my everyday makeup products and mini reviews

this is pretty much the sort of makeup I wear on a day to day basis, pretty neutral with a bright lip and a bit of eyeliner! I like to keep it quite natural and don't go overboard with loads of mascara or really thick foundation etc because if I'm just going to sixth form or work then I really don't see the need for it! Here is the products I used and I have included swatches of all of them at the end for you! Let me know if you like this sort of post, I've done a couple of 'face of the day' type posts recently and they seem to be going down quite well! (here and here)

base products:
collection 2000 lasting perfection concealer: I swear pretty much everyone that's remotely into beauty products has this and loves it- I am one of those people and I do indeed love it
nivea daily essentials tinted day cream: I mix this in with my foundation to make the coverage lighter as it is a tinted moisturiser and the foundation can be quite a heavy coverage. I never hear anyone talk about it but both me and my mum use it and love it!
Revlon photoready foundation: I've used this for years and got through several bottles of it- it's great! I want to try their new nearly naked foundation, have you tried it yet?
Rimmel stay matte powder: I'm forever hearing Tanya Burr talking about this so I thought I would give it a go, so far so good, it's cheap and chearful and does a good job at keeping my makeup on all day

cheek products:
mac gel blush in 'just a pinch': I always forget I have this in my collection. I apply it with a stippling brush and a little bit goes a long way. I love the natural flush it gives to my cheeks and I really love the little pot that it's in too. I'm not sure if it's available any more though as I got it a while ago- sorry!
Peggy Sage highlighter: I bought this when I went to France for the weekend last year. I love the shade of it and how naturally it applies to the cheeks but it really helps to give my face more dimension and to bring it to life more. Oh and I don't know what the shade is because all the writing on it is in French and half of it has rubbed off, oops!
I don't use a contour powder on a day to day basis, simply because I can't be bothered! I'm looking for a new contour powder/bronzer though for when I can be bothered- do you have any suggestions for me?

eye/eyebrow products
MUA 'heaven & earth' palette: I mix the two eyeshadows which I've used quite a bit of (the two in the bottom left hand corner) together and use them with an angled brush to fill in my brows. I think it helps to make them look natural but defined which is the look I'm going for. Since I've hit pan on both of them, once they've ran out I think I might get one of the mac eyebrow duos because they're nice and small for travelling and are likely to be better quality than the MUA ones, although for the price MUA is very very good!
Miss Sporty clear mascara: I won this in Jordan's giveaway quite a while ago and to be honest it's seen better days as it's looking quite manky now but it's still going strong! I just sweep it across my brows after I've filled them in to set them and help hold them in place all day
Soap and Glory thick and fast mascara: this is one of my favourite mascaras, it help to curl and volumise my lashes and I think that most people that have tried it say that they get on well with it! It has a really chunky brush which I think helps to volumise more
Loreal super liner: I think most people that are into makeup agree that this is pretty much one of the best eyeliners out there. It applies like a dream and stays in place all day. If you're looking to start getting into eyeliners or to try more then definitely give this one a go!
Rimmel scandaleyes eyeliner in 'nude': at first I wasn't sure about this when I got it but now I find myself reaching for it pretty much every day. It really helps to open up my eyes and make me look more awake (which, when you're doing your makeup at 7:30am is a god send)

lip products
Revlon lipstick in 'cherries in the snow': I've disclosed my love for this lipstick many a time on my blog, it's the perfect shade for me and I won't go on about it any more as you're probably sick to death of hering about it from me!
Clinique lipgloss in 'currant': I won this in a giveaway from Jayne quite a while ago but I just rediscovered it in my stash the other week when I was having a clear out. It's perfect to give something else to my lips and they just look more dimensional and if that makes any sense? (it probably doesn't but I know what I mean...)
Rimmel lip liner in 'Indian pink': I don't think this step is crucial and I normally skip it if I'm in a rush but the lip liner just helps to keep the lipstick on longer if I don't want to have to reapply during the day

here is all of the swatches for the products I used if you were interested! Don't forget to leave your bronzer/contour powder recommendations below as I'm wanting to get into them more! Oh and remember to let me know if you liked this sort of post!

