen in the light.  I love a grey nail varnish anyway, but this colour is so great for this time of year, where we are oh so sloooowly moving from dark wintery shades towards the bright shades of summer – this is the perfect transitional colour.

This colour sadly was limited edition (boooooo) but if you can somehow get your hands on it I would definitely recommend doing so!

So lastly, I couldn’t not show you my snazzy new shoes:

Subtle, right?!

I fell in love with these as soon as I saw them on my daily trawl of the ASOS website (I have a problem, I know) and thought they were so fab for spring as, hopefully, the weather warms up a bit.  I LOVE the pointed toe on these, last summer it was all about the strappy mid-heeled sandal, but for me I much prefer this year’s version with the pointed toe instead.  The colour of these slightly differs from the photograph, they are definitely a very bright neon pink, rather than fuschia, which for me who embraces all things bonkers I adored, but for those wanting something more understated, these are probably not for you.  (But then you probably wouldn’t be looking at shoes with elastic pom-poms on anyway…)

Here is how I styled them yesterday:

I can just tell I will want to wear them EVERYWHERE!

Get yourself some crazy pink shoes here: http://www.asos.com

So, that’s all for now, thanks for reading!

Ellie x