WINTER DATE NIGHT MAKE UP

Although I'm starting to get excited for spring, I'm still clutching on to the wintry reds, shimmery golds and frosty pastels. Since getting engaged, me and Alex have been enjoying going out more to celebrate and I've been wearing this make up look non stop on our date nights and days out.

I really love to wear frosty pastels in the winter and MAC Well Dressed (swatched here) is the perfect powdery cool pink blusher to wear together with a long lasting bold red matte lip, like Nars Cruella (full review and swatched here). 

On my eyes, I've been wearing a mixture of the rose and gold shades in Nars Alhambra, which is a beautiful eyeshadow duo that really brightens up the eye area. It's one of my favourite eyeshadow duo's and is great to take away with you travelling, see swatches here. I've also just recently repurchased my current favourite mascara, L'Oreal Miss Manga mascara which I apply after curling my lashes with my Shu Uemura eyelash curlers for long, fluttery lashes.

On my nails, I love wearing an ombre glitter accent finger and Essie Summit of Style is such a pretty bronze glitter that seems to work well with any dark nail polish.

Lastly, for highlighter, Topshop Glow highlighter in Polish is one of my all time favourites. There's something ethereal about the colour of this Topshop highlighter and it gives a such a beautiful luminescent glow. See me wearing it here.

What are your favourite date night products?

CHRISTMAS DAY MAKE UP

I can't believe it's Christmas tomorrow!

Every Christmas Eve, Alex drops me off at my mum's and me and my brother have a little tradition of watching Christmas films and eating festive treats. I've brought with me a festive collection of make up to wear tomorrow, my nails are already freshly painted with Essie Bordeaux but I have packed Essie rock at the top - a gold glitter as an option to add on top later.

I'm planning on priming my skin with Seventeen Skin Wow highlighting primer which is a shimmery iridescent pearl/pink primer to help to give my skin and foundation a dewy glow. For my eyes, I've opted for L'Oreal Color Riche Mono Eyeshadow in 205 Sable lamé (swatched here), as it has light gold glitter running through it to make my eyes look shimmery and sparkly on Christmas day.

For my cheeks, I've packed thebalm Mary Lou Manizer highligter which is a pigmented shimmery champagne highlighter. It works so well on the top of your cheekbones, under the brow bone and in the inner corners of your eyes. For blusher, I've chosen Nars Orgasm to give me warm golden peachy pink cheeks.

I'm keeping my lips simple with just a swipe of lip balm. I would brave a red lip but with all the chocolate and veggie roast dinner I plan on eating tomorrow, I'm not sure it would last! 

What are your plans for Christmas day?

ESSIE NAIL POLISH

I've become pretty obsessed with Essie nail polish recently and my collection has grown quite a bit over the past few weeks. I find that the brush is perfect for applying nail polish, it's so quick, easy and fits my nail really well. I love the Essie nail polish formula as it lasts really well on my nails, especially the darker shades.

Starting from the top is one of the most recent additions to my collection, Essie Nail Treatment Apricot Cuticle Oil. It's such a great idea having the oil in a nail polish bottle to brush on to your cuticles as it makes it so quick to apply. I've been using this every night and can really notice the difference in my nails, it keeps them feeling nourished due to the mixture of hydrating oils.

The next line down are two recently released Christmas glitters, I spent a good 10 minutes in boots deciding between Essie's Rock at the Top which is a gold glitter and Essie Summit of style which is a bronze/rose gold glitter before giving up and buying them both as they're both just so pretty!

Next up are three pinks, From left to right - Essie Peach Daiquiri, Essie Cute as a Button (which are both pretty coral pinks) and Essie A Cute Above, a pink glitter. I normally save these shades for summer but A Cut Above works well over the festive season too.

Essie Aruba Blue is a sapphire foil blue and one of my all time favourite shades. Essie Stroke Of Brilliance a frosty blue glitter and Essie mint candy apple a mint shade that's great for the transition into spring. Last on this line is Essie Vanity Fairest which is so pretty when used for a shimmery french manicure.

Berry shades are my favourite colours to wear on my nails. Essie Bordeaux is a new addition to my collection and a beautiful deep wine shade, Essie Leading Lady a beautiful deep red with flecks of raspberry micro glitter running through it, Essie Sole Mate a vampy berry that works well with a glitter accent nail and my absolute favourite Essie Bahama Mama is a warm plum shade. Essie Angora Cardi is a pretty, creamy dusty rose colour. See me wearing Angora Cardi here.

I've already added Essie Midnight Cami, a deep twilight blue to my wishlist and I have my eye on a few more pink/purple shades for Spring! 

