The Ride or Die Beauty Tag

The Ride or Die Beauty Tag

Thursday, 29 September 2016

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The Ride or Die Beauty Tag has been making the rounds on the internet for the past couple of weeks now and I figured it was high time I joined the conversation. If I lost all my make up and skin care in a freak make up catastrophe, admittedly it's unlikely, but if I did then my debit card would take a walloping, because there are just some things that would need to be replaced immediately! These are the true beauty loves of my life, the things I cannot, nay refuse, to live without. We're not messing around here.

MAC Matte Lipstick in Mehr £15.50 from MAC

Mehr is my ultimate favourite lipstick. A rosy nude with plummy undertones, it's very flattering, it looks good on everyone and it's really low maintenance, due to the amazing formula and the long lasting matte finish. It's the best lipstick ever.

Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner - £13 from Cult Beauty

For a long time I stopped wearing liquid eyeliner, I'm not really sure why, but then I fell in love with this incredible long lasting, pigmented, waterproof babe of an eyeliner. It's perfect! It has an impossibly fine nib that makes for really clean and precise lines so it applies beautifully. It doesn't drag the lid, it doesn't skip or smudge or flake or crumble, it stays in place all day. I love it!

MAC Powder Blush in Dame - £18.50 from MAC

Dame is the first MAC product I ever bought. I got it in the MAC store in Times Square 4 years ago, and to this day I've never found a blusher I like as much. It is stunning! A cool toned pink with a satin finish, it adds a subtle, but noticeable, healthy rosy glow to the skin, and is especially flattering on pale complexions. It's pigmented, it has amazing colour pay off, it's buttery soft and smooth and it applies like a dream. It's the perfect everyday blush, and I can say that as a fact because I did wear it everyday for 3 and a half years, and now I have a new one I'll probably do it again.

L'Oréal True Match Foundation in Rose Ivory - £9.99 from Boots

I haven't found a foundation, high end or high street, to match this one. Even after it's reformulation last year it's still my favourite and has been for nearly 10 years. It gives excellent coverage, has a natural skin-like finish and is basically a good skin day in a bottle. 'Nuff said.

Urban Decay's The Naked Palette - £38.50 from Urban Decay

I love a neutral eyeshadow palette, I have a lot of them, but nothing beats the original Naked palette. It's my most used eyeshadow palette ever,  I've used it pretty much everyday for the past year and it's still going strong. I really love it, it has an amazing shade range and the shadows themselves are really blendable and buttery soft, aside from a small amount of fall out and the hideous fuzzy packaging, I really can't fault it. It is gorgeous!

Maybelline Lash Sensational Lash Multiplying Mascara - £7.99 from Boots

After years and years of searching I've finally found the perfect mascara, and the best part is that it's only £7.99, well that and it is amazing! The formula is a true black, it's really long lasting but not a nightmare to remove, it doesn't flake or smudge and the curved rubber wand does everything. It lengthens, defines, volumises, separates, lifts and gives me lashes for days. You put this on and it's like BOOM! Lashes!

Beauty Blender - £16.00 from Beauty Blender

If I had to sacrifice all my make up brushes and keep only one tool for applying make up, this would be it. This humble, egg shaped sponge is a make up game changer and I would be lost without it. I have tried a ton of Beauty Blender dupes but they just don't compare. I've found them to be a lot denser and heavier, and no where near as soft or effective. The Beauty Blender is amazing, I use it every single day because it does everything. I use it for foundation, concealer, blusher, contouring, bronzer... the list goes on and on, but I particularly like it for sheering out make up where I've been a bit heavy handed and it's amazing for making everything look really natural and dewy.

Oskia Renaissance Cleansing Gel - £29.50 from Cult Beauty

Before this miracle bottle of epicness entered my life my skin was in a sorry state indeed. From the moment I started using this my skin has been on the upswing and the acne I was suffering from, for nearly two years, has all but disappeared. If I don't use this for a couple of days I instantly see the difference in my skin. My skin doesn't feel as clean, it feels really dry and a break out is inevitable. This just seems to keep my skin really balanced so I don't break out and it feels really nice. It also removes make up quickly and easily, with minimal effort. I love it, I love it so much.

