Smart Casj on a Saturday

So my first outfit post, and I look so out of proportion its silly but I like the outfit and have wanted to do an outfit post for ever.  I went for a family dinner the other night and then on to a casj party so I thought this was perfect.

Pink Satin Blouse - Zara

Black Clouttes - Forever 21 (before the boycot)

Snake Print Boots - Debenhams

I will be working on the photography but I'm so happy I've broken a bit of a milestone.

Tanya Burr 12 Days of Christmas Beauty Calendar

The new year is here, resolutions have been made and fitness goals locked in. On the week of Blue Monday I refuse to let go of Christmas so I want to talk about the Beauty Advent calendar I was lucky enough to receive from my boyfriend this year. Beauty Advent Calendars have really up their game these last few years and there are so many varieties and brands.

As the name suggests Tanya's 12 Days of Christmas consists of 12 doors with Tanya Burr's own cosmetic products behind each one.  I was really excited to try out her brand as I have heard so much about it. As this is Christmas themed there was a lot of glitter and sparkle.  

The best find for me is probably the nail varnishes as they apply nicely, are opaque and lasted well.  I also like the lip products a lot the two glosses are not sticky and provide a good colour payoff.  I wasn't expecting a matte lip colour but the colour is lovely with a soft velvety consistency.

The little mirror and nail file are good additions to a beauty calendar as they are staples in everyone's makeup bag and perfect handbag size.

As mentioned there were products with a lot of sparkle in them which for Christmas is lovely but will probably be the items that I reach for less throughout the year.  I'm not too familiar with glitter liquid eyeliners, but I was pleasantly surprised that glitter was applied and wasn't solely wet liquid across my eye.  The little pots of eye glitter remind me of the old school Barry M Dazzle Dusts, I used MAC fix+ to get a solid colour but generally good payoff without the fix+.

I am really impressed with Tanya's collection for the calendar, and reasonably priced at £15 I think this is a great present to receive. However if you are buying as a present for someone I would be careful about that age range. Anyone that is just getting into more luxury brands might think this is slightly too young for them.

I think the main thing that is brilliant about this calendar are the colours that have been selected, being colour shy its something I always think about when I have seen releases of beauty calendars. Even though there is a Christmas colour palette I feel there was a good mix of silver and gold for the metallic element and a very wearable pink/red that a lot of people could feel comfortable wearing. 

Well done Tan!

The Beauty Calendar along with Tanya Burr Cosmetics are available at Superdrug.

Beauty Blender - Best Purchase of 2016

Start of a new year is a good time to reflect on the previous 12 months.  Though I have reflected on personal things I also have had a think about what products I have discovered in 2016.  I know I am a little late on the sponge in the shape of an egg bandwagon, I have tried many 'dupes' and never saw the fascination.  Well that's because they aren't the real deal. I noticed a difference between the real one and others as soon as I felt it.

The basic principal is a small egg shape sponge (the original was pink but I have the nude colour to avoid looking super dirty with foundation) that is really soft and flexible.  For me best results come from wetting the sponge so that it expanse to about a third larger.  This stops any liquid/cream products from being absorb into the sponge. Then using a bouncing technique the sponge blends out the makeup to create a flawless look.  It's so much quicker than I expected. I use the round bottom for foundation, the tip at the top for under eye concealer and the sides for cream contour or concealer.

It can get a bit messy once you have used the Beauty Blender for a while especially if you are using all the sides so I tend to try and keep mine as clean as possible.  There is a Beauty Blender cleanser but currently I am using baby shampoo which works for all my normal brushes.

For someone with dry skin this is my new best friend I can feel my skin lapping up the extra hydration compromising only a slight amount of coverage from my foundation.  Because of the additional hydration I have found with products such as Estee Lauder Double Wear don't tend to as perfect as when I use a normal buffing brush so I am getting in the habit of using lasting sprays which have helped.

I have seen people applying powder to help bake under their eyes and I didn't like it for that I felt mixing dry powder, water and liquid was starting to make the sponge feel heavy and could make application harder so now I only use wet,

I filmed a first impression video which will be on my Youtube (ButtonsAndBowX) shortly.  

I purchased mine from Selfridges but Beauty Bay also stock individual and sets.