Prairie Charms #PrairieXmas

Recently I was contacted by a lovely company called "Prarie Charms" about an opputunity to review their products for #prairiexmas, of course I said YES straight away! A couple of day's later I received the most gorgeous fuchsia parcel in the mail. I had a little fangirl moment (I love letters and parcels to an obsessive point) and opened the parcel to find my delicately wrapped gifts. I received some beautiful products and couldn't wait to try them on.

My favourite piece was the Kaiya Multi Wrap as it had so many uses and looked absolutely stunning! Normally I don't really have much interest in jewellery, but I loved the idea of using the Wrap for multiple uses and I think this might encourage me to start accessorising my outfits!

It can be used as a hairband - a particularly good item for people who have annoyingly long hair like myself.

 As a necklace to add a small simple statement to an outfit.

But by far my favourite is the wrap bracelet as I can pop it on as I'm running out the door and it will instantly jazz up my outfit!

Next is the Vanessa Retro Hairband. I've always liked the look of these hairband's, but been scared to try them as I was sure they would show off my rather large forehead (not good!). However I was pleasantly surprised and impressed by this beautiful vintage floral piece. 

The wire inside the material also meant I could style it into a cute bow shape!

Normally I love bows, unfortunately the Limited Edition Tartan Bow I was sent didn't quite make the grade. The material wasn't the correct length which made the bow's shape look a bit distorted. However I love the colours and the idea of the (much sturdier) crocodile clip keeping this beauty in your hair.

And last but not least are the Vivenne Knot Ties. These are lifesavers! Brilliant for quickly tying up your hair without leaving kinks in your barnet and they even look pretty cool on your wrist too.

Everyone who participated in the blogger event also received a discount code, and I've already decided what I'm going to spend my pocket money on! 

The Harper Glitter Bow in Poppy Red looks so pretty and I can't resist!

A massive thank you goes out to Prairie Charms and owner Stephanie for providing all these beautiful items for me to review and keep. Another amazing fact is that 10% of profits made from this project have been donated to the charity GOSH, which makes me feel much happier about spending my pocket money. I also want to mention how lovely and helpful customer service has been, helping me along the way via Twitter and email.

Why don't you give them a visit at Prairie Charms?

Or their Twitter Page?

Did you take part in #PrairieXmas?

Comment your link and tell me what you think!

Talk to you later,

AnnieMAC

xxx

NYE Makeup Tutorial

For the first time in 18 years I am not going to be with my own family for New Years Eve, instead I am spending time with my boyfriends family for the celebrations. So I needed a sophisicated but casual makeup look, here is the makeup look I am wearing for New Years Eve:

First I moisturised my face using Dermalogica's Welcome Matte which protects your face from sun damage and doubles as an amazing primer! Over my pores I used 

Benefit's Porefessional to give my face that airbrushed look, MAC's Pro-Longwear in NC15 for foundation (applied using a Sam Chapman's Expert Face Brush) and due to very oily skin I used Collection 2000's Stay Matte with a Sam Chapman Powder Brush.

As I have very spot prone skin I used Collection 2000's Concealer in Light as this is the only concealer that hides my spots perfectly! I used Smooch's Sugar Rush to give my cheeks a light pink glow, and to highlight I used Topshop's Sunbeam.

On my eyelids I used an array of gold's and brown's from Urban Decay's NAKED Palette and Urban Decay's Eye Primer so my eyeshadow lasts longer. For the inner corners of my eyes and my brow bones I used Virgin as this will make your eyes appear bigger. As a base I used Sidecar on the inner half and Half Baked on the outer half and blended together to create a multi tonal effect. Around the crease area I used Smog and in the outer corner I used Dark Horse to make my eye look slightly smokey ( I reused Smog under the eye). On top I applied MUA Extreme Felt Eyeliner and for my lashes, Benefit's They're Real!. To prep my lips I used LUSH BubbleGum Lip Scrub and Soap and Glory's Smooch Operator so they were nice and smooth for application. Finally I used my new MAC Lipstick in Saigon Summer which is a lovely coral colour on my lips.

Here is the finished Look:

 and here are all the products I used:

I hope you enjoyed this Tutorial/ FOTD as much as I did!

What are you guys up to on New Years Eve?

Tell me down below in the comments or visit me on Twitter

Talk to you later,

AnnieMAC

xxx

Rimmel Apocalips Big Bang: Review

At the moment I have a small obsession with red lipsticks (small is an big understatement) and I have been eyeing up this beauty for months now; Rimmel Apocalips in Big Bang. So when my boyfriend said he would take me on a shopping spree for my Christmas present (all expenses paid for) I sprinted to Superdrug to get this lip laquer first!

Catergory-wise I would place it in between Lipsticks and Lipgloss; the way you apply this product is identical to lipgloss, however it is much higher in consistency and gives a bold red colour as soon as you apply it. The product is also long-lasting as it acts as lip stain, making sure your gloss stays perfect all day.

My one complaint about this product is that its hard to get rid of mistakes. If you glide it over a bit too fast or accidentally go past your lip line, the lipgloss stains that part of your face. Which means a lot of scrubbing to get it off.

