Beauty Bar: Urban Decay Naked Petite Heat Review

A few weeks ago I heard that Urban Decay were bringing out a travel-size version of their infamous Naked Heat eye shadow palette. I was immediately intrigued by it as I’d resisted buying the full size palette last Summer because of the cost - I just couldn’t spend £40 on eye shadow, no matter who it was made by or who endorsed it!

This smaller version was ⅔ the price and I had a Feel Unique discount code which gave me that little extra push to make the purchase. I was so intrigued to see how these hyped, high-end eye shadows would compare to the drugstore products I’ve only ever used before. I didn’t know if the warm shades would suit my skin tone, but I’d seen so many photos of such a variety of people wearing them, that I hoped they would work for me too. 

These are the shades in the Petite palette. They're brand new to the Heat collection and come in full palette pan sizes. Inhale, Hot Spell and Wild Thing are the ones that I've used the most, as you'll see below. What I love about Hot Spell, is that it looks like a muted beige in the pan, but once its on your brush and skin this warm orange tone appears. I don't know how it does it, but its such a versatile, build-able shade.

My first impression of the shades was that they were SO pigmented. You hardly need any powder on your brush at all to get a strong sweep of bold colour, and once it’s on - it’s on and there’s no budging. Even without using a primer underneath it, the shades don’t need a lot of building up and they blend together really well.

The bold colours leave little room for error - and I’ve made plenty of errors experimenting with this palette, including one memorable occasion where I managed to make it look like I had a black eye! Career change to be a movie make up artist maybe?!

I almost wish my eye shadow brushes were smaller to give my application more precision, because a flick in the wrong direction and it can be tricky to fix. The best solution I’ve come up with is to either blend it out using the lightest shade, Inhale, or to use concealer and start again. 

This is the daytime look I’ve created. I used Inhale to start with, all over the eyelid. Then, starting at the outer corner of my eye, I used Hot Spell, so that it was darker at the outside, growing lighter across the lid. I finished off with Wild Thing in the outer corners, to really bring that fiery warmth. I then completed the look with brown mascara, which I think looks so pretty with these warm tones.

To pare this back even more, I’ve also been loving just giving Inhale and Hot Spell a light sweep over my whole eyelids, before finishing with the brown mascara.

To create more of an evening look, I’d start in a similar way to my first daytime look, but would then bring in the darker shades, Heist and Strike, into the crease and outer corners of my eyes. I’d then finish off with some black mascara.

Have you tried these Urban Decay eye shadows? If so, what did you think? Worth all the hype?

Lisa xx

Wedding Bells: Cordially Invited

Invites and save the dates are the first taste of your wedding for your guests. They don't just communicate the details of the day, they also tell your guests how formal your wedding will be, what your wedding colours are and will hopefully show something of you and your partner's personalities.
One of the most memorable save the dates that we've ever received was a magnet. We just knew from this that the wedding day was bound to be quirky and fun. If this was their save the date, we couldn't wait to see what they'd do with the actual day!

Unfortunately the design of our wedding invites was actually one of the most stressful parts of planning our wedding. So interwoven with the tips below, I've included some of the things that I've learned and would do differently if we were to do it again. I hope it's helpful for you!

1. Pick Your Designer Wisely
It could be you, Paperchase, a creative friend, an Aunty with a glue gun or a professional stationery designer. Have a think about the kind of wedding stationery you'd like to have, your budget and the skills at your disposal to make it a reality.
Are you a creative person who would adore designing your stationery yourself? Can you use your gifts of lettering, drawing, photography, decoupage or Adobe Indesign? If you're confident with those sorts of things, then go for it! You'll be able to create something completely personal to you and your partner, with none of the faff or cost of hiring someone else to do it.

If, however, you don't feel you have the skills or time to do this, then there are lots of beautiful pre-printed sets of wedding stationery in shops like Paperchase and Hobbycraft, as well as a wide variety of professional designers out there to choose from.
We went down the designer route and I came across our designer through searching for Yorkshire Wedding Stationery Designers on Google. I had a look at her website, saw her previous designs and read some testimonials from her past customers, and was confident enough to go with her.

2. Extras & Details
Invites and save the dates can vary hugely. Have a think about the little details that you might want to include. Examples from our wedding stationery are that we made our save the dates and RSVPs postcards, to make sending them as easy as possible, and to save money on envelopes!
We also included a brief timeline with our invitations, so that our guests could get an idea of the shape of the day.

3. The Wording
Take some time to think about the wording you'd like to use. Would you like it to be formal or informal?
Who is inviting your guests to your wedding day? This is often representative of who is financing the day; is it the bride's parents (e.g. Mr and Mrs Pitstop request the honour of your company at the celebration of the marriage of their daughter Penelope Goody to Dick Bad-Guy Dastardly), the couple getting married (e.g. Penelope Pitstop and Dick Dastardly request the honour of your company at the celebration of their marriage), or is it a bit of both (e.g. Together with their families, Penelope Pitstop and Dick Dastardly request the honour of your company at the celebration of their marriage)?

