Daniel Sandler Watercolour Blush Review

I recently purchased this Watercolour Blusher by Daniel Sandler in shade 'Gentle' from an app called Depop, if you don't know it, it's basically ebay and instagram in one,  for around £6 (RRP 15.50) and to be honest, what made me want to purchase it, was the packaging. I'm a sucker for nice packaging (YSL, I'm looking at you). 

First of all, you have to shake this really well before using it otherwise the pigment separates from the liquid and it comes out really oily (although they are oil free..). This blush is very very pigmented and a little on your cheeks will go a very long way so this little bottle will go a long way. The shade I had (gentle) is a peach-y pink with a hint of brown.

Bottom: one drop of the Watercolour Blush

Top: blended in drop of the Watercolour Blush

When I first received this, I didn't really like this product and couldn't really get along with it. I've now found that the easiest way to apply this blush is the put a drop of the blush (shake it first!) on my finger and dot it on the apple of my cheek and use my Real Techniques Expert Face Brush to blend it in. The only thing I dislike about the Daniel Sandler Watercolour Blush is that it seems to take off my foundation under the blush which is a little annoying but other than that, it's great!

This product is very buildable so can be used for a little 'pop' on your cheeks, or can be built up by reapplying for even more colour. 

Millie x

My Everyday Makeup Routine

Whoops, I haven't posted for a while because I just completely forgot! I've decided to show you all my usual make up routine that I do every day (unless I'm not going anywhere...). I know people usually do these as a Youtube video buuuut 1) I'm not going to show my bare face (don't want to scare you all!) 2) I have no idea how to edit videos 3) I have an annoying voice 4) I don't have a tripod for my camera..
So, here we go....

1) Well firstly I wash my face or use a make up wipe just to make sure get off all the make up from the last time I wore it. I then use the Garnier Moisture Match Moisturiser in Dry-Very Dry Skin, I only recently got this but so far, so good! I have quite dry skin, so using just a primer and not a moisturiser was way too drying and so the foundation didn't look as 'flawless'.

2) Next, I use the Garnier 5 Second Perfect Blur Primer. This primer has the weirdest texture but works so well! I wouldn't say it actually 'blurs' your face but I keeps my foundation on all day so does the job i'd like a primer to do.

3) I then use the YSL Touche Eclat in shade 2 which is a liiiitle bit too light but I find it doesn't really matter that much as I just use it as an under eye concealer and a under brow highlighter. I dot the Touche Eclat a few times under my eye and blend it in with my finger. I do the same on my brow bone.

4) To set the concealer I use the Natural Collection Loose Powder in Cool Translucent. I use this with a large eyeshadow brush and pat it on top of the concealer just so it won't come off during the day.

5) The foundation I have been using for the last couple of weeks is the Maybelline Dream Creamy Foundation in shade 48 - Sun Beige. I don't actually think they sell this in shops anymore but I got mine online at fragrancedirect.com. It's basically a liquid foundation that's been set in a pot, it's describes as 'solid-to-liquid, ultra-smooth and hydrating' which I completely agree with! I use my Real Techniques Expert Face Brush with this foundation which I absolutely love (much better for foundation than the Real Techniques Stippling Brush!) 

6) To set all of my foundation I use Rimmel London Stay Matte Pressed Powder in 004 Sandstorm with my Real Techniques Powder Brush. I'm on my 3rd pot of this powder and it's my favourite! It hides the shine of the foundation really well and hides visible pores well.

7) Next, I use Bourjois Paris Bronzing Primer for contouring (yes..I know it's meant for priming buuuut..) and I use this with a angled brush. I contour my cheek bones just so I don't look dead! It's so blendable (is that even a word) and such a good colour, not orange or too dark at all! I swear by this product, I love it! Another upside is the smell, it smells like chocolate and is aaaamazing, smells good enough to eat!

8) The next product I use is the YSL Quad Blush with my Real Techniques Blush Brush which like the other Real Technique brushes are super soft! The blusher is a lovely dark plum colour, 1 shade has a shimmer, the other is matte.

9) The mascaras I have recently been using are the Rimmel Lash Accelerator, then the Magnifibres Brush on False Lashes, then the Rimmel mascara again. I have a video demo/tutorial of this on my Instagram (@studdedpetals). The magnifibres is basically a mascara wand with white fluffy bits that stick to the mascara and extend your lashes a lot! It completely looks like 'brush on false lashes'.