Which is your favourite Essie shade?

FESTIVE REDS

I love wearing red in December, there's something so festive about painting your nails with a sparkly red nail polish or wearing a bold red lipstick. Here's a few of my favourites:

Lips

L'Oreal Color Riche Exclusives Lipstick in Blake: I love Blake Lively, she has such amazing taste and this sophisticated matte cool toned red fits in perfectly with her style. The formula feels slightly more powdery than I normally like in a lipstick but it contains jojoba oil and so keeps lips soft. It's long lasting and a stunning pure matte red.

Sleek Matte Me in Rioja Red*: Supposedly a dupe for the Hourglass Opaque Rouge lipsticks this liquid lipstick is long lasting, super pigmented and really affordable. It dries to a pretty, velvet matte finish and is a beautiful true red. This can be tricky to apply but once dry on the lips it stays put for hours. It's one of longest lasting lipstick's that I've tried and so it is perfect for Christmas parties.

Rimmel Apocalips in Big Bang: This is a creamy, bold red that leaves a satin sheen finish on the lips. I have to prep my lips well before using this as it shows up any imperfections but then it looks so pretty on the lips, is long lasting and fades to a stain. I've written a full review here.

Nails

Nails Inc Tate: A beautiful sophisticated cherry red nail polish which is great if you want something festive without the glitter. Opaque in 1-2 coats Nails Inc nail polish has a great formula that lasts well on my nails.

Barry M Ruby Slippers Red Glitter: Great for fingers or toes this classic glittery red nail polish is a staple for me at Christmas. This is my favourite ruby glittery red nail polish to wear on Christmas day.

Essie Leading Lady: This is a deep red nail polish with flecks of raspberry micro glitter running through it. It's a stunning nail polish and great to wear for the lead up to Christmas.

Which are your favourites?

ESSIE ANGORA CARDI NAIL POLISH

Autumn is the time of year for wearing berry, vampy nails. Essie Angora Cardi is a great choice if you want something still autumnal but a little bit softer. The dusky mauve colour is really pretty for autumn, I've paired this with a cosy grey sweater (and a mug of hot cinnamon tea!) for a pretty, homely feel.

Essie Angora Cardi has a creamy, non streaky formula that lasts a good 3-4 days on my nails without chipping and as with all essie polishes, the brush makes application so easy with just three swipes up the nail. I have my eye on Essie's in stitches next, which is a dusky dark pink that looks like a similar formulation to Angora Cardi and again would be perfect for autumn.

What do you think of Essie Angora Cardi?

(The mug is from Anthropologie last Christmas, I think it was limited edition but this one is similar!) 

-Edit, the mug is back again this year here! 

AUTUMN NAIL POLISH

When I think of autumnal colours I think of golds, plums and deep orange hues so I'm drawn to these when picking autumn nail polish shades. These are my favourites this year:

Ciate Encore: A pretty, muted burnt orange/terracotta that's perfect for autumn. It's opaque in just one coat and something about this colour reminds me of fallen leaves, bonfires and Thanksgiving (I wish we celebrated it in the UK!).

Essie Bahama Mama: One of my all time favourite nail polishes, Essie's Bahama Mama is the perfect autumn berry shade. It looks great on fingers and toes, with midi rings and lasts well on my nails. The only downside is that it takes 3 coats to look opaque on my nails and so I use it up so quickly! 

Orly Rage Nail Polish: This pretty, golden nail polish is opaque in just one swipe and looks so pretty on the nails. It has particles of shimmery rose gold and is perfect for the cold autumn months and the run up to December without being too sparkly and Christmassy.

What are your favourite Nail polishes for Autumn?

WILDFLOWER SUMMER NAIL ART

I like to keep any nail art that I create quite simple and easy so that it looks pretty with minimal effort. I've been loving wearing this wildflower design on my nails for summer - it adds a pretty touch to white painted nails and i've had so many compliments whilst wearing it!

Paint the whole nail with a white nail polish - I used Barry M Matt White.

For the design:

Step 1 - For the grass/reeds effect I used Essie Mint Candy Apple. I wiped as much of the product off the brush as I could by wiping the brush on edges of the bottle and then just flicked up the nail.

Step 2 -I repeated this process with a darker green - No7 Totally Teal. This brush was easier to remove most of the product and gave a really good wispy grass effect so I applied this over and around the first grass colour.

Step 3 - Adding your wildflowers! I chose to use Rimmel sunshine as my main colour to make the flowers really stand out. I dotted roughly 10 flowers on each nail working from top to bottom to give that pretty wildflower look.