shabby chic cath kidston nails

I know you all like it when I post a photo of my nails s here is what I have on them just now! I was inspired to do these by a photo I saw on instagram and they are very Cath Kidston-esque!
The colours I used were:
♥ Barry M: 'peach melba'
♥ Rio white nail art pen*
♥ Rio red nail art pen*
♥ Rio green nail art pen*
♥ 17 'beach carnival'

I think these are one of my favourite floral nails, they're so vintagey and shabby chic and I really love the Barry M colour I used for the background too! 

what do you think of these? Will you be giving them or something similar a go? Don't forget to enter my giveaway!

celine

♥ top: eBay (seller here)
♥ jeans: american apparel easy jeans
♥ watch: river island
♥ earrings: new look
♥ necklace: topshop
♥ lips: rimmel apocolips 'big bang'

sorry for the creases in my top- it literally came in the post 20 minutes before I took these photos and I didn't have the patience to iron it, oops! I'd wanted a top like this for a while so I was really pleased when I found one for just over £7 on eBay with free delivery, I love finding eBay bargains! It came from abroad so the delivery did take a while but you can't really complain about it as the delivery was free! Oh and I had the MUA fur effect nails on but forgot to take a photo of them- sorry!

bubblegum

u

foundation: Revlon 'photoready'
concealer: 'Collection 2000 lasting perfection'
mascara: Soap and Glory 'thick and fast'
eyeliner: Loreal 'superliner'
lipgloss: Barry M 'bubblegum pink'
powder: Rimmel 'stay matte'
eyebrows: MUA 'heaven and earth' palette
blush: MAC 'just a pinch'
highlighter: Peggy Sage 'shimmery illuminating powder'
eyeliner: Rimmel 'nude'

I think my last 'face of the day' type post went down quite well so I thought I would do another one! I rediscovered this lipgloss in my stash this morning and thought I would wear it today- I love the shade so much! I won it in Jordan's giveaway (go and check out her blog) ages ago but I don't think I've worn it since the summer! It's such a fun colour though and it actually smells of bubblegum which is cool!
Oh and I'm doing a blog post on these nails in a couple of days so watch out for it coming up soon!

I'm currently in the Isle of Arran in Scotland on a geography trip so this is a scheduled post but I hope you're all having a good week!

bargain iPhone cases

I don't know about you, but I think that one of the best things about having an iPhone is the sheer number of phone cases that you can choose from to put on it. Before buying these two I had this one on which I still really love but I thought it was time for a bit of a change!
I bought these from a website called miniinthebox.co.uk and they came to just over £3 including postage all the way from America- BARGAIN. They took a couple of weeks to arrive but you can hardly complain as they were so cheap! They have a good range of different ones on the website and I had to restrain myself to only getting two but as they're so cheap they're hardly going to break the bank if you fill your virtual shopping basket with them!

Here's the direct links to the ones I got- watermelon, glitter but if you go here you can browse all of their iPhone 4/4S cases but they also have them for the iPhone 3 and 5 too I think!

Topshop, H&M and Boots haul

I haven't done a haul post in what seems like forever- enjoy!
Oh and my youtube channel is 'islaayx' if you wanted to take a look and subscribe it would make my day!

love heart valentines nails

I didn't do these especially for the infamous valentines day that is fast approaching us but seeing as it's soon I thought I would post it now as I am super organised like that just like pretty hearts.

The base colour is 'mint candy apple' from essie and the heart was using the MUA pink crackle polish which was a gift from my lovely blogging friend Helen (go check out her blog!). Now that I think about it, it kinda looks like it's a shattered or broken heart which let's be honest, isn't really what you want on valentines day but oh well!
I'm actually surprised at how well these crackle polishes work- I have a few more (also from Helen) which I have used a few times but not actually blogged about yet- maybe I will get my thinking cap on and come up with some more designs!

oh and have you entered my 600 followers giveaway yet?

What do you think of crackle nail polish? Do you have a specific colour or design that you're going to have on your nails for valentines day?

