Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet

So, let's talk about a naughty little purchase I made last month shall we? I don't often splash out on an unnecessary makeup item (shush mum, most of the makeup purchases I make are for review purposes!), but I was caught up in the Chanel buzz in the Selfridges beauty hall, and under the guidance of a not-so-spend-thrifty friend (yes Sam, I'm talking to you) I may have handed over a little more cash than I care to admit, to leave with a little white bag. 

Let's just take a moment to admire the Chanel packaging. Just the bag added a little spring into my step for the rest of the day, there's an unequivocal luxury associated with Chanel, that for a high-end lover like myself, just brings on the excitement. The black and gold packaging just oozes class, and I feel like a proper lady when I whip this bad boy out. I love the spring mechanism that holds the lid on the tube (oh my god, just the sound is satisfying), and the engraved Chanel name in the actual bullet makes me want to not use the lipstick, so as not to ruin it. You get the picture, I like it.

Now onto the lipstick! It wears slightly matte, but Chanel quality control allows for no dry lips here. In terms of wear time, you're going to get a good six hours or so out of this (obviously this depends on what you're up to, if you're indulging in a Big Mac/cupcake/nineteen cups of coffee/makeout sesh then the wear time will probably be a little less!). I love the colour, it's pretty bright in the bullet, but wears a little more daytimey, than something like MAC Party Parrot. This is my must have Spring/Summer lipstick of the moment.

I like to wear this with a flick of winged eyeliner and a little bronze and highlight, alone or, more recently, with a slick of the Korres Lip Butter in Pomegranate on top. It's so pretty.

This lipstick was worth every penny!

Burger & Cocktail

 Food pictured, Cookies 'n' Cream shake, Cheeseburger, Sloppy Joe Fries, Rodeo Burger & Small Fries

Now, it's no secret that I like my food, and at the moment, my meal of choice is a big 'ol burger, and a shower of fries. In my humble opinion, the cream of the crop in this category, is London's own Burger & Cocktail.

We are talking the biggest, most perfectly cooked burgers, on a soft and squishy bread roll, with every topping you could possibly imagine. I myself am partial to a good old cheeseburger when I go here, so I can accessorise with side orders (sloppy joe fries, come at me!) but I wouldn't turn down a Rodeo burger either. 

And don't even get me started on the Cookies and Cream shake. It's like liquid Oreo. I'll leave it at that.

I think Burger & Cocktail are pretty reasonably priced too, It's around £15 for a cheeseburger, shake, and chilli fries, which I think is pretty reasonable, especially seeing as you'll leave just about ready to burst. All the staff are lovely, and don't judge you for ordering enough food to feed the whole of West London, or for making your third trip in a week. Which is a bonus.

You can find Burger & Cocktails at 35 James Street, London, W1U 1EA, down the side of Selfridges. Check out their menu, or book a table here.

The Vintage Cosmetic Company - Press Day

 Last week, Holly and I headed into a boutique hotel in Soho, for the Vintage Cosmetic Company's press day, in honour of their launch into Boots Stores next week. The company make beautiful vintage themed beauty accessories, soft fluffy brushes, pedicure sets, tweezers, eyelash curlers, and false lashes, which at the moment are available from their website, or feelunique.com.

The brushes are all really reasonably priced, between £7 and £17, and are super soft and fluffy, the pink handled ones are available exclusively online, but the ones in the bottom photo, with the white handles, will be launching in larger Boots stores next week, I'll definitely be picking up the Powder brush! It's so incredibly soft and fluffy! 

At the event, we were offered the chance to try out a pair of their eyelashes, I picked up the Nancy pair, which are quite full, thick lashes, that still look quite natural. If you take good care of them, they're reusable, and I think they might be my favourite pair of lashes ever. These retail for £6, which I think is pretty reasonable.

What do you think of The Vintage Cosmetic Company?

The Sunday Five Product Face

Ahhh Sundays. They might just be my favourite day of the week. To me, Sundays are a day of pure indulgence. Luckily for me, my Uni timetable means that I don't have classes on a Monday of Tuesday, meaning that I can do absolutely nothing on a Sunday, leaving all work til the beginning of the week. 

The perfect Sunday to me means a long lie in, followed by tea in bed, and numerous episodes of Man Vs. Food/Don't Tell The Bride/The Big Bang Theory/2 Broke Girls, or anything else that screams self-indulgent trash. Ideally, this would be followed up by a stroll through Hyde Park, or a market, picking up fresh fruit and something for dinner. A few hours cooking in the kitchen, then an evening snuggled up watching Pixar movies, eating something with beef in it, and hopefully a cupcake, whilst popping on a face mask and painting my nails. Bliss.

When it comes to Sundays, I like to embrace the idea of lazy, insert five product face here. The idea of spending hours priming, highlighting, contouring and blending makes my skin reel, so it goes as follows.

A light base goes on the face, ideally this would be some kind of tinted moisturiser or BB cream, but my milk bottle complexion doesn't match any of them out there, so this is where MUA's Undress Me foundation comes in. This is like the lightest foundation ever, barely there coverage that just evens out the skin tone, without looking like you're wearing anything. Pair this with a cream blush, I'm loving the pretty pink of this Topshop blush, in Morning Dew, which gives a gorgeous 'pinch-me-pink' english rose glow. For eyes, a little smudge of cream eyeshadow in the corner does the job, and I love the Maybelline Colour Tattoo in On and On Bronze. A little smudge of that in the corner of the eyes is perfect. Match that with a flash of natural but full mascara, such as the L'Oreal Telescopic Lash. Finish off with a pretty pink lipstick, this weeks pick is Viva Glam Gaga.

Right, I'm off to cook a homemade version of a Wagamama dish, and watch the Lorax, enjoy your Sunday!

Topshop Lips - Macaroon

I've never really been that enamoured with Topshop makeup, I made that point in this post, but today I picked up this lippie from the Oxford Street store. For the most part, Topshop lipsticks don't actually suit me, most of the colours are too pale, but this one is just right. It's a fairly bright pink with blue undertones, but it almost looks corally, it pretty much sits in the neutral territory. It looks ever so flattering against pale skin with a pink flush on the cheeks, and a simple eye. 

The lipstick itself is pretty creamy, but I find the formula quite drying on the lips, it's just fine with a slick of lip balm underneath though. At eight pounds a pop, Topshop lippies are a little pricier than your average drugstore lip product (although Revlon, why for you so expensive?) but if you like the colour then go for it!

My one little thing with Topshop packaging is that it's cream, it gets ever so grubby! Kind of annoying!