10) My go to eyeliner is the Lancome Le Crayon Khol Noir pencil. I am terrible at eyeliner so a liquid is out of the question, even with this pencil, it usually just ends up as a black blur..

11) My last step is the product I have been most exited for! The Maybelline Babylips have just been released in the UK a few weeks ago and I love them! I have 4 of them and the one I use most is the Hydrate Babylips. It does as it says, it hydrates! These are by far the best lip balms I have used and them smell great!

Hope you enjoyed reading!

Millie x

This or That Tag!

I've seen this tag on a few other blogs and I really enjoyed reading them so I thought I'd have a go, so, here goes..
Makeup Blush or bronzer- Hmm, I'd say blush as I literally look dead without it!
Lipgloss or lipstick-  As much as I love lipsticks, it'd have to be lipgloss, I rarely go out with bare lips even if it's just some Vaseline.
Eyeliner or mascara-  Mascara, I'm absolutely awful at eyeliner no matter if it's pencil, liquid or gel. I just don't understand how some people can get both eyes exactly symmetrical!
Foundation or concealer-  Foundation any day. I never go out without foundation (unless it's to like Tesco's or a car boot sale or something..) which I know is bad for your skin but eh oh well
Neutral or colour eyeshadow- Neutral
Pressed or loose eyeshadow-  Pressed although loose eyeshadows are usually more pigmented but can be so messy!
Brushes or sponges- Brushes, I use the Real Techniques brushes and find them great! I use the 'expert face brush' for liquid foundation and the 'powder brush' for, well, powder foundation
Nail Polish-
Long or short-  Long! I've recently stopped biting my nails (I know, it's gross) and I'm so happy that I finally have some long nails to paint!!
Acrylic or natural-  I've never had acrylics because they ruin your nails underneath, so natural.
Brights or darks-  Darks
Body Perfume or body splash- I'm not too sure what body splash is...so perfume.
Lotion or body butter- Body butter, I use Palmers Coco Butter and it smells amazing.
Lush or other bath company- Lush! I only really buy the bath bombs from Lush but I love them, especially the Dragons Egg one.
Fashion Jeans or sweat pants- Jeans, I don't think I've ever gone out in sweat pants.
Long or short sleeves- Short
Dresses or skirts- Dresses, although I have so many that I never wear..
Stripes or plaid- Stripes
Flip flops or sandals- Sandals, flip flops are so annoying
Studs or dangly earrings- Dangly, if hoops count as dangly..
Necklaces or bracelets- Hmmm, probably bracelets.
Cowboy or riding boots- Neither really buuut riding boots
Jacket or hoodie- Jacket
Forever 21 or Charlotte Russe- Forever 21 as I've never heard of Charlotte Russe, guess it's an American store?
Abercrombie or Hollister- I don't really like either but Hollister, as some of their swimwear is pretty
Saks 5th or Nordstrom- I've never purchased from either, but Nordstom.
Hair Curly or straight- Straight! I have very curly hair and I hate it so much as it's usually just frizz...
Bobby pins or butterfly clips- Bobby pins
Hairspray or gel- Hairspray, gel is so sticky, although some hairspray can be as well.
Long or short- Long, I look awful with short hair!
Light or dark- Light, I have naturally very dark brown hair but I've just dyed it a lighter brown and it looks so much better.
Side or full fringe- Side, never again will I get a full fringe..
Up or down- Down, I have such an weird hair line so I prefer my hair down.
Random Rain or shine- Shine
Summer or winter- Summer, although I moan about it being too hot and too cold..
fall or spring- Spring
Chocolate or vanilla- Chocolate!
Millie x

Car Boot Sale Bargain Haul

Ok so I go to car boot sales nearly every Sunday morning (I know, I'm sad...) and I've found some of the best bargains recently. If you're not familiar with car boot sales, they're basically where people go to a field to sell a load of their unwanted things, from furniture to clothes and everything in between! Honestly, about 98% of the stuff there is a load of crap but occasionally you find an amazing bargain and i'm going to share with you the best bits I've found in the last couple of months...

The first item is this Chanel Infrarouge lipstick in shade 12 Crystal.

I'm not sure how much this is new but I got it for only £2! It's a lovely light pink colour with silver glitter all the way through it. All make up I buy at car boot sales, I either cut off the top (for lipsticks), wash the wands (for lipglosses) or scrape the top layer off (for concealers). I also (I know this sounds so bad...) look at the sellers of the makeup and decide if I should buy it or not. 

