A Simple FOTD

There's a first time for everything, and today I'm sharing my first Face of the Day with you all. I had a presentation to do at uni today and then a nice late lunch with my future flatmates (plus our friend Dominic) so I made a bit of an effort hair-wise ('a bit of an effort' = putting it in a bun and letting it dry so it goes wavy). Speaking of hair, mine appears to have given itself a bit of an ombre effect, as the tips are much more red in colour than my roots these days, and I don't dye my hair at all.

Products used:

YSL Le Teint Touche Eclait foundation in BD40

YSL Touche Eclait in 1

Revlon bronzer in Sunkissed Bronze' 

Maybelline Dream Touch blush in 'Berry'

Mac powder (I genuinely can't remember, it could be a Select one...)

Mac 'Omega' eyeshadow (used on eyebrows)

Benefit 'They're Real' mascara

Max Factor Lipfinity in 'Iced'

Have you tried any of my FOTD products? Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading,

Rachel x

Twitter: rachelizabethxo

Personal blog: estoy mejor sin ti

Instagram: iRachey

Email: rachelelizabeth.xo@googlemail.com
Tumblr: lookintothestorm.tumblr.com

Pointless Beauty Products?

Hi guys :) We're going off on a slight tangent today because I have something I want to discuss a little. I went to my Grandma's house on Sunday and painted her nails. While we were sitting at her kitchen table in the middle of it all, my uncle walked in and told us that the most pointless thing he'd ever seen as ''a nail bar''. It got me thinking... are there any truly pointless beauty products? Or are there any beauty products we don't really need in the grand scheme of things?

Of course, there are plenty of people that would argue that most beauty products - especially those that serve no purpose health-wise - are pointless. The beauty world is divided and sub-divided into so many different camps that the usefulness of a product really does depend on the individual. Someone who has been blessed with amazing, long eyelashes (i.e. my brother and my friend Eliza, I'm very jealous) will find an eyelash curler utterly pointless, just as someone with flawless skin is unlikely to find a point to high coverage concealer.

A quick online search for ''pointless beauty products'' will bring up a whole host of articles on both really stupid beauty products and products that many of us use, but probably don't really do a lot. 

For me, at the moment, heat protector sprays/serums have to be the most pointless products I've used. If I don't use them for a while, then I start again, my hair feels and looks amazing. After a couple of weeks, it will look and feel like it needs washing, even though I have literally just washed it. If I stop using these products, it goes back to feeling and looking good. They also don't seem to do anything at all to protect my hair, in fact it does dry and straw-like when I'm using them. 

Another pointless product, for me, is any obnoxiously coloured eyeliner. Generally speaking, there are few people who can pull of bright colours anywhere near their eyes. Bright shadow is one thing, but eyeliner is certainly another. I would also go even more specific on this one, and add that drugstore bright eyeliners are pointless. A very long time ago, I owned a green Rimmel eyeliner (it's probably still for sale, it was one of the kohl ones) and literally never used it. It looked horrendous and there was no look that would ever pull it off. 

The last product I'll mention today is the good old make-up wipe. I am yet to find a make-up wipe that actually removes make-up. If I really do have to use a make-up wipe (especially before showering), I have to use some toner on a cotton pad and remove the rest of my make-up with that. They just don't seem to do anything other than gently remove random patches of foundation. Any make-up remover that leaves you with a disgusting oily, beige coloured slick all over your face after showering isn't worth the time, money or effort, in my opinion.

What about you? What are your pointless beauty products? Or are any of them the same as mine? Let me know in the comments, I'd love to hear what your opinions are on this!

Thanks for reading,

Rachel x

Twitter: rachelizabethxo

Personal blog: estoy mejor sin ti

Instagram: iRachey

Email: rachelelizabeth.xo@googlemail.com

OPI 'Tomorrow Never Dies'

My mum and I were having a wander around Harvey Nichols last Saturday when we encountered an OPI stand. Now, I didn't know HN sold OPI at all and I had a very happy moment right there and then browsing the colours they had. I settled on just the one (for now!), 'Tomorrow Never Dies' from the Skyfall collection.