4. Make Sure You & Your Partner Know What You Want
Here the Pinteresting from one of my previous Wedding Bells posts comes in handy. Have a look around at examples of other wedding stationery before you meet with a designer (or start designing your own). Go prepared with the types of stationery you would like (save the dates, invites, maps, RSVPs, menus, seating plan, etc...), the wedding colours and the general tone you'd like to set (e.g. formal or informal).
The problem that my husband and I ran into, was that we'd discussed these things a little bit before we met with our designer, but it turned out to not be enough. This meant that we weren't really on the same page and led to confusion when our designer was asking about things like colours and font preferences.
Feel free to take some examples with you of wedding stationery that you've seen and like, find out if your designer is able to achieve that sort of thing for you, and don't be afraid to look for another designer if this one can't do it.

5. Make Sure Your Designer Knows What You Want
Before leaving your initial meeting with your designer, run through with them all that you've discussed, and make sure that they have fully understood the brief that you've given them.
They may well have plenty of other clients that they're catering to at the same time as you, so make sure that the hours they put in for you will be well utilised.

6. Ask To Meet With Your Designer Again
This is a step that I so wish we'd taken! Arrange a date to next meet with your designer, where they can go through the stationery they've created for you. This should help to ease communications, as you will be able to tell them there and then if the colours they're using aren't spot on, if the fonts aren't what you were looking for, or if it just doesn't look how you'd imagined.
As it was, we had to do all of this over email, and there was so much back and forth, so many new versions (which costed us extra money every time), and gave us so much stress and worry. We started to feel like we were a burden to our designer, when actually we were paying her for a service and it was her job to deliver it to a high standard.

7. Don't Be Afraid To Compromise
In the end, we had to ask the designer to abandon what she'd done for us, because it just didn't look good. We asked her instead to recreate one of the designs on her website that she'd done for someone else, but with a few tweaks (no butterflies please!) and in our colours.
I just couldn't face any more back and forth with a designer who was sending me things that weren't what we were looking for! It may sound harsh, but it was becoming a major drain on my and my husband's energy; I needed to rein the whole thing back in and regain some of the control.

Are you in the process of designing your wedding stationery? What approach are you taking and how are you finding the process?

Lisa x

Beauty Bar: My Year Of Drugstore Foundations

For me, putting on my foundation in the morning is one of the key steps to preparing for the day. It has the power to even out skin tone, cover blemishes, brighten the appearance of skin and generally make my pale complexion look more alive.
I've tried out countless foundations over the last decade, some to much more success than others, but here's a run down of the products I've tried in the last 12 months, how I'd rate them and how likely I'd be to repurchase.

Bourjois Paris - City Radiance
My Shade: 01 Rose Ivory
Rating: 8/10
Claims: To protect skin from pollution, give a brightening effect and give SPF30 skin protection.
My Thoughts: I really liked using this foundation. It's a light formula that I found to give around a medium coverage. It gave my skin a bit of a glow, without looking shiny. I really liked the protection that it gave too, as wearing SPF daily is so important.
The only thing I would like to see added to this foundation would be a UVA protection rating of 4 or above, particularly as skin protection is one of its main claims.
Would I Repurchase? Yes, I'd definitely repurchase this foundation to create everyday makeup looks.
Try It Here

Garnier - BB Cream / Tinted Moisturiser
My Shade: Extra-Light
Rating: 7
Claims: Miracle Skin Perfector that has 24hr hydration, evens skin tone, smoothes lines and imperfections, boosts healthy glow, contains SPF 15 protection and has Vitamin C.
My Thoughts: I know that this is technically a BB cream, rather than a foundation, but I did use it in place of a foundation for several months so thought it was worth a mention.
This BB cream is really brightening and does have a pigment to it to even out skin tone. It can leave the skin looking a little shiny though, so when I used it I always followed with a matte powder.
Would I Repurchase? Yes I would. I'd use this during the summer months when I don't want anything too heavy on my skin.
Try It Here

Bourjois - Healthy Mix
My Shade: No. 52, Vanilla
Rating: 3/10
Claims: To be an anti-fatigue foundation, that brightens skin and enriches it with Vitamins C, E and B5.
My Thoughts: I had heard amazing things about this foundation and it was recommended to me many times by friends and other bloggers. However, I was so disappointed with it!
I found it to be really heavy, and could both feel and see the foundation on my skin.
I think this might be more for you if you like a heavier coverage, but to me it didn't look natural enough and left me with dreaded Oompa Loompa vibes.
Would I Repurchase? Never.
Try It Here