Step 4 - I then added pink flowers using Barry M Gelly nail paint in Grapefruit. I added less of these (around 7) and used a smaller dotting tool again to give it a sparse, wildflower effect.

Step 5 - You could skip this step and go straight on to the topcoat, or choose another flower colour but I thought a fuchsia glitter would look really pretty and brighten up the nails. I dotted Barry M Magenta glitter all around the grass/reeds to finish the design. 

I then added Sally Hansen Insta dri topcoat to finish the nails.

(I used these nail dotting tools from amazon, they are a great set for only 85p!). 

Tweet me a pic if you try this! - @sophiesmakeup

FIVE THINGS: I LIKE TO DO IN SUMMER

Although I'm not the biggest fan of summer, there are a few things I like to do to make the most of it! I love Lazy summer mornings, eating brunch and dining al fresco and painting my nails in hot coral pinks. Here are a few things I've tried to do this year:

1. Spend time at the beach: The cool sea breeze is always welcome on warm summer days, I love to dip my toes in the sea, collect pretty seashells, have picnics on the sand and skim stones!

2. Eat well: My diet consists of a lot of fresh fruit, ice cold smoothies made in my nutribullet and salads in the summer. I've been enjoying a cous cous and grilled halloumi salad for tea and strawberries with some Nutella if I want a treat!

3. Buy fresh flowers: I love being surrounded by fresh flowers during summer and so I always try to make sure that I have some for my desk. I've discovered peonies this summer and I'm absolutely in love with them. Unfortunately I think peony season is over now but I've loved having them on my desk!

4. Wear bright make up: My wardrobe consists of black and grey all year round but in the summer I love to wear bright lipsticks and nail polish. I've been wearing Essie Peach Daiquiri non stop on my nails and Revlon colourburst matte balm in Unapologetic on my lips. 

5. Stay cool and Hydrated: Adding lemon, frozen blueberries and cucumber to water is a great way to keep cool and hydrated in the summer. I always make sure to wear SPF and try to avoid the sun at the hottest points of the day!

What are your favourite things to do in Summer?

JULY'S CORAL FAVOURITES

Following the colour theme, these are my summery coral favourites!

Essie Cute As A Button: This is such a pretty coral pink nail polish and one of my all time favourites from Essie.

Benefit Coralista: I only own the small version of this in the Powda Wowza box but I love it. Coralista is a warm peach pink coral that gives a lovely summery flush of colour to your cheeks. I love wearing this in the summer as really makes my skin look radiant and glowing, it can be built up to intensify the colour or worn as a pretty sheer hint of colour to your cheeks.

Mac Melon Pigment: This is actually a rose gold peach colour but it can look like a light coral on the eyes. It's a stunning colour and one of the prettiest eyeshadows that I own. It blends so easily and would suit any eye colour, you can see swatches of it under my lower lash line here and on my lids here.

Loreal Dating Coral: I remember buying this after hearing so much hype around this shade, its quite a natural peach pink that has a glossy finish, you can layer it up or just have a sheer wash of colour, both look really pretty on the lips.

Revlon colorburst lipgloss in Peony: This is a lovely peachy pink lipgloss that doesn't feel sticky on the lips and has a pretty golden shimmer running through it. Perfect for subtle glossy lips and great if you want to wear bright colours on your eyes!

JUNES GREEN FAVOURITES/MAYS GOLD FAVOURITES/APRILS BLUE FAVOURITES/MARCH MINT FAVOURITES/FEBRUARYS ORANGE FAVOURITES/JANUARYS PINK FAVOURITES

THREE PINKS

Summer's here and I've been reaching for pink nails non stop! Essie is probably my favourite nail polish brand as it lasts well on my nails and the colours are always flattering on me. Here are my three current favourite pinks!

The Coral Pink - Essie Peach daiquiri is a beautiful peachy pink nail polish, this looks so great in the summer, on your fingers or toes and looks amazing with a tan and lot's of gold midi rings!

The Pink Glitter - Essie A Cut Above is an amazing chunky pink glitter, it looks great either layered up on its own, over another colour or as an accent nail. After my Blue ombré glitter mani I've been embracing wearing more glitter polishes in summer and this is one of my favourites!

The Pastel Pink - Essie Vanity Fairest is a pretty pastel pink, I love wearing this over a french mani, it's quite sheer and has tiny particles of shimmer and so is perfect for a subtle shimmery french mani!

Which is your favourite pink?

BLUE OMBRÉ GLITTER NAILS

I fell in love with Ingrid's Blue Ombré Glitter mani and so I thought I would try and recreate it. It's perfect for summer and looks so pretty on the nails!

