This post has been long. awaited. I slotted the last four eyeshadows into my palette yesterday after buying them with my birthday money (I've had a tough couple of days so it was retail therapy - just roll with it). I bought my 15 pan eyeshadow palette back in November at the #tbloggers meetup we had in Covent Garden. It usually takes most people a year or two to fill theirs up...mine? Nah, eight months to the day I do believe. Acheivement or what?

I bought one shadow when I got the actual palette, then I got four (!) for Christmas, and the other 9 I bought myself. You might notice that that doesn't add up to 15, and you'd be right, it doesn't...that's because I depotted a much loved Natural Collection eyeshadow and slotted that in as well...so technically I've cheated but it's okay. My mum couldn't tell the difference.

It's so satisfying having it full, not going to lie. This has got to be my favourite eyeshadow palette I own, just because it's custom and I've chosen every shade in it, it's my absolute baby.

(I've also put links to any pictures on my Instagram(s) that I'm wearing these colours in that you can have a look at!)

(L-R) Shroom, Omega, Kid, Natural Collection Milk Chocolate, Quarry

Expensive Pink, Haux, Woodwinked, Sable, Antiqued

Folie, Brown Down, Coppering, Cranberry, Plumage

Shroom - satin, soft beige with shimmer I love this colour for highlighting the inner corner and browbone when I want something a little more interesting going on up there 

Omega - matte, soft muted beige-taupe I originally bought this for my eyebrows as it's a very cool toned shadow, but I've since moved onto something a little darker and now use this as a transition colour (this photo)

Kid - matte, warm-toned brown I got this for Christmas, but now can't seem to find it on the MAC website, but I like this when I do a warm toned brown smokey eye (this photo kind of)

Quarry - soft muted plum brown This is so similar to Buon Fresco from the Anastasia Beverly Hills palette and I love this sort of colour just for a little bit of definition in the crease, and for blending out darker colours such as Folie, Sable or Cranberry

Expensive Pink - veluxe pearl, pink with duochrome This is possibly the most beautiful rose gold colour, it''s got golden shimmer running through it and it's just so pretty. I love this all over the lid with Cranberry in the crease or just on it's own for a hint of shimmer

Haux - satin, soft muted rosy brown I adore this for a simple look all over the eye or blending out other darker shadows. It's quite similar to Quarry but a little pinkier so it goes perfectly with Cranberry or Sable. It also works really well with Plumage too. (this photo)

Woodwinked - veluxe pearl, warm antique gold This is so beautiful all over the lid with Brown Down in the crease, or if you want something a little different it goes amazingly with Plumage as they both have that sort of old-timey vintage look about them

Sable - frost, gold plum with bronze pearl This is maybe my favourite shadow from the whole palette, I'm just actually in love with it. It looks so beautiful with Quarry or Haux blending it out or with Brown Down in the crease (this photo or this one)

Antiqued - veluxe pearl, ash brown with bronze This is the most amazing coppery colour and I can't get over the beauty of this colour. It complements green/blue eyes and pale skin perfectly and it's my favourite in the palette after Sable. I wear this all over the lid with Kid in the crease and a little bit of Brown Down in the outer corner (this photo but there is a Snapchat filter so not too sure how true the colour is)

Folie - satin, reddish plum brown Because this is a warm toned shade it looks so good with an orangey eyeshadow blended into the crease. I love it with ABH Raw Sienna or Burnt Orange for a really soft gradient. It also goes really well with Sable and Haux. (this photo)

Brown Down - veluxe, teddy bear brown This is quite a warm toned brown so looks so good with orange toned eyeshadows, and I also adore it with Sable. Sable, I swear to god is one of the most versatile eyeshadows ever. As is Brown Down, actually, it goes with most of the colours in this palette and it's my go to brown smokey shade. (this photo, this one or this one)

(you might notice we now go into my brighter/more daring shades. Believe me, it's daring for me)

Coppering - veluxe pearl, orange copper OMG this colour! I think it makes me look like I have pinkeye but I don't really care, it's such a beautifully true copper and I love it blended all over the crease with Brown Down, as you can see in THIS tutorial! (this photo or this one)

Cranberry - frost, red plum with pink shimmer This was the first eyeshadow I bought for my palette so it's very special to me. This is incredible with Brown Down in the crease or just on it's own and blended out with a little bit of Haux or Quarry. (this photo or this one)

Plumage - matte, dusky peacock Possibly the craziest colour I own and it looks so scary in the pan but in reality it's not that dark or bright. This looks SO good in the crease with Antiqued or Woodwinked, or run under the lower lashline with Antiqued on the lid, and I can also imagine how amazing it'll look all over the lid and blended out with some warm orangey browns

Whew. So that's it, that is my completed MAC palette! It's my pride and joy and I genuinely look at it every day like "...wow..." It's also the most expensive makeup item (actually scratch that, the most expensive thing) I own as it collectively adds up to £162.50 which is sort of scary as it's pretty valuable! 

Let me know if you want any tips for starting your own palette and I might just do a post on that

Emilia xx

The Holy Grail Product for Curly Hair

I can't tell you the amount of times I look in the mirror and go "ew. what is this mess on my head that looks like a cowpat that's been bleached by the sun."

Yeah, so my hair really ruins my aesthetic. It's dry, frizzy, messy, untamed and frankly the bane of my life. And let me tell you, the "heatwave" (technically, according to the Times, it's not actually a heatwave yet) we've been accosted with in the UK, is not helping matters.