I also own four of the Skyfall minis, but I have to say I wasn't overly impressed with them. I ended up choosing this colour because it reminds me of a Nails Inc mini that I'm almost out of and can't replace. 

(I've just noticed how dusty that bottle looks, I've no idea why because it's brand new)

Unlike the Skyfall minis, which chipped on me so easily it was almost painful to realise, this polish wears well and lasts well too. The colour is also absolutely mesmerising and is a lot brighter in person than it will ever come across on camera. 

I'd describe this colour as a vibrant, metallic purple with gorgeous deep blue undertones that are reflected in certain lighting. I think this is one of those colours that doesn't really fit into a 'season' (for example, pastels in spring, maroons in autumn etc) but can look gorgeous all year round.

Have you ever tried any of the Skyfall polishes? Or any OPI polishes at all? What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below :)

Thanks for reading,

Rachel x

Twitter: rachelizabethxo

Personal blog: estoy mejor sin ti

Instagram: iRachey

Email: rachelelizabeth.xo@googlemail.com

Celestial

Those of you with a keen eye for new releases might have already figured out what today's post is about purely by the title, but if you're not quite up to speed on recent releases then you might be excited to hear that Rimmel have released a new line of lip products.

All hail the Apocalips! I'm actually quite wary of hyped releases such as this, as usually the products don't really live up to expectation. The colours in this line are, admittedly, gorgeous, although only the colour I'm showing you today appealed to me personally. The remaining shades, such as Big Bang or Stellar, are perfect for those who love to wear a bright, bold lip. I picked up Celestial while I had some time to kill in the train station last week and am pleased to say that it does indeed live up to expectation.

Of the lip products I already own, I'd compare the formula and consistency of this product to my NYX lip creams. Celestial is a vibrant, springtime pink that stays on the lips for a very decent amount of time and won't need to be reapplied every hour or so. The only downside to this product is the smell, which really does not appeal to me at all. Thankfully, it disappears once on the lips and it doesn't hang around for long at all.

As a student who often spends all day in university without chance to reapply make-up, I have to say I was very impressed with this product. I also think it will be very versatile and can be used to create a number of looks. 

Here's what it looks like overall ^ What do you think? Have you tried any of the Apocalips products? Do you think you would now? Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading,

Rachel x

Twitter: rachelizabethxo

Personal blog: estoy mejor sin ti

Instagram: iRachey

Email: rachelelizabeth.xo@googlemail.com

January Favourites!

So January has been and gone and we're now firmly into the month of February (cue Josh Groban's 'February Song' playing over the top of this post), but even though it's a little late I thought I'd put up some of my January favourites.

Philosophy 'Luscious Lime' shower gel

I bought this in the sale just after Christmas in Debenhams and I've been loving it when I'm feeling tired and need refreshing on an evening. It also smells exactly like lime jelly, which is a major win for my inner child.

Korres Lip Butter in Jasmine

I've posted about the Korres Lip Butters before and I have to say I've recently fallen for the brand big time. I think this is probably the perfect lip butter for my lips and it's really been helping with my dry, chapped winter time lip problems. It also smells divine, which is always a bonus.

L'Occitane Cocoa Flower and Desert Rose Hand Creams

These are unlinked (btw, the Philosophy shower gel is linked, the colour won't shop up as blue though) as they were limited edition and no longer on the L'Occitane website. I bought them in the sale just after Christmas and I adore them both. L'Occitane hand creams are my favourites anyway, so this could have included a few more scents. 

NYX Powder Blush in Pinched

I never used to be a blush kind of a girl, I actually used to hate it and only wore it on very rare occasions. I bought this recently and have fallen in love with it. It's not too pink, and it has coral/orange undertones that I love. I've also heard it's a dupe for that Nars blush.