The next 2 items I got were these Mac Lipglass lipglosses in shades C-Thru (top one) and Spirited (bottom)

The RRP for these are £14 each and I got both for £3! C-thru is a pinky peach nude tone lipgloss with a little sparkle to it. I love Macs lipglasses as they're not sticky like other lipglosses and I find they stay on for quite a while. The other shade is Spirited which I think is discontinued and is a nude bronze-y colour which is fairly sheer, I'm not too sure on this colour as it doesn't suit my skin tone so I think i'll just stick with the other one.

I got these Chanel Glossimer lipglosses for £2 each instead the RRP price of £21 each! 

The one on the left is in shade 407 and the right is 12, I'm completely in love with these and they both are so glossy and glittery. The one on the left is a sheer pink with glitter and the one on the right is a very pale pink with less glitter in than 407.

I had wanted to try the Rimmel London Apocalips after I had seen a few youtubers and bloggers talking about how great they are. 

I got these both for brand new for £1.50 instead of £5.99! The shade on the top is Apocaliptic and the bottom is Stellar. Apocalips are basically a liquid lipstick, the formula of these are so amazing as they're not sticky, so glossy and stay on all day and also he applicators are super easy to use!

I got this Chanel Chance Shimmer Touch for £2 instead of around £40 so a massive bargain!

When I got this I wasn't quite sure what it is but bought it anyways because, you know, it's Chanel! I now know that it's a glittery gel version of their perfume, Chanel Chance. It smell amaaazing and I wear it very often. 

I got these Mac eyeshadows for £1 for both instead of an RRP of £12.50. 

The left is Nocturnelle and the right is Sumptuous Olive. There are SO many fake Mac products out there so I did a bit of research and so now I know how to tell a fake product from the real ones. Nocturnelle is a frost finish and is a deep purple with a light shimmer to it, Sumptious Olive is a Vuluxe Pearl finish and is a shimmery golden green colour.

I got this Maybelline Color Tattoo 24 Hr creme eyeshadow brand new for £1.50 instead of £4.99.

It's in the shade 20 Turquoise Forever and I haven't actually used it yet but from what I have read, they are great affordable dupes for Mac's paint pots. The colour I got is a very bright and pigmented silver shimmery turquoise. 

I am in love with YSL Blush Variation and I got it for only £2 instead of $44

This blusher contains 2 different pinky shades, 1 matte and 1 shimmery and suites my skin tone quite well. Both shades are quite a deep plum-y pink with 1 being quite iridescent. 

This American Apparel skirt is one of my favourite buys from car boot sales. It's the Corduroy Circle skirt and I got it for £1 instead of £44. The one in the picture isn't actually the one I got for £1, it's another one I bought on Ebay for around £10. The other one I got at the car boot sale was a light peachy pink colour and I l o v e it! It looks great with American Apparel leotards teamed with my much loved Jeffrey Campbell Coltranes

Okay now this is my favourite buy. I got this last week from a dealer who is there every week with different brand new clothes. It's a all over sequin crop top from Topshop and had a RRP of £45 but I got it for £7. The sequins are a blue-y holographic colour which change colour when in the light. It really reminds me of a blue version of the crop that Rihanna wore the other week which I completely loved!

And that's it! Those are my favourite bits I have got from car boot sales recently and hopefully I will be finding some more bargains. Hope you enjoyed reading, 

Millie x

My Mini Mac Lipstick Collection - Swatches & Review

from left to right : Hibiscus, Viva Glam V, Viva Glam Nicki, Speed Dial, Lickable

I thought I'd make a post about my Mac lipsticks as i'm completely in love with Mac and most of their products! I only currently own 5 Mac lipsticks but I'm hoping to grow my collection soon (even thought Mac have just raised their prices to £15 for 1 lipstick!)  
I have only purchased 3 of these directly from a Mac store as honestly, I think they're a rip off! I've got Hibiscus and Viva Glam V from a blogsale for around £7 each which is a much more reasonable price.

How I apply them..

When applying these, to get a neat finish, I usually use a tiny thin eyeliner brush (picture below) and wipe it on the top of the lipstick and outline my lips first by just brushing round the edge of my lip shape with the brush which. I then use the thicker (concealer?) brush (picture below) and wipe it in the lipstick then just fill in my lips carefully to make sure I don't smudge the lipliner. 

