Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette Review & Smokey Eye Tutorial

I finally bit the bullet and coughed up the cash to pay for the Urban Decay Naked Palette. I have been in two minds about it for months and months but decided that it would be a good investment, especially for the things I want to do in the future.

 Everything about it is just so stylish, the tin it comes in is lovely and surprisingly heavy. It comes with a double-ended brush, one is for the crease of the eyelid and the fluffier one I use to blend in the colours and to give smooth edges.

The pigment of the shadows are thick and a little goes a long way, this is the first time I've been able to achieve any kind of blending of colours, before the eyeshadows I was trying to blend would just mottle into one horrific colour. Now I'm able to get a beautiful ombre effect.

The range of colours are supposed to be basic nudes, darks and golds that you can use as both a day and an evening look. The bronzes and golds are so shimmery and thick, they're just a delight to use!

The Naked palette definitely puts the fun into putting make up on!

I achieved this brown/shimmery/smokey eye look by blending a lot of colours together and layering.

I started by spreading 'Verve' all over my eyelid (I'll add a photo of all of the shades at the end), particularly towards the duct. Next I blended 'Suspec't into the lid, started from the middle of the eye, I dragged it outwards to form a cat-eye effect. On the outer-corner and into the crease of the lid I applied 'Busted' which is a beautiful chocolate colour. In between all of these steps I took a very fluffy brush and gently blended the corners so get a soft look. 

Lastly, I applied a teeny tiny amount of 'Half Baked' over the darker part of the eye, just to get a light shimmery bronze look.

I love the look, and like I said earlier, this is the first time I've been able to achieve it so I'm really glad I bought the palette and would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to oomph their eyes!

L'oreal Wild Ombres Review

(Excuse my face! Baby N was kicking the hell out my ribs whilst I was taking photos, so it was hard to look chirpy and delighted!)

I bit the bullet and ombred my hair last night! I'm so glad that I did!
It was a pretty easy process but I'd been putting it off for so long. I asked my hair-savvy followers on Instagram if they'd had any experience with it before and I got some really helpful advice, along with some mixed reviews.
I bought two packs from Boots for £6 each, which is pretty good, considering it's only going on half of my hair!
(Disclaimer!! I'm 9 months pregnant and it has come to light that dying your hair during pregnancy is absolutely fine and poses no health risks to you or your baby. Of course, your skin and allergies change whilst your 'with youngling', you should always do a 48-hour patch test before dying all of your hair, you should ideally be doing that anyway, baby or no baby. Apart from that caution, it's fine, I even asked my midwife when I was a few months along, she replied 'What do you think happens to hairdressers when they have their babies?' Good point!)

I chose shade No1 and No3. I planned to see how blonde the first shade made me, if it wasn't blonde enough then I would add the second shade a few days later, after giving my hair a bit of a break!
I loved the wild-themed packaging, and the models, as usual, are gorgeous. giving women, myself included, the delusional thoughts that the hair dye will also change their face to look like them.

Inside the box was the usual plethora of gloves, creams, dyes and powders to help lighten the hair. It came with a caution that instructed that you shouldn't inhale the powder... which was the first thing I did. It was hard not to when it rose from the packet like smoke. I spluttered a bit, but apart from that assembling the dye was very easy.

This was my hair colour before, please excuse the quality of the lighting, I've mentioned in previous posts how photo-taking in my house during night time is a no-go area. My lights make everything look yellow and orange!

The dye was easy to apply, you're given an application brush which you load with the dye and comb through your hair. I have medium to long hair so started my gradient just under my ears. I noticed my hair started to lighten straight away. I left it in for 45ish minutes, it was very obviously a lighter colour than the rest of my hair towards the end!

My shampoo and conditioner of choice at the moment is TREsemme's Keratin Smooth, which is great if you have hair that gets bullied by you on a daily basis!

Here's the end result! I wish I'd blended it a bit better, there are a couple of places where the line between brunette and blonde pretty much STARES you in the face. If I curled it it would be hidden, but I can't be bothered! I love the subtle colour it's created, I was so worried that it was going to go bright ginger!

I'm impressed with the first half of my ombreing journey! I plan to add the second shade into the ends of my hair in the next couple of days. I think it'll be more blended then and look more professional.
I'm a huge fan of this hairstyle, its a bit different, although everyone's doing it now! It adds texture and colour to an otherwise boring shade of brunette!