L'Oreal Paris - True Match
My Shade: Rose Ivory
Rating: 9/10
Claims: Micro-Match Technology creates a true to skin feel and perfectly captures skin tone and undertone. Contains SPF17, 24hr hydration and is 'super blendable'.
My Thoughts: I love this foundation! It provides a medium coverage that is brightening, and doesn't look cakey. The range has a real variety of shades, which means that I've been able to find one that looks very natural on my skin. I also love that it contains SPF protection.
The thing that has impressed me most about this foundation though is it's longevity. I apply it at 8am, and its still giving great coverage at 6pm! I have never used a foundation before that has been that good, including designer products that cost triple the price.
Would I Repurchase? Definitely! This foundation is so good that I'd use it for any occasion, day or night. The only things that could put me off buying it again, would be that it isn't vegan and doesn't contain any UVA protection (although this can easily be remedied by my morning moisturiser and sun tan lotion).
Try It Here

Overall, I think the winner has to be the L'Oreal Paris True Match foundation. I think this will be a firm staple in my make up bag for years to come.
And for days when I want a more dewy look, I've started to mix with it a drop of the Bourjois Paris Sculpt Light highlighter - just a little extra tip there if you're after a bit more of a glow!

Have you tried any of these products before? If so, how did you find them and do you have any other staple foundations?

Lisa xx

Wedding Bells: The Venue

Back in the day, venues for weddings tended to either be in a church or at a registry office. Nowadays however, people are branching out to also use a variety of special places or exciting overseas destinations to say their "I do's".
There are lots of elements to take into account here of course, but it's good to think about the venue early on, as this can shape a lot of other things down the line.

Here's a few things to think about when selecting a venue for your ceremony and reception.

Shop Around
It's the boring one to start with but it does have to be said that your budget can massively affect the venue you choose.
If you have an endless budget then you can pretty much have your pick of wherever you want, but if you have a more modest budget then it makes sense to shop around and compare prices of venues.
You need to know if you're getting a good deal for your dollar. Research venues on the internet and then go and have a look around.
Meeting with a venue's events planner can be so helpful, as they'll be able to tell you the practicalities and possibilities of making your dream day a reality. You can also ask them about cost and any other questions that you have.
They'll likely ask you about the date and timings for the day, so it's good to have a think about those before you go to meet them.

Churches
If you'd like to get married in a church, you'll need to either live in the parish or have been regularly attending the church for 6 months. You can find out which Church of England church belongs to your parish by using this website.
Be aware that, as with all venues, there will be a cost to using a church, such as the venue hire and payment for musicians, caretaker, etc...

Set The Tone
The venue you choose will be a big factor in setting the tone of the day.
Want to stay traditional? Consider choosing a venue set in the home town of the bride.
Want a fancy day? You could go for a huge church for the service, or a luxury hotel.
Want a more homely feel? A cute parish church or converted barn could be for you.
Are you city dwellers? Why not use an unexpected city centre venue? We got part way into talks with Leeds Art Gallery for our wedding reception - as this was where we went for our first date and where Tim proposed to me! Unfortunately, the venue had to pull out as they unexpectedly needed to have extensive work done to the building.
Or is the great outdoors more your bag? There are plenty of gorgeous venues set out in the countryside, or even not that far from cities and towns. Last summer we went to a wedding in the grounds of a local mill. The bride and groom arrived on canal boats, the ceremony was outside in front of a beautiful willow tree and there was a giant tent for the meal, speeches and party.

Decorations
When you're looking at venues, think about how you could decorate them. How do they relate to any Pinterest or mood boards that you've made? Do the venue have any photos of previous weddings that have taken place there?

Your Guests
It's important to take your guests into account when choosing your venue.
For instance, think about the distance that they'd need to travel, both to get to the service and then to go on to the reception if you're having them in separate venues.
If you're wanting to have a big wedding with lots of guests, then getting married abroad might not be the best idea. It's a long way for a lot of people to travel, and for those guests who aren't your close friends or family, the cost of travelling and accommodation might be too much for them to pay.

Catering
It's really important to think about the catering possibilities of a venue. Do they have their own caterers? Or are they happy for you to bring in your own? Do you like the sound of the menus they offer? Where would a meal take place? Are their prices within your budget?

Photos
The look, position and facilities of your venue are really important to think about in terms of the photos you'd like.
For instance, if you'd like some of the photos to be taken outside - would you like a cityscape in the background? Or a beautiful garden? Or something dramatic, like rolling hills or the ocean?
When we thought we were going to be using both a church and reception venue in Leeds city centre, we planned to go and have photos part way through the day in a park, so that we could have some photos that didn't have cement as a backdrop!
However, in the end our reception had grounds that we could have our photos in, so that was ideal.
When you look around venues, think about where group photos could be taken, and ask the events planner about ways that this has been done in the past.

What's the venue of your dreams?
Lisa xx

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