Sunday Riley Luna Sleeping Night Oil - £85 from Cult Beauty

Another skin care item that has helped to dramatically improve the appearance of my skin. It's a retinol oil so is excellent for treating acne and signs of ageing. I don't use Luna everyday, because another bottle will set me back £85, so I live in fear of the day I run out. But, again, if this was taken from me the first thing I would do is drop the best part of £100 on another bottle, because it is that darn good! Luna is reserved for days when my skin is congested, or breaking out, and needs a little love. I apply 2 drops of this to my face before going to sleep and wake up with a guaranteed good skin day. Obsessed!

Mario Badescu Drying Lotion - £13 from Beauty Bay

I forgot to put this in the photo! Argh! Anyway... let's get past it. I love Mario Badescu's skincare in general, the Rosewater Facial Spray is another firm favourite of mine, but this is definitely one a hero product and my favourite item of skin care ever! Because it actually works! When my skin was at its very worst I was using this every night to reduce the appearance of spots and cystic acne. You pop this on any spots before you go to sleep and then in the morning it's worked it's magic, and the appearance of spots is significantly reduced, if not gone completely. It's amazing.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade in Medium Brown - £15 from Cult Beauty

We all have one eyebrow that is perfect and one that's letting the team down, and we all have a favourite brow product to fix this. ABH's Dipbrow Pomade is mine, it's brilliant. It's a waxy mousse that shapes and defines my brows and covers any sparseness while still looking really natural. I use it every single day and you only need the tiniest little bit to get perfect brows, so it lasts ages too. Love it.

So there were definitely a few more products than I thought, I've added it all up and I would need a spare £261.98 just in case all my faves go missing... eeep.

What are your Ride or Die Beauty favourites? Let me know by commenting below - I always reply so check back -, on twitter, or dropping me an email at lolarocknroses@gmail.com. Also check out my instagram, facebook, bloglovin', snapchat -search lolarocknroses - & pinterest for regular updates.

Love love love xxx

What's in My Travel Make Up Bag?

What's in My Travel Make Up Bag?

Saturday, 3 September 2016

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l-r: Look Good Feel Better Blending Brush, Real Techniques Base Shadow Brush, RT Angled Highlighter Brush, RT Duo-Fibre Face Brush, RT Brow Brush, Unbranded Flat Eyeshadow Brush, Unbranded Concealer Brush, RT Stippling Brush & RT Multi

When it comes to packing make up I am a maximalist, more is more! In my mind it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it - having said that even I was shocked when I realised I took 10 make up brushes, plus a beauty blender away with me! - Anyway it turns out I didn't really need it, because I ended up wearing make up maybe twice in the week I was away. Other than suncream, I use the La Roche Posay 50 +Antihelios XL just fyi, I really didn't put much on my face. Even though I didn't use it very much I still thought you guys might like a peek inside my travel make up bag.

Becca Backlight Priming Filter - £32 from Space NK

I'm really glad I took this away with me because I ended up using it the most out of everything, to make the most of my *ahem* tan. I've found that the best way to apply it is by dotting it on to the skin and then blending out with a beauty blender. It gives some serious glow! It adds a really beautiful luminescence to the skin without highlighting pores and imperfections. Some days I even wore this as my base with just a bit of concealer and it worked really well. I have a new found appreciation for this stuff. It's gorgeous.

Bourjois 123 Perfect CC Cream in Ivory - £9.99 from Boots

I actually took two foundations with me, this and Maybelline's Fit Me Matte and Poreless Foundation but I really didn't need to, as the CC Cream was more than enough, and I barely touched the stuff anyway. I'll go ahead and say that Bourjois's 123 Perfect CC Cream is the ideal foundation to take away with you, especially if you're off to sunnier climes, as the coverage is there but it is very light weight. It doesn't feel heavy or thick on the skin at all and applies beautifully, plus it's packaged in a plastic squeezy tube making it very travel friendly. To be honest all the same things could be said about the Maybelline foundation but I used the CC Cream more.

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in Fair & Maybelline Fit Me Concealer in 10 Fair - £4.19/£5.99 from Boots here and here

I like to use the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer to cover my under eye baggage, as it is such a light shade and really brightens the whole under eye area. You do have to be careful though because it has a really creamy formula so does tend to crease if not set with powder. It's very covering and stopped me looking completely knackered on the days that I could be bothered to apply it. I took the Maybelline Fit Me Concealer as a more of a multipurpose concealer, as it has good coverage but is not as heavy as the Collection one. I used this all over my face to cover any blemishes or redness and it works a treat.

