My dressing table setup - The Ikea Malm!

Ello Lovelies!

I did one of the biggest cliche beauty blogger things... I got myself an Ikea Malm dressing table and I am absolutely loving it. While still living with my parents i had previously been sharing a dressing table with my Mother and had bee stuck to using just one small basket of makeup for my daily routine. As my Ikea Alex drawers were getting a tad full that set up really wasn't very practical and a lot of my collection was feeling unloved. So i decided to finally take the plunge and invest in my own little dressing table set up!

Having my own little space for a large portion of my collection has meant i am actually rotating my pretties a lot more and getting a lot more use out of things. The organisational lover in me is extremely happy with how it turned out and i find myself switching things in and out on a weekly basis. Having lots more options to hand means I've actually been switching up my daily face quite a bit too, win! The Ikea Malm dressing table is for, as dressing tables go, pretty reasonably priced at £95 (view here) and comes with a pretty glass top and a large pull out drawer. The only downside to this is that like the Ikea Alex drawers it does not fully extend, so a portion of space at the back is being wasted as it is difficult to reach back there, but that is my only small complaint.

I am pretty darn happy with how it looks now but will probably over the next year, replace some of the "less pretty" storage options on the table. Including the light, brush holders and the letter storage that is holding my MAC palettes. But for now, these are all pretty inexpensive and practical. The lamp was around £20 including the bulb and is great for aiming it where you need it (view here).

 

While not the prettiest brush holders the Ikea Dokument Pen Cups do the job just fine. And at £3.50 per 2 do not break the bank either.

Makeup Mirror - £7.99 The Range

Leopard Print Mirror - £9.99 The Range

Letter Rack - £2.50 The Range

Another blogging cliche... Muji drawers! While I don't find these the best for storage they are pretty useful for storing a lot of my small indie makeup collection. I also like to keep things like my Benefit Boxed Blushes in here as i find them a pain to store anywhere else. I do really need to go back and reorganise this but i just love looking at all my Sugarpill pigments in the bottom drawer! Oh so pretty!

Acrylic Storage -£10.95/£11.50 per stack of two Muji

And lastly my favourite part of my collection, the drawers! In my local Ikea these dividers were quite handily displayed right next to the Malm drawer and at a mere 80p each are quite the bargain! The drawer fits 6 dividers with enough room to store my favourite palettes down one side. Each divider has a smaller compartment and a larger one making it perfect for different shaped items. I love how i can fit a chunk of my lipstick collection neatly into one section!

Billingen - 80p each Ikea

I'm dead chuffed at how this turned out and to finally have my own little makeup space. I just wish my Ikea Alex drawers would fit next to it, but sadly i am about an inch short of space!

Do you have your own setup?

I'd love to see them!

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xo Katie

Illamasqua - Cream Pigment in Hollow - Review

Hi lovelies!

If Illamasqua are on your radar and you're a pale lady like me, Hollow is something that already heard a ton about (sorry!). I can't remember a day where I've done my makeup and haven't attempted to contour, its just finding that perfect product that is really a pain in the ass. Now I've purchased quite a few bronzers (i hear makeup artists weep at the thought of contouring with bronzer) and ultimately most are just too warm. I've been using my trusty Laguna and MAC Sculpt powder for a good year or more and thought it was about time to switch it up!

Illamasqua cream pigments are multitasking products that come in a variety of shades to be used on the eyes, lips or cheeks, or really wherever the hell you want them to go! Hollow is such a special shade as its been deemed by many as the perfect contour shade for paler complexions, and I totally agree with this statement.

Please excuse the messy pan pictures as i have committed the number 1 blogging sin.... I played around with it before phographing *gasp*. I've been using my Real Techniques contour to brush to apply this and I've found this SO easy to work with for contouring! It applies beautifully and you have to build it up to get a real defined look which is perfect for heavy handed me. Being cream in texture i find it wears longer on the skin, i do tend to set it with a swipe of my regular contour colour for extra definition and lasting power

Priced at £17.50 it isn't the cheapest product on earth but Illamasqua offer an extremely generous pro discount and often have sales, i picked this little gem up in their 50% off sale. If i ever get through this, i'll be repurchasing it in a heartbeat, i love it that much.

Overall i think this is a fantastic find for the paler population. If like me you struggle to find contour colours that are not too orange or muddy i really suggest checking this beauty out. You won't regret it!

You can find Hollow on the Illamasqua website here.

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xox

Blogiversary Giveaway! Win a MAC lipstick of your choice! (CLOSED)

Ello lovelies!

So since I've been MIA lately and completely missed my 600 followers mark (massive thank you btw) and my two year blogiversary i thought I'd do a little giveaway to celebrate and say thank you!

Mac lipsticks are some of my all time favourites so i thought what better to share with you lovely lot? It is open internationally and I will give one lucky follower a chance to pick and win a MAC lipstick of their choice (subject to availability) from the regular permanent line. All you have to do is enter using the Rafflecopter widget below, its that simple! Please remember to leave your email in the comments so i can contact the winner as soon as the giveaway ends.

Again a massive thank you to all of you who take the time to read and comment on my posts, it means the world to me. I'm currently still mega busy with the last few weeks of university this year but regular blog posts (and even a few videos) will be starting up again soon. Hope you're all enjoying the sun here in the UK!