600 followers givewaway!

a few days ago I reached 600 GFC followers here on islaay.com and I hope you'll agree, this calls for a giveaway! Thank you all so so much for following and supporting my blog whether you are a new follower or you've been following since when I started it back in October 2011. Due to the ridiculous postage costs I'm afraid it's UK only- sorry!
Anyway, onto the prizes...
♥ Soap and Glory righteous butter
♥ Benefit pore fessional sample
♥ EOS lip balm in summer fruit
♥ MUA eyeshadow palettes in 'going for gold' 'heaven and earth' and 'poptastic'
♥ Montagne Jeunesse face masks in 'white chocolate' and 'pawpaw peel off'
♥ lots of samples including Liz Earle and The Body Shop

all prizes were purchased with my own money except from the samples which mostly came free in magazines etc!

to enter simply use the rafflecopter form below- good luck and I will be checking to see if the winner has done all of the entries that they have said they have!
The giveaway will last until the 10th of March and I will announce the winner via twitter and on a blog post.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

enrapture totem styler review

I've always loved the look of curly hair- it looks so much more interesting than straight but I've never mastered it. Until now. Ladies (and gents) let me present to you- the enrapture totem styler*. I've always admired how well it worked on bloggers with longer hair (cough cough Megs) and how pretty their hair looked afterwards but to be honest I wasn't expecting it to work as well on mine as it has done.

This wonderful little hair tool is unlike any other curler (which I've got a mini collection of in a cupboard in my room...) as it's USP is that not only does it allow you to change the heat of the barrel- it lets you choose the heat of each section of the barrel which allows you to create different types of curl, from ringlets to loose waves. I admit, at first I did feel this was slightly gimicky but it actually does work!

Before trying this for myself I had heard a lot of hype around it in the beauty community with people saying it's the best hair curler they had ever tried- and I have to say it lives up to (and exceeds) my expectations which is pretty impressive in my opinion! It's even been used to style the latest Bond girl actress Berenice Marlohe for the royal premiere of the movie in London and it doesn't get much better than that!

In these photos I used the heat setting 1,2,2 (with 1 being the coolest and 3 the hottest) so that the curl would be looser at the top than at the bottom and this also means you can curl all the way to the top of your head instead of leaving a bit of a gap or a kink in your hair like I would normally have to do. 

In the box you get the curlers, a style guide and a heatproof mat which doubles as a sleeve to pop them in if you're on the go which is handy. They heat up super quickly too (30 seconds)- I compared them to my GHDs and it was pretty much the same time as them and as GHDs are well known for heating up very quickly I thought this was pretty impressive. They heat up to 210°C  when they're on level 3 but they have a cool tip on the end to minimise the risk of burning yourself which makes them great for people that aren't used to curling their hail like me.

As you can see in the photos, I started off by brushing my hair out with my tangle teezer so that it would be easier to section off and it's more manageable. Then I used the GHD heat defence spray all over my hair to protect it from the heat of the curlers. Next I sectioned half of one side off and clipped it on top of my head so that it was out of the way. Then all you have to do is take small sections of hair and curl them so that the direction of the curl goes away from your face as it frames your face better. Simply hold each curl on the barrel for 5-10 seconds and release and you will have lots of ringlets.
Once you've done your whole head of curls comb through the curls with your fingers to seperate them out to give it more of a messy look and so it's not in ringlets. I used to always skip this step but as you can see from the photos it really does look better afterwards! You can spray it with hairspray if you want but I decided to skip this step and the curls were still in when I went to sixth form the next day after sleeping on them. To do my whole head of hair (I have a lot of hair) it took around 20 minutes which is pretty impressive and means you can do it in the mornings before school/college/work etc.

Overall I really can say that these live up to they hype around them and if you're looking for a new curler or if you just want to treat yourself then I would really recommend them! I can't wait to have a play about with all the settings and will no doubt be having my hair curly more often so look out for me having curly hair in some OOTDs!

The Enrapture totem styler has a RRP of £74.99 but is currently on offer for £59.99 in Argos


although I was sent the Enrapture totem styler for review purposes, my opinion is 100% honest as always and this doesn't affect my opinion of the product