Maybelline Lash Sensational Lash Multiplying Mascara - £7.99 from Boots

I've been using this mascara, pretty much constantly, over the past year and I have reached the conclusion that it's my favourite mascara ever. So when I was packing my make up bag this was the first thing to go in. The curved rubber brush gives me really long, defined, voluminous lashes, the formula is a true black and isn't a total bitch to remove and, in my opinion, it's pretty much perfect.

MAC Burgundy Times Nine Eyeshadow Palette - £25 from MAC

This tiny little gem of a palette is incredible. It is so travel friendly because it's so tiny, but contains a whopping nine mini eyeshadows. The shadows themselves are pigmented, as soft as butter and blend beautifully. It's also amazingly versatile, with everything from deep plum shades to mauve toned neutrals and even a pale gold-y peach. I mostly just used Honey Lust - the peachy gold - as a wash of colour all over the lid, just to give my lids a little somethin' somethin', but it has everything you need for a burgundy smokey eye. It's lovely. 

Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet in Hot Pepper - £8.99 from Boots 

For bold lips there is nothing better, high end or high street, than Bourjois's Rouge Edition Velvet Liquid Lipsticks. I won't bore with you the details because I have so many times before. Hot Pepper is my go to red for an evening out because it stays in place for hours, the formula is bouncy and gel like so is super comfortable to wear and it has incredible pigmentation. They even stay in place when eating or drinking. I didn't wear it once while I was away but it is still one of my absolute favourite liquid lips. I have nearly the whole collection, but Hot Pepper is a firm favourite. 

L'Oréal Privee Color Riche Lipstick in Julianne's Nude - £6.99 from Superdrug

Again this is another old favourite of mine and I have gone on and on about it's pinky, rosy nude awesomeness more times than I could shake a stick at it. But it is amazing, so I'll just bore you with the deats one more time. It is the most amazing, effortless nude lipstick, and even though I hate the phrase your lips but better that is the best way to describe it. It smells amazing and it's incredibly moisturising, this does mean that it does need to be reapplied a few times throughout the course of the day but nothing major. I really love it and I wore it loads on holiday.

Still Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner - £13.00 from Boots

I really don't know why I took this on holiday, because I didn't use it once. No one wants to faff around trying to get their wings even when it's so hot outside now do they? Having said that this is my absolute favourite liquid liner, and if I had chose to rock some feline flicks by the pool then this would have more than held up to the challenge. It's very pigmented, it's waterproof and stays in place for hours, it isn't a nightmare to remove and the nib is impossibly fine, giving really clean and precise application. I love it, I just didn't use it.

Primark PS Kohl Eyeliner Pencil in Black - £1.00 from Primark

A black pencil eyeliner for me is a make up bag staple, I like to use it to tightline and fill in my waterline when I'm wearing smokey eyes or winged liner, and Primark's eyeliner pencils are surprisingly good quality for such a low price point. It's not waxy but blends nicely, is well pigmented and stays in place a decent amount of time. But once again this is not something I used while I was away. It was way too hot for eyeliner.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade in Medium Brown - £15.00 from Cultbeauty

There was no way that I would be going on holiday without my eyebrows. Although to be honest I probably could've got by without it because I'm quite lucky with my eyebrows, they're a decent shape but are quite sparse in places. Anastasia's Dipbrow is my favourite brow product as it is so easy to use. Even I can shape and fill in my brows without any problems. It's great.

Rimmel Kate Sculpting Palette in 002 Coral Glow -£6.99 from Boots

Rimmel's Sculpting Palette contains a contour, blush and highlighter, making it another nifty little palette that's perfect for travelling. The powders are soft, finely milled, well pigmented and creamy in texture. It has a really nice shade range that is ideal for sun bronzed skin, which sadly I don't have, luckily it works really well for us pasty peeps too! The contour is quite a pale honey tone that doubles as a bronzer, the blush is a matte coral that looks super pretty on and the highlighter is a light chamgagne-y colour that leaves a subtle shimmer on the cheekbones. Overall I am a big fan of this palette. It's really nice.