Enter this baby.

Recently, the parentals took a lil weekend trip to Ireland with some family friends and my mum brought me back a couple of bits, and one of them was a product from the Aveda Be Curly range. I've heard of the Be Curly range from Aveda before but never tried it out because (I won't lie) at £20 a tube/bottle thing it's sort of expensive. So you know, there was no way I would turn down a gift from my mother of something that would come close to making my hair actually aesthetically decent.

Oh and does it.

Here are some pictures, both taken after washing my hair, with and without this magical stuff.

without

Please ignore how sweaty I look, according to Snapchat the temperature is currently 27 degrees literally help me I am so balmy. This is also the reason I have no eyebrows, I've literally sweated them off wonderful.

You see what I mean? It's actually a bloody nightmare looking after this mess. You can see how dry the ends are and how my head is sort of surrounded by this layer of frizz. And oh yeah, I was wearing a black bra under a white shirt. Nope, I cannot fail at life any more than I already do. On a side note, it's such a weird colour, isn't it? Like it's not brown but it's not blonde either, there are just random bits of really blonde hair in amongst all this like golden brown stuff, it's a bit odd.

Okay and then we get this magical product on it...

Can you see the difference or can you see the difference? There's still a bit of frizz but again, it was quite hot and humid today which doesn't help matters lol. But you can see that the curl is so much more defined and the halo of frizz over the top of my head has been reduced significantly.

So here's what I do with my hair, broken down into several handy tips.

- I don't wash it every day. I have very dry hair but for some reason washing it every day just dries it out even more. At the moment I do it every other day and it's actually made such an improvement.

- I don't use any more products than necessary. I shampoo, I condition, I put in the curl cream and that's it.

- I shampoo the roots of my hair and shampoo down to where it sort of leaves my scalp at the bottom (does that make sense?) and condition where I didn't shampoo. It's really important just to keep conditioner on the ends, not on the actual roots because otherwise conditioner build-up can be caused and to be honest, that's just a lil icky.

- I don't put heat on it. I straighten my hair when I need to and that's it. There are days when I do just because it's a lot easier to manage when it's straight because it's so easy to throw up into a ponytail or bun, when it's curly it takes a little longer. But I only do it when completely necessary now, not any more. For example, I did it for Rock Challenge because I was going to be doing makeup for 3+ hours  andI knew it would just get in the way and irritate me. On the rare occasions I do straighten it I use ALL the heat protectant spray just to give it the moisture.

- I get it cut when it needs it. I hate getting my hair cut but when you have hair like mine it's so important to get it tidied up every now and then. I hate it mainly because I look awful with shorter hair, the length it's at at the moment is the perfect length for me but surprise surprise, due for yet another cut *sighh*

- Another final tip - it's important to find a hairdresser that knows what they're doing with curly hair. It will make SO much of a differnce if you find a hairdresser who knows the ins and outs and how to cut and deal with curly hair so it looks decent. It'll make the world of difference, I promise.

Alright lads, that's me done. If you have curly hair, I so hope this post helped you, and if you don't but you know someone who does, buy them this product for their next birthday or for Christmas. You'll be saving a girl's life, I promise.

Emilia xx

I Wish We Were Butterflies

"I almost wish we were butterflies, and lived three short summer days - days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty years could ever contain."

What do you do when you have a load of old, pretty makeup packaging and some sticky butterflies lying around? Well, you cut out more butterflies and stick em on yourself with liquid latex, cover yourself in highlighter and white dots, paint a couple pretty flowers here and there, add in a few posey shots and you're done.

(My nose is so wonky I hate it.)

So the products I used are as follows...

Body

- Butterfly stickers from Hobbycraft (stuck on with a little bit of liquid latex)

- Makeup packaging I've had lying around forever

- Ayliss iMagic flash palette (bc cheapskate) 

- NYX white eyeliner

Eyes

- Natural Collection "Milk Chocolate" eyeshadow for initial transition shade

- Sleek Makeup Ultra Mattes V1 palette, shades "Cricket" and "Dragonfly" in the crease

- Seventeen Wild Metallic eyeshadow in "Wild Nude" as a base

- Urban Decay Naked 2 "Verve" over top

- Makeup Revolution "White Light" eyeshadow from the Eyes Like Angels palette in inner corner and browbone

- Brows are NYX Tame and Frame brow pomade in blonde 

Face

- Revlon Skinlights Photoready illuminator for that inner glow

- L'Oreal True Match foundation in 1C (still to this day the only foundation I've found that matches my skin, all about dem cool tones)

- Seventeen Stay Time concealer in Extra Fair to highlight 

- Revlon highlighting palette in Bronze Glow for blusher

- Makeup Revolution white highlight in the highlighting palette literally all over my face

- Bourjois Chocolate Bronzer 

-Rimmel Stay Matte Powder

Lips

- MAC "Velvet Teddy"

- Tanya Burr lip gloss in "Chic"

I honestly think it's the most makeup I've ever had on my face at any one time, it sort of felt good to wash it all off lol. I'm not really sure of the concept behind this but I do like the ethereal, whimsical look it gives, it's so different from what I usually do so that's probably why! I never normally do pretty things like this so it's nice to do something different for a change!

Hope you like this - if you recreate it post a picture on Instagram or Twitter and tag me in it!

Emilia xx

p.s. I have a strapless bra on teehee I'm not nekked