To start my ombre nails I used Liz Earle's strengthening nail colour in 'Rhapsody In Blue'* on my thumb, it's the perfect midnight dark blue colour to start the ombré mani. For the glitter I applied models own Jack frost nail polish over the top.

I used Essie Aruba blue on my index finger as a base and pressed on Nail rock glitter dust in blue whilst the Essie polish was still wet. 

For my middle finger I mixed some of Barry M's blue glitter with the Nail rock glitter dust to create an in-between shade, I mixed them together in a plastic pot until I was happy with the colour and then applied it to my nail.

On my ring finger I applied Barry M's blue glitter and on my little finger Barry M's textured nail effect in 'Lady' which is a lovely white pearl with peach glitter running through it.

To complete the look, I used a top coat to seal the glitter in and to give my nails a finished look. Overall I'm so happy with this nail look and will be wearing it all throughout summer!

xx

APRIL BLUE FAVOURITES

These are my April Blue favourites, I thought blue would go nicely with rainy 'April's showers'!

Lomography superstar diana mini - With the sun shining and pretty flowers blossoming everywhere I've been taking my lomography camera out a lot more. I'll do a full post on my camera when I've filled up my film and developed the photos but I've loved having an analogue camera to take out with me so that I can fill up my photo albums.

Liz Earle Energising body wash* - This has been my morning saviour. It smells so fresh and invigorating and leaves my skin feeling soft and clean. As always with Liz Earle, the ingredients are good. It contains 9 pure essentials oils and leaves my skin feeling silky smooth.

Essie Nail Polish Aruba Blue - This is fast becoming one of my favourite nail polishes ever, it's the perfect shimmery sapphire colour and looks pretty with an accent nail or worn on its own.

Maybelline New York color tattoo turquoise forever - I love wearing this rubbed onto my lower lashes to give them a buildable hint of colour. It's a pretty look for the warmer weather and an easy way to add some colour to your make-up. See the look here.

Bumble and Bumble Sunday shampoo* - I've recently moved from a soft water area to a hard water area, Sunday shampoo is a clarifying shampoo that removes product build up, hard water minerals and pollutants. I've added this to my Sunday pampering routine and I love it. I only need to use a small amount for it to leave my hair feeling so clean and cleansed meaning less hair washes in the week!

Maybelline baby lips hydrate - Full review here. I use this in the morning under a lipstick or on its own. It contains shea butter, honey and has SPF20 leaving my lips feeling moisturised and protected by the SPF.


March's Mint Favourites
Februarys Orange Favourites
Januarys Pink Favourites

THREE BLUES

I've been enjoying wearing blue nail varnish this month and these are three of my favourites. Perfect for Monday blues and April showers these all are opaque in two coats, last well on my nails and are such pretty shades of blue.

'The Sophisticated Blue' - Liz Earle Strengthening Nail colour Rhapsody in blue* is the perfect midnight blue colour. It contains avocado and borange oil which helps to keep the nails strong and moisturised. It looks lovely with gold midi rings and is great to wear for a glam night out.

'The Cobalt Blue' - Barry M's Cobalt Blue becomes opaque in two coats, it looks great with a tan and lot's of silver jewellery. 

'The Shimmery Blue' - Essie's Aruba blue is my all time favourite blue. This is my go to colour when I'm not sure what to wear, it seems to go with everything and looks great with Essie stroke of brilliance as an accent nail!

March's 'Mint' Favourites

Following the colour theme, these are my March 'mint' favourites. Mint to me is such a fresh colour, I've been loving fresh flowers and colours throughout early spring!

Mint Nail polish - Essie Mint Candy apple and Ciate pepperminty. These pretty mint nail varnishes have really brightened up my nails this month.

EOS Lip Balm in Sweet Mint - 95% Organic and 100% natural, free of petrolatum and paraben free, this little lip balm has claimed a permanent place in my handbag. It's sweet mint flavour is refreshing and leaves lips so soft, it's also great to use under matte lip balms!

Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish - I've loved using this to take my make up off this month, it leaves my face feeling clean and fresh and is quick and easy to use. I massage the creamy cleanser all over my made up face for about 30 seconds and then wipe it away with the cloth, I then repeat the process to make sure every last trace of make up is removed. The cloth also gently exfoliates your skin helping to leave it smooth and clean!

Benefit the Porefessional - This is a nude coloured primer which blends into the skin creating a perfect base for make up. It smooths away pores helping to give an airbrushed effect and lets foundation glide well over the top to help create a flawless base!