Overall I love this product and its the perfect red for winter and early spring!

Here's how the product looks after applied:

Hope your all looking forward to NYE tonight and I wish you a Happy New Year!

Talk to you later,

AnnieMAC

xxx

New Years Resolutions

As a child my new years resolution was always to "Eat Pie". Sad to say I'm 18 now and have still not gone within an inch of any kind of pie, so I decided to start anew and think up some new years resolutions for 2014!

DO MORE BLOGGING

I've hardly been looking to my blog for a while recently (due to some big life changes- which I will talk about later) and it's gotten me really depressed that something I'm really passionate about, has taken a back seat in my priorities list. So starting the 1st of January 2014 I will be blogging everyday. Yes, everyday. I want to put all I have into this blog to make it the best It can be. 12 blog posts are waiting in the wings already so I hope you enjoy reading them when they are published!

GET A JOB

One of the reasons I've been away for so long Is that I found a part-time job at Wilkinsons Retail. However it was only a temporary contract over the Christmas period, so I am now jobless (and without money to buy my weekly beauty treats). So, being a motivated girl I am already handing out CV's to everywhere and anywhere, and hopefully this persistence will pay off.

30 MINUTES OF EXERCISE DAILY

I have finally found the motivation to do some exercise and get fit again after a 3 year break from dance lessons. Now I'm not one of those induviduals who find it easy to go to the gym weekly or get up at 5am each morning to run, so instead I have decided to give "Zumba" a try! I will be posting weekly results on this blog to document my journey, motivate myself and maybe along the way encourage others to get up and shake their bum to get fit!

These are a only a few of my resolutions for the upcoming year, but I'm sure even more will crop up during the year.

What are your resolutions for the new year?
Leave a comment below or find me on Twitter

Talk to you later,
AnnieMAC 
xxx

The #RushBloggerMeet

Last week I was pleasantly surprised by an invite that popped up in my email for a bloggers meetup, being a big newbie in the world of both blogging and beauty I was instantly buzzing with excitement (more like screaming the house down) and rsvp'd straight away!

I headed down to London all dolled up, donning a bright red primark dress and some cute black heels ready for the evening event. Safe to say I wasn't expecting to get there 2 and a half hours early, for the heavens to open (turning my sophisticated evening look into more of a drowned rat) or my heels to cause me a pain similar to someone chopping off my toes, but the main thing was I made it. This was my first time traveling to London alone, so I was very nervous (probably looked like I has having a seizure to onlookers). So after helping myself to a cream cooler and Costa's free wifi, I still had an hour to kill, luckily the National Art Gallery was just down the road and my inner art student couldn't resist a visit!

Finally the time came for the meet-up to start, I was still a little early so I took full advantage of the free manicures before any queues started (My nails were painted with O.P.I's Big Apple Red) and had a little explore before the venue got packed with bloggers. The event was being held at the House of Rush in Piccadilly and was organised by top beauty bloggers, Becky (Lipgloss and Lashes) and Laura (Lauzzenger). I travelled upstairs to find dazzling chandeliers, trays of mouth watering nibbles, free bubbly and a range of treatments and products for us bloggers to try.

This was also where I met my first blogger friends Natalie (TheFashFeed) and Angelica (LoveFromAngelic), we quickly got chatting and realised that we all had a lot in common! We all headed upstairs to experience a mini "Oxygenator Facial", the machine pumps out  pure oxygen, which is  sprayed or 'air-brushed' over your skin giving you instant hydration, whilst also smoothing out any fine lines or wrinkles. I really enjoyed how this made my face appear hydrated, and fresh, whilst keeping my makeup in tact! This facial made me feel much more awake for the rest of the night.

I also managed to observe the Live Botox session where Dr. Gillian Carver applied a "Top-up" to the clients previous Botox instalment. I was taken aback by how quick and small the procedure was, as-well as how natural the finished product looked. For anyone interested in future Botox treatment I recommend looking into Epsom Skin Clinics.

I met so many lovely bloggers during the course of the night, here are their links and i thoughrly recommend you check them out: 

Olivia (BeautyfromtheFjord)

Angelica (LovefromAngelic)

Monica (MakeupandLondon)

Rachel (BeautyQueenUK)

Dani (SoManyLovelyThings)

Sophia (BeautyinmyMind)

Zoe (FaceValueBlog)

Tijan (TijanSerena)

Anna (AnnaNuttal)

Amanda (HoneyPopKisses)

Carima (Scrapbookofallsorts)

Selina (MissFashion1994)

Natalie (TheFashFeed)

Sheen (GoldenandSheen)

I also got a cute little goodiebag which contained:

A Catherine Colebrook Tote Bag

A Smooch Blusher
2 W7 Lipsticks
Some Magic Soap
A South Beach Discount Code
A Sample of Structure Paste

A massive thankyou to both Laura and Becky for organising this wonderful event and to Rush Hair and beauty for hosting.

P.S. If you guys want to have any treatments done at The House of Rush you can quoteBLOG20 for 20% off any Beauty Treatments and MICRO50 for 50% off Microderm Treatments.

But this expires on the 31st of October!

AnnieMAC

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