The Beauty Scenario Tag!

Hi everyone!

Today I fancied doing something a little different from usual for me, a tag post. I often watch a lot of these on Youtube and they seem like a lot of fun so when I saw The Beauty Scenario Tag going around I knew I definitely wanted to have a go at answering the questions myself so without further ado, lets get started.

1. You have to get rid of all your foundations and you can only keep one high end and one drugstore, which do you keep?

Bases are definitely my make up addiction so this is so difficult for me! I'd have to go for my current favourites which actually both BB creams. For high end, my pick would be the Benefit Big Easy. It's long lasting, not too heavy and does a really good job of covering any redness. The only negative is that the shades lean very yellow but as long as I bronze up my neck a little it doesn't cause too many issues. For drugstore, my current pick would be the Maybelline BB Cream as it provides a light, dewy finish for summer without needing to be powdered too often.

2. You go for an interview and the lady interviewing you has lipstick on her teeth. Do you approach the subject or ignore it completely?

I'd like to think I would mention it in a light-hearted manner but once I was put in this situation I would most likely be too worried about offending her! It's one of those things that I wouldn't 100% be sure of until it was happening.

3. You’re not feeling yourself and need a pick me up. Which lipstick do you put on to make yