A Vampy High End & Drugstore Lip Combo

For a couple of weeks, I had been searching for the perfect vampy lipstick to wear as part of my Halloween costume and now... my search is over. Say hello the the most gorgeous dark purple lip combination from MAC and Barry M! I really wanted to find a matte lipstick for my night out because they are usually a lot more long-wearing and fuss free than a more more glossy and moisturising formula. In the past, I have used Rimmel's Moisture Renew Lipstick in the shade 'Dark Night Waterl-oops!' but I found that it was just too shiny - which meant that it would slide around, get on to my teeth and bleed outside of my lip line. Let's face it girls, that's never a good look!

So with the help of my good friend Chloe, who actually works for MAC, she helped me settle on the shade 'Smoked Purple' (£15.50) - which is described on their website as a deep eggplant purple shade. I love MAC's matte formulation as it is so comfortable to wear and not at all drying on the lips. Plus, it tends to stay in place pretty well even you are eating or drinking (and I will definitely be doing the latter on my night out!)

After buying the lipstick, I was really struggling to find a matching lip pencil to make sure that I could a get crisp and sharp line around the edge of my lips, seeing as it is such a dark colour. I didn't want to purchase a lip pencil from MAC seeing as I had already spent over £15 on a lipstick that isn't a wearable shade that I could wear everyday. After swatching what felt like hundreds of liners on my hand in Superdrug, I finally came across this super affordable one from Barry M. I'm not a big fan of the Barry M range at all (aside from their nail varnishes,) so I was pleasantly surprised when I found this gorgeous lip liner in the shade 'Plum' (£2.99.) I was expecting it to be really hard and drag the lips but it is actually a lot creamier than I expected. 

As you can see from the swatches above, these two products match almost perfectly! I am so happy that I found this incredible lip combo to wear as part of my costume. I am going as a super simple black cat but I am planning to add more interest to my outfit and overall look by really exaggerating my make-up! What do you think of my vampy lip duo? What are you going as for Halloween this year? Please let me know by popping a comment down below!

Hauntingly Halloween-y

I was never a huge fan of Halloween back in the day but strangely, as I have gotten older, I have grown to love it more and more! Maybe it's because I really love experimenting with vampy and dark make-up looks, or maybe it's because for one night of the year you can truly be whatever you want to be! With that being said, although its still a few weeks away, this year I have no idea what I am going to dress up. So, I have put together a little collage in order to give myself, and all of you, some inspiration. Here are the ghoulishly gorgeous and devilishly divine items that I have picked out...

Claire's Accessories Black Cat Mask / Topshop Lace Up Front Body / Eylure Halloween Spooky Eyelashes  / Urban Decay Matte Revolution Lipstick in Blackmail / House Of Holland Bloody Thirsty False Nails / Claire's Accessories Flower & Spider Headband / ASOS Metallic Spider iPhone Case

So, those are the few pieces that I have picked out. Unfortunately, not every store has put their Halloween stock online yet but I still managed to find quite a few cool ideas to get my creative juices flowing! Who or what are you dressing up as this year? What is tour favourite Halloween outfit that you have ever worn? And... if you have any fun ideas as to what I could be for Halloween, please leave any suggestions in a comment below!

My Month Via Instagram - October 2013

Hi guys! It's come to the time again for me to write about what I have been up to all throughout October. Granted we are now a whole five days into November (I cannot believe it is Christmas next month) and I am a little late uploading this post but none the less, let's get started!

1. This month I have been making a conscious effort to come up with a few new recipes to try at dinner time. I think that it is very easy to slip into a routine and end up eating the same things on a regular basis. The dish you can see in the picture is a garlic and herb chicken curry-like dish, which is really simple to make. I simply cut up and cooked a chicken breast whilst boiling some rice (and adding peas in a little later to make it more interesting.) Once the chicken was cooked, I poured over a Philadelphia 'Simply Stir' Garlic & Herb Sauce and let it simmer for a few minutes. Hey presto, a relatively healthy dinner in roughly 15-20 minutes!

2. Secondly, now that the cold weather is starting to creep in, I have been opting for a lot more baths as opposed to showers. Recently, I have been trying to have a lot of 'me' time and I love nothing more than having a nice, long soak in a bubble bath. In conjunction with this, I have really enjoyed lighting my cherry & vanilla Yankee candle to set the mood and relax even further. I have also switched from using my passion fruit Body Shop Body Butter to the vanilla scent instead, as I find it to be a much more winter-y smell.

3. As Halloween was creeping ever closer, I invented my friend Lucy to help me experiment with some cat make-up as she is one of the most artistic people I know. Being a cat for Halloween isn't exactly original but my funds are pretty low at the moment, so simplicity was key. For the look we eventually achieved, all that we needed was tonnes of eyeliner and an extremely steady hand! I also used some very feline fake eyelashes to make the end result even more striking.

4. On the same day, Lucy also helped me with some photography for my blog (which is featured in the 'My Favourite Autumn/Winter Outfit' post.) As we finished this rather quickly, I decided to then give Lucy a makeover. As she usually wears minimal make-up (eyeliner and mascara only,) I thought that she would be a great person to experiment on and of course, she looked gorgeous! To read the original blog post, please click here.

5. If any of you read my 'The Next Chapter Of My Life' post, you may know that I recently completed an intensive three day nail course which focused on manicure, pedicure and acrylic nails. Of course, it takes a lot longer than three days to perfect a craft and so I have been practicing on my friends and family a lot. One of the things I really want to learn, however, is how to create some intricate nail art designs. One evening, I gave my friend Sarah this nude and black leopard print design. I was really proud of the outcome seeing as it was my first ever attempt and I am looking forward to trying other designs in the future. 

6. Last but not least is a photo of what I actually looked like before I went clubbing for Halloween. As you can see, I was not able to fully mimic how well Lucy did my make-up for me earlier on in the week, but I still think that in the end it looked quite good! In the end I opted for a dark purple lipstick as I thought it was quite vampy, as opposed to the nude lip that me and Lucy practiced. Also, dressing up as a cat gave me the perfect excuse to wear my new black dress from Missguided that you can see here. I am obsessed with it and am even looking forward to the next time I can wear it (I'm sad like that!)

So, that's it for this month. I hope you all enjoyed reading about what I have gotten up to during October. Now, let's see what November brings!