If you really can't be bothered with all that, just get the lipstick and apply it directly which is really much easier but I don't think it looks as good. 

Left : eyeliner brush

Right : concealer brush (I think...)

Shades and Swatches

Lickable

This is a Cremesheen finish and my favourite shade out of all 5. Because it's a Cremesheen finish, it goes on so nicely and doesn't dry out your lips at all, unlike the Matte finish ones. It's a deep, blue toned very pigmented pink colour and gives a opaque finish that stays on all day if you blot and reapply once when first putting it on. Like all of Mac's lipsticks, it has their signature vanilla smell which smells amazing! Even though you can't see in the swatch below, Lickable has a faint glittery shimmer which I love.

Lickable swatch

Speed Dial

Speed Dial is also a Cremesheen finish and is my 2nd favourite lipstick, just behind Lickable. I purchased this shade after someone on my Instagram recommended it to me after I said how much I was loving Lickable. Speed Dial is a light (lighter than Lickable) slightly blue based pinky colour and also has a shimmery finish with a slightly less opaque finish than Lickable and therefore doesn't stay on as long. I feel like Speed Dial would suit most skin tones quite nicely!

Speed Dial Swatch

Viva Glam Nicki

This is my least favourite shade out of them all which I hate to say because I love Nicki Minaj, but not the lipstick. It's a Matte finish which is partly why I dislike it, it leaves my lips so dry and doesn't apply very well so leaves the creases of my lips without lipstick or it just comes off very quickly. Another reason I dislike it is the shade, it's a bright (I mean bright..) pink with yellow undertones and really doesn't suit my skin tone at all! Oh well, at least the money for this lipstick all went to charity!

Viva Glam Nicki Swatch

Viva Glam V

This is one of the lipsticks I have purchased from a blogsale which is why there isn't much less as the blogger cut off the top of the lipstick for hygiene. This is my only Lustre finish Mac lipstick (I can't really tell the difference between Lustre and Cremesheen) and is a pinky brown/nude colour. I haven't worn this much as I can't decide whether I suit it or not. It's semi-sheer and is very shimmery and reminds me a bit of a less pink version of Mac's Shy Girl.

 Viva Glam V Swatch

Hibiscus (limited edition shade)

This is another Cremesheen finish and was part of Mac's limited edition Surf Baby collection and is no longer available to buy. I also purchased this one from a blogsale as I loved the colour and packaging but you can't buy new in store. Hibiscus is a bright red-y coral colour and is very pigmented, it also has a slight gold sparkle. It's a very summery shade and is quite sheer, I haven't worn this much as it's so bright! A good dupe for this would be Mac's Cyndi or Rimmel's Coral Queen.

Hibiscus Swatch

And that's it! Please let me know what else you'd like me to blog about via comments below or my Instagram (@studdedpetals)

Thanks for reading!

July Wish List

1. ASOS Sheer Panel Mini Dress - £22

2. Topshop Chunky Gold Chain Necklace - £12.50

3. Jeffrey Campbell Coltrane in White - £123

4. ASOS Lizard Cat Eye Sunglasses - £15 (on sale)

5.  River Island Cream Beaded Kimono - £60

6. Topshop Blue Lace Ankle Socks - £3.50

Hey everyone!

I've finally decided to start my own blog after years of lusting over everyone else's fashion and beauty blogs! I've put my first post as a fashion wish list for this month and i'll be (trying to...) do a wish list every month. I'll be adding beauty product reviews, ootd posts, fashion/beauty hauls and more! 

 July Wish List

1. OK so this isn't really a 'wish' item as I actually purchased it the other day (as you may have seen on my Instagram) and i'm already in love! The only thing I dislike about this dress is that it's white and i'm obviously going to spill something down it or get makeup on it...

2. A staple piece of jewellery really, a chunky gold chain goes with about any outfit!

3. I already own these cut out boots in silver and I wear them ALL the time! I'm so tempted to buy them in white, they're just so perfect aaaaahhhhh

4. Who doesn't love lizards? Who doesn't love sunglasses? Exactly.

5. Kimono jackets are perfect for the summer and this one is just so beautiful. I've seen it in a River Island store recently and it's so nicely beaded, think this may need a purchase..

6. Everybody needs to own some Topshop frilly socks and if you're me, you buy 3 pairs (for £8) then lose them all within a week. Think I might just stick with the Primark ones for £1.50..