MAC Viva Glam Nicki II

I'm really not ashamed to admit that I'm a Nicki Minaj fan. I know that some people find her a bit garish and ridiculous but I think she's an excellent show woman and has created some cracking tunes! In Fenwicks in Newcastle recently I remembered that MAC had released a Viva Glam Nicki II. As I already own MAC's Viva Glam Nicki I, not to buy Nicki II and do my bit for charity would be a crime would it not? 

I admit I was a little apprehensive about the colour when I saw it in the tube, but I asked an MUA to sanitise the tester and applied it liberally to my lips, low and behold I adored the result, it's unlike any lip colour I've owned before.

Viva Glam Nicki II is a 'vivid pastel lavender pink' so say MAC, with an amplified cream finish making this lipstick feel incredibly buttery and moisturising on the lips. It doesn't drag upon application (I hate feeling the pull of matte lipsticks as I apply them!) and settles on my lips in a perfect pastel colour which will be excellent for spring/summer when I have a bit more of a tan. I was afraid this colour would make me look a little bit washed out but, paired with a full face of makeup one shade darker than my natural skin colour, it really pops out. 

I'm not going to lie, I've had loads of compliments about this lip colour. It's the kind of colour people always say they want to try but shy away from doing so. I think it's beautiful, and hope my tube lasts me a long time considering it's limited edition!

MAC Viva Glam Nicki II is available in stores and online. All proceeds of the full sale of the RRP (£14.00) go to the MAC Aids Fund. 

Are you a Nicki Minaj fan?
What's your favourite MAC lipstick?

Little Beauty Quirks

Borrowed from here.

I was thinking this morning about the little random beauty regime quirks that I perform on a regular basis and wondered if there was anybody else out there who does odd little things that deviate from the 'norm'. To see what I mean, read my list of beauty related things I do:

• If I haven't managed to exfoliate/cleanse my face before bed (blame extreme tiredness/drunken nights out/lack of pre-sleep shower/use of face wipes) then I will, without fail, use a face mask in the morning.
• I always follow a set routine in the shower/bath: first shampoo, then rinse. Then lather conditioner and leave it to work it's softening magic. While that's soaking in I will exfoliate my face and scrub my nose the most (I seem to collect dry skin there). Then the conditioner is rinsed out before I lather up in shower gel/body scrub (currently using up a Lush Snow Fairy) and stand under the water pretending I'm under a tropical waterfall. All this is done while mouthing the words to Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna or Pink as their tunes play on my phone. 
• The first thing I do post shower is use cotton buds to get the water out of my ears. I hate the feeling of wet inner ears!
• I always, without fail, have to sanitise my hands before I apply my makeup, even if I'm only using brushes and won't actually touch my skin. Carex hand sanitiser is my best chum!
• I clean my brushes every Sunday morning after I apply my makeup for the day and will always have them drying on the bathroom floor, wrapped in a towel - much to the amusement of my housemate who says that I am obsessed with cleaning them. I'm right to be so! 
• Everything in my stash has a home, a place where it can always be located, and things are ordered according to product type (a place for hair products, lipsticks, moisturisers, samples etc). I can't bare to put anything in a new home, unless I'm having a massive move around like I did recently because I found that my lipsticks were melting because of the sunlight :(

Anyone else have little quirks they'd like to share?

Where Louise Went Shopping: The New Topshop In Durham City

Like most girls my age I am obsessed with Topshop. I was a teeny tiny bit (read: a lot) devastated when I came back to Durham from my Christmas break to find that my beloved Topshop was closed. Out of fear and curiosity thinking it might have closed down, I hurried across the cobbles to take a peek in the store only to find that it was having a refit! Hurrah! It has recently re-opened and I took the time after my class today have a peek inside...

I absolutely love Topshop clothing, they have such a lovely range of items to suit pretty much anybody. The Durham store used to be quite tiny and it was quite hard to shop because of the lack of rail space (clothes were stacked behind others, and you really had to hunt out a gem), however this is no more! Denim now has it's own little room, shoes cover the entire back wall, and what's especially exciting is that Durham Topshop now has a stand of Topshop Make-Up :)

Topshop make-up is relatively new to me, I've only ever used one of their kohl eyeliners before, but I loved how soft it was and ended up having a big swatching session today. The lip crayons, eyeshadow sticks and cream blushes are simply divine. I'm definitely taking J back in there for my birthday next week! I'd definitely love to pick up some nail polish, especially the shade Milkshake, which is a gorgeous baby pink. 

All in all the new Durham City Topshop is small but perfectly formed, no longer cave like with wonky flooring it's now bright, colourful, easy to navigate, and all of the ladies who I spoke to today who were working the shop floor and on the tills were lovely. I'm also rather pleased with my sneaky little purchases, hello birthday outfit for Tuesday!

Well done Topshop, I can't wait until my final student loan comes in <3

Are you a Topshop fan? 

Event // Benefit's Launch of FakeUp, Tivoli Restaurant Fenwicks Newcastle

Whoo, I love Benefit! 

I was very naughty yesterday and ended up skipping my last ever university seminar all in favour of attending the Benefit Cosmetics UK 'FakeUp' roadshow event when it landed in Fenwicks in Newcastle. I'd not attended an event before, save for my little trip to TKMaxx the other morning, so I had no idea of what to expect, or who was going to be there. Worries were put aside straight away when I met up with Kayleigh from Couture Girl, Lucy from LucyRoseX and Shannon from RaspberryKiss outside of the Eldon Square Primark and we set off in search of the Tivoli restaurant inside Fenwicks.

Yummy Canapés 

We were greeted at the entrance to the restaurant by some fabulously enthusiastic ladies from Benefit, Jo, their social media manager, and Claire, the event co-ordinator for Scotland and the NE. We were offered beautiful flutes of champagne and some tasty looking canapés (the smoked salmon scones were particularly yummy!) before we sat down and got to know some of the other #bbloggers who had made it to the event too. It was lovely to meet Catrine from UnnakedNails, and lots of other girls who gave me their names and blogs (I'm going to do a little following session soon!).

Claire demonstrating FakeUp 

Claire then had us all stand up for the FakeUp demonstration. FakeUp is Benefit's new hydrating concealer that's launching nationwide on the 30th of March, and will be available in three shades, Light, Medium and Dark, priced at £18.50. It's an incredibly innovative little product encased in the most perfect packaging (loving the pink damask style on the silver tube). It provides up to 6 hours of hydration, and I can definitely vouch, having tried it at the event, that it felt very moisturising under my eyes - goodbye dry dark circles! I'm going to do a more in depth review soon when I've had the chance to try it out for a longer period of time, I've just put my face on this morning and used the Medium shade and so far I am absolutely loving it! 

Benefit are also celebrating the 1 year anniversary of their wonderful Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow foundation, another product I adore, and there were chances to win some bottles last night during a little quiz. Well done to those who won something! 

I had such a wonderful time with the Benefit ladies last night, and meeting so many fabulous #bbloggers from Newcastle and the surrounding area. As I said before some of use were a little bit nervous but all worries were put aside when we realised what a friendly bunch we all are! That's one of the reasons why I love the #bbloggers community so much! 

I borrowed this from Benefit_UK_IRE's Twitter. Such a lovely bunch of ladies!

To the girls who have an invite for the other Benefit FakeUp events further down south have an amazing time!  (I know they're going to Leeds, London, and most exciting of all my little home city of Plymouth, down in Devon. I wish I could attend that one too, it'd be lovely to meet some Devon, Somerset and Cornwall #bbloggers too - so holla at me if you're living down there!) There will be lots of laughs, because as Benefit say, 'Laughter is the best cosmetic, so grin and wear it!'

Thank-you so much Benefit for inviting me <3 

Are you tempted by FakeUp?

What's your favourite Benefit product?

B.Pure Micellar Water

With the recent hype surrounding the beloved Bioderma making it's first UK appearance in stores, I thought I'd jump on the micellar water bandwagon and hunt out something a little cheaper, and closer to home. I've used Bioderma in the past and absolutely loved it, but, let's face it, it's kind of pricy.