Beauty Blender - £16.00 from Beautybay

My love affair with this insanely awesome make up sponge continues. I use this for everything! To apply my foundation and concealer, to sheer out anything that looks cake-y, to blend in my blusher and contour. It's awesome and it is multi-use, which makes the £16 price tag a little bit easier to bear. The two times I did wear make up this was what I used to apply it, making the 10 (!) make up brushes I packed basically useless.

I'm not gonna go into too much detail with the make up brushes, otherwise you'll be here all night. I took the Look Good Feel Better Blending Brush, the Real Techniques Base Shadow Brush, the RT Angled Highlighter Brush, the RT Duo-Fibre Face Brush, the RT Brow Brush, an unbranded Flat Eyeshadow Brush, an unbranded Concealer Brush, the RT Stippling Brush & the RT Multi-Task Brush... phew that's a lot of Real Techniques brushes! I didn't use them very much at all. I do tend to apply the majority of my make up with these brushes and then blend it into the skin with the beauty blender because I find that that's what works best for me.

That was everything I took away with me, and so much of it was unnecessary... oh well.

What make up do you take away with you? Let me know by commenting below, on twitter, or dropping me an email at lolarocknroses@gmail.com. Also check out my instagram, facebook, bloglovin', snapchat -search lolarocknroses - & pinterest for regular updates.

Love love love xxx

FOTD: A Summer Wedding

FOTD: A Summer Wedding

Tuesday, 30 June 2015

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First of all let me apologise for the giant pictures of my face, secondly I know I've been laying the wedding stuff on pretty thick these past two weeks but I thought I'd share this pretty, summer look (that is both ridiculously easy and super long wearing) with you lovelies. 

I started off by prepping the skin and for that I used L'Oreal's Infallible Mattifying Primer (read more about that here) to make my skin nice and smooth and to lock in my make up so it  lasted all day. In a move that was most unlike me I actually got a spray tan for my brother's wedding. Tanning isn't usually my thing, pasty and proud, but I wore an ivory dress to the wedding and when I tried it on sans tan I looked dead. Like actually dead. The corpse like pallor had to go and honestly I really liked having a golden glow for a change, but it did mean that all of my foundations were too light against my newly bronzed skin. 

To get the perfect shade I mixed together 2 pumps of  L'Oreal True Match Foundation in Vanilla Rose with 2 pumps of Revlon Photoready in Nude and it worked really well. It gave me really nice coverage without being cakey but was still quite glowy. To cover any blemishes and redness I used Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer in Ivory and Seventeen Phwoaaar Paint Under Eye Concealer to brighten up my bags.

When I finished my base I used the contour shade from the Sleek Face Form Pallet in fair to lightly contour my non-existent cheek bones and to add a bit of warmth to my face. I then used MAC blush in Dame, which is my absolutely favourite blusher, it is such a pretty rose pink and gives such a lovely flush of colour LOVE IT! For highlighter I popped some of the Kryolan for Glossy Box Cream Highlighter in Cashmere down the centre of my nose, on the tops of my cheekbones, on my cupids bow, in the inner corners of my eyes and beneath the arches of my brows before filling them in with Anastasia Beverly Hill's Dipbrow Pomade in Medium Brown. 

For my eyes I used the W7 In The Buff: Lightly Toasted Pallet, a spectacular dupe for the Naked Pallet just fyi, using the shade Happy (a light taupey bronze) all over the lid before blending Magic (a rich purple toned brown) and It's A Dream (an ashy purple & grey toned brown) into the crease and under the lash line. I then tightlined and filled in my waterline with MAC eyeliner in Feline and added lashings of L'Oreal's Miss Manga Mega Volume Waterproof Mascara. I finished the look with a slick of Bourjois' Rouge Edition Velvet in Pink Pong because it is the prettiest, fuschia pink that looks gorgeous and as an added bonus stayed in place all day!

So what do you guys think? Would you wear this to a wedding? Let me know by commenting below, on twitter or dropping me an email at lolarocknroses@gmail.com. Also check out my instagram, facebook, bloglovin', snapchat - search lolarocknroses and pinterest. 

Love love love xxx