Good luck!

xox

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Urban Decay - Naked Basics Palette - Review

Ello lovelies!
Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!
Today i'll be reviewing one of my favourite Christmas presents, the Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette! I'm generally a shimmer shadow kinda gal, so my collection is pretty bare when it comes to matte eyeshadow shades. Lately i've been digging through my collection to find my odd matte shades to experiment with so getting this little beauty in my stocking was a welcome addition!

Being the addict i am, this now means i own all three Naked palettes... This one is significantly smaller than the previous two, housing only six matte shades and its ickle size means it can fit in the palm of your hand, making it perfect for travel. The shades come within sturdy feeling plastic casing and has a large mirror inside, again handy for on the go. My only gripe with the palette is that it basically contains three (half of the palette) highlight shades; Venus a demi-matte perfect for highlighting, Foxy a yellow toned matte highlight and W.O.S a more pink toned shadow. Personally, W.O.S and Venus would of been plenty as Foxy is already in Naked 2.

The other three shades are perfect for creating an assortment of matte looks, I've been really enjoying using them to create a "Pin Up" type eye using winged eyeliner and a pop of glitter for some variation. Since Christmas this has been sat on my makeup desk permanently and i expect it'll stay there for the foreseeable future, because even if i don't often create a full look with this palette, some of the shades are extremely handy. Naked 2 makes a fantastic transition colour for me, W.O.S has become my go-to matte highlight and I've been loving using Crave to deepen any smokey eye I've been wearing. Texture and pigmentation wise they are great, but we don't really expect anything less from Urban Decay. It is, as the name suggests a really nice basic palette.

For any matte lovers out there, this is a must have. But if you own Naked 1, 2 or just aren't too fussed on mattes you may want to skip Naked Basics. But overall i am pretty damn pleased i received this as a gift as i can see myself getting a ton of use out of it. Price wise at £20 it isn't bad, if you consider how much a single MAC eyeshadow or even how much a single Urban Decay will set you back, you are only really paying a little over £3 per shadow, so not bad at all!

Do you own any of the Naked Palettes?

xox

FOTD: Winter Is Coming

 Hey Lovelies!

 My blogs been choc full of hauls lately, so i thought I'd change it up a tad and share the look I've been wearing quite a bit over the past few weeks. I love the whole rock chick trend at the moment and I've been obsessing over anything studded and bold, berry lips! Its a simple look as I've been pretty lazy on the eyeshadow lately, which needs to change soon. I've not been brave enough to try a black, burgundy smokey eye, but that's next on my list!

Eyes:

MUA - Eye Primer

Elf - Black Liquid Eyeliner

Almay - Get Up And Grow Mascara

Anastasia - Brow Powder Duo

Lips:

Jack Black - Lip Balm 

Revlon - Kissable Balm Stain in Crush

Face:

 Darling Girl - Face Primer

Tarte - Amazonian Clay Foundation in Ivory
Maybelline - Dream Lumi Concealer in Radiance

Laura Mercier- Secret Brightening Powder

Nars- Laguna Brzoner

Mac - Lightscapade
Tarte - Amazonian Clay Blush in Flush

  

I really need to get some more stain like products, i love the Revlon Balm Stains, even though they are on the drying side! But i don't fear having clown mouth with them and they have superb wear time, love them!

Have you cracked any "wintery" shades out of your stash yet?

xox

FOTD: Chinovi Neutrals

So i have finally gotten around to playing with my Chinovi Cosmetics goodies from my recent haul, hurray! And lets just say, i am not disappointed! But i wont go into that as my next post will be my full review and swatches, I'll just share a quick FOTD with you lovelies!

I've been on a real neutral kick lately, even my Naked palette is getting a bit of love, although on a whole its still far too warm for me. After swatching my new Chinovi shades i fell in love with a couple and have finally found a day time, smokey, neutral combo that doesn't pull too warm on me, yay! Just as per usual, ignore the brows, I've still not mastered those...

Eyes:
MUA - Eyeshadow Primer
Fyrinnae - Pixie Epoxy
Chinovi - Smoke Out
Chinovi - Nude Pearl +
Chinovi - Speechless
Elf - Black Liquid Eyeliner
MUFE - Smoky Lash
Mac - Fling Pencil

Face:
Estee Lauder - Double Wear Foundation
Bare Minerals - Blush (shade update later)
Nars - Laguna Bronzer
Inglot - Makeup Base

Lips:
L'occitane - Lip Balm

They were a dream to apply and such an easy look to do that i think this will be getting a lot of wear over the next few months. Also, I've managed to finally get my skin somewhat clear, I've changed a few things in my routine, like using non abrasive exfoliators and adding a few drops of tea tree to my toner and my skin is seeming to LOVE it! But again, another post on that soon!

What are your favourite neutrals?

xox

Halloween: Messing about

As i said in my previous post I've been messing around lately trying not to be a boring cow for Halloween. So i woke up surprisingly early and was in the mood to try something really out of my comfort zone! I'm not trained at all in makeup and after seeing a few tutorials over the past weeks i thought I'd give something new a try. I'm all about enhancing my features so uglying myself up was a bit of a scary task!

For a first ever attempt i was quite happy! Though the wounds didn't look how i first imagined. I've gone straight to ebay and ordered some liquid latex so hopefully i can perfect this look a little.

Products i used:

Duo eyelash adhesive
Tissue

Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation

Sugarpill Burning Heart Palette
Mac Carbon

Clear Gloss

I'm really loving experimenting with crazy looks lately and i shall definitely post an updated look when i improve this! Also please link me your Halloween looks or tutorials as i would love some more inspiration!

Thanks for reading!

xox