I had many more January favourites, but these are just a few of them. Have you tried any of these products? Let me know what you think in the comments below :)

Thanks for reading,

Rachel x

Twitter: rachelizabethxo

Personal blog: estoy mejor sin ti

Instagram: iRachey

Email: rachelelizabeth.xo@googlemail.com

Requested: Nail Tutorial - Art Attack

Hi guys :) Today's post is going to be a requested tutorial of the nail art I posted about most recently. My usual 'hand model' (AKA my mum, haha) was unavailable so I've done it on an acrylic nail, hopefully you'll still be able to follow it though :)

So, you will need:

- 1x base coat (not pictured)
- 1x top coat (I used Sally Hansen Mega Shine)
- 1x white nail polish 
- As many other colours as you want to go in your pattern. I recommend the colours pictured to create the same effect as I did, and will refer to these colours in my tutorial. 
- 1x paintbrush (as cheap as possible, you'll see why later on)
- 1x nail polish remover and cotton pads

Step 1:

Apply your base coat and allow to dry. This is particularly important with a polish such as a white one, as they can often leave yellowing on the nails without a base coat being applied first.

Step 2:
Coat your nails with the white polish until they become opaque. Make sure you allow each coat to dry before re-applying, as you could end up pulling the drying polish and ruining the nails.

Step 3:
Take your paintbrush and yellow polish and lightly dab the end of the paintbrush onto the nail polish brush. You could try dipping the brush into the polish, but chances are you will end up with too much polish and will need to start over. Paint from one corner of the nail outwards and feather the ends out as much as possible.

Step 4:

Now take your orange colour and layer it over the yellow, trying to blend the two colours together as much as possible. Don't worry about it looking messy, this will be covered up later in the design.

Step 5:

Now take your bright pink and do the same as in step 4. In addition to this, you want to try and feather this colour out even more than you have previously. You can do this by pressing the brush against the nail.

Step 6:

Now we're going to introduce a slightly darker colour. Use your blue (I used something in between bright and dark, you don't want to go too dark) in the same way as your previous colours.

Step 7:

You're going to add some black now, just to give the pattern a bit more depth. Try not to feather this out too much, as these nails are mainly supposed to be colourful.

Step 8:

If you saw my original post, you might have noticed that red was the most prominent colour. This is the stage where you need to add the red. Don't be afraid to use a lot of this, however make sure you don't try and make the colour opaque. 

Step 9:

To darken the nails even further, add some green, and finally add some purple.

Step 10:

You're pretty much done with adding the colour now, however if you want to add any more of the colours you've already applied, feel free to do this and allow the nail to dry. In the photo below, I added more blue and yellow

Step 11:

Once the nail is dry, apply your top coat and you're done!

Overall, I don't think this tutorial is complicated to do, but it does take a bit of time and I wouldn't recommend you try doing this when you're in a hurry. I think this design could be mixed up so much for different seasons, occasions etc, and when I come back to it in the future I'll post some more NOTDs for you :)

I hope that was helpful, but if you have any questions, feel free to leave me a comment, tweet me or send me an email, the links are all at the end of this post :)

Thanks for reading,

Rachel x

Twitter: rachelizabethxo

Personal blog: estoy mejor sin ti

Instagram: iRachey

Email: rachelelizabeth.xo@googlemail.com

Treat Yourself...

Hola everybody :) In the past few weeks, I've had my first four university exams. When I was finally freed on Thursday 17th, I decided to treat myself. After a not-so-pleasant experience ordering from  Mac online (which I'll discuss in a future post when my order finally arrives...) which resulted in a lipstick being refunded, I decided to find something to replace it...

After walking around the Mac counter in Harvey Nichols for a while and swatching almost everything I looked at, I decided on Syrup. Seen as I already have slightly-darker-than-average lips, Syrup is like a slightly more pink nude on me, which is exactly what I was hoping it would be.

In the swatch above, I had a tiny amount of gloss over the top but by the time this photo was taken it had pretty much faded away. The colour you see above is fairly true to how it looks on the lips. 

And here's what it looks like from more of a distance... I wore it out to a family party last night and while the colour did stay all night, I did find that my lips felt a little dry so I reapplied a few times. With the exception of this, so far I really like this lipstick and feel that I will definitely get more use out of it than any of the more typical nudes I own by Mac (aka Hue and Creme Cup, which are lovely but quite hard to work with). 

What do you think? Do you own Syrup? What's your favourite Mac lipstick? Let me know in the comments :)

Thanks for reading,

Rachel x

Twitter: rachelizabethxo

Personal blog: estoy mejor sin ti

Instagram: iRachey

Email: rachelelizabeth.xo@googlemail.com