Recently Superdrug brought out their new skincare and makeup range, 'B.' and I went in to check it out (lured in by the offer of a freebie I must admit!). I love how extensive the collection is, it comprises of a wide range of makeup and skincare products, from eyeshadow, foundation and BB cream to moisturisers, exfoliators, wrinkle fillers and everything in between. The range isn't too expensive either, all makeup is under £11, skincare under £14.

I was delighted to find that the range included a micellar water, and mine was the last on the shelf so no doubt it's going to be popular. For only £4.99 for 150ml you get a lot of product for your pennies, which pleases me greatly!

Superdrug say that it's a 'quick and easy 3-in-1 cleanser that dissolves impurities in a single sweep, no water required'. I couldn't agree more! It's also gentle enough to be suitable for sensitive skin types, and I was over the moon to see that it's cruelty free - the little leaping bunny logo sits in the bottom left hand corner on the back of the bottle. As an added bonus this micellar water is suitable for vegetarians and vegans. While I do not classify myself as either a vegetarian or a vegan I think it's vile when I learn that there are animal derivatives in certain products that I would never have dreamt I'd find them. *shudders*.

Put simply, I adore this micellar water, it's blown my Bioderma out of the window. I apply a few drops to a large oval cotton pad and sweep it all over my face and neck - I'm surprised to see the amount of fluff my face picks up, even when I've just cleansed it! It has no scent or colour which makes it a perfectly universal product, perfect for everyone who likes to add an extra cleansing/toning step in their skincare routine, or, if you're like me, running a little late for work/uni/school in the mornings.

I can definitely see this bottle lasting me a long time, i've been using it every morning for a good week now and you can see that it's hardly been touched! Definitely well worth the money, I can't recommend this enough!

Are you a micellar water fan?

Event // TKMaxx Opening: Newcastle Eldon Square

The other day the lovely Shannon from Raspberry Kiss invited me to be her plus one for the grand opening of the new TKMaxx store in Newcastle's Eldon Square and I wanted to share some of the snaps. We were invited into the store at 8am for an hour's preview before it was officially opened by local celeb Donna Air. (I'd not heard of her before, but now know she was on Byker Grove back in the day!) 

 The new store spans two floors and caters for men, women and children, as well as there being a beauty, shoe and home ware department. One of my favourite sections was the 'Gold Label' department full of beautiful designer clothes with much too high a price tag for my purse *sad face*. All stock is said to be reduced at 60% off the RRP, with some of the clearance items reduced even further. I particularly loved browsing through the beauty aisles and the storage sections!

The PR lady I spoke to said that they had new stock arriving every single day, which means that the merchandising team have to keep one step ahead of the game and come up with ways to keep the store looking fresh and updated. I particularly loved that the Gold Label section was channelling the monochrome trend, spot on TKMaxx, spot on!

I absolutely adore the vibrant mix of products TKMaxx sells. I often feel like I'm fighting my way through an elegant jumble sale, so it was great to be given a preview of the clothes, they looked so pristine waiting for the busy Thursday shoppers to hunt out a bargain. The best bit is that you never know what you're going to find, from recognisable house hold brands to foreign companies and everything in between. That's another thing I love about TKMaxx, the stock rotation is so fast that you're probably not going to see the same mix of products twice (unless you shop there everyday!), and I was informed that as TKMaxx is an American company (known over in the States as TJMax) we Brits may be excited to discover that sometimes American products find their way to our shelves. In the past I've seen Covergirl and Physicians Formula on the beauty stands, and even American clothes labelling on the rails. 

I received a £25 gift card at the event to spend on anything in store. I couldn't manage to buy anything on the day as the tills weren't up and running yet, and the trading laws were in place, but yesterday I went and combed my local TKMaxx and bought a beautiful skirt and a Korres facial sun protector (I was inspired by the bit of sun that shone throughout the day - spring is coming!). I still have some pennies left but I'm going to save those for a rainy day.

TKMaxx at Newcastle's Eldon Square is a fabulous new space for hunting down a bargain and discovering some new brands, definitely well worth a look if you're in the area (or indeed are near any TKMaxx, they're all stocked with great products).

Are you a TKMaxx fan?

What's the best bargain you've ever picked up out shopping?