Januarys Pink Favourites
Februarys Orange Favourites

Spring Nails

I'm slowly leaving behind the winter berry shades and moving onto pretty pastels for spring. I've been reaching for these colours recently which have all helped to brighten up my nails!

Ciate Ferris Wheel - A light pastel blue Nail varnish that looks great with loads of silver midi rings. 

Essie Cute As A Button - a lovely coral pink, one of my all time faves. 

Ciate Pillow Fight - A beautiful pale grey with a hint of lilac, a perfect transitional colour from Winter to Spring.

Essie Mint Candy Apple - A pretty pastel soft mint colour, this takes a few coats to look opaque but then is a perfect spring nail colour!

January's 'Pink' Favourites

These are my current favourite 'Pinks'. During January's dreary rainy days, a pop of pink felt like just what I needed to brighten up my days!

Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette - My full review of this palette is here. I've been wearing 'Dust' all over the lid and 'Nooner' in the crease and under the lower lashes a lot this month which is great for a pretty and natural every day look.

Nars Orgasm - Nars blushers are lovely, so pigmented long lasting and such pretty colours. I'm looking to expand my collection soon as I've been loving this pretty pink shade so much!

Revlon Lip Butter Sweet Tart - This gives a pretty bright pink lip without looking too bold. It's my favourite lip butter shade, I feel it brightens up my complexion and is easy to apply for a sheer pink lip.

Essie A cut above - A pink gitter nail varnish with various sized glitter chunks, I've loved wearing this over a grey nail varnish this month. Full review here

So far in February I've been lusting after Nars Gina and Luster and reaching for Revlon Audacious Matte balm and Revlon Lip butter in Tutti Frutti. Something tells me the theme for this month is going to be orange!

xx

Essie Luxe Nail Polish

Left - Essie 'A Cut Above' Right - Essie 'Stroke of Brilliance'

These are my picks of the Essie Luxe nail polish collection. It's the time of year when all I want to do is paint my nails with glittery nail polish, drink hot chocolate and listen to Michael bublé's Christmas album. I was also tempted to get 'Set in Stone' which is a very pretty silver chunky essie glitter polish but I settled on getting these two as I don't own anything else similar.

Essie A Cut Above is a pretty pink nail polish with various sized chunky glitter, it looks great worn layered on its own, or over a mauve/grey colour.

Essie Stroke of Brilliance is a Frosty blue chunky glitter and perfect as an accent nail over navy nail varnish.

These don't disappoint and both look great over another colour, as an accent nail or layered on their own, the only downside is they are so hard to get off! 

Which is your favourite?

REVIEW: Essie's Boom Boom Room

Today I'm going to be reviewing one of my new favorite nail polishes for spring/summer: Essie's Boom Boom Room from their Neon 2013 Collection.

Boom Boom Room is a bright bubblegum pink color that instantly reminds me of "Barbie." I'm a sucker for pinks and after seeing various Youtubers and bloggers rave about this polish, I knew I had to get my hands on it. On my trip to Ulta in Florida, I resigned to only purchasing one nail polish (I have THAT much self control haha) and this was the winner. 

I really like the formula and found it very easy to apply. I didn't find it streaky at all, and it only took me two coats to be opaque. I know a lot of people like to first put on a white base coat underneath neon polishes to really make the color pop, but I thought it looked just fine on its own so save yourself the time. Instead, since it does dry matte, I highly recommend adding a top coat to really make the color stand out.

In conclusion, I think I've found my go-to pink polish for summer and know I'll definitely be getting a lot of use out of it in the next couple months! Retails for $8, get it yourself at Target, Ulta, most drugstores, and Amazon (not an affiliate link).

On a side note, you can't see it in the picture below, but I love how this polish makes my hands look tan for some reason - especially because I'm so pale!  

Have you tried Essie's Boom Boom Room?? What do you think? 

Spring Nails

L-R Essie Peach Daiquiri, Barry M Grapefruit, Essie Mint Candy Apple, Topshop Windy City, Barry M Peach Melba, Topshop Prim and Proper

These are my current favourite Spring Nailvarnishes. I think they are a lovely mix of pretty pastels for spring and a few brights which will also be great for summer.

Barry M Gelly in Grapefruit and Essie Peach Daiquiri are actually quite similar, although Grapefruit is slightly on the pinker side. The Barry M Gelly formula is lovely, only 1 coat needed and it is very high shine, perfect for quick application and shiny nails! 
I think my favourite of the bunch has to be Essie Mint candy apple, this is the perfect summer colour and I love the name, the packaging and the brush! 


What are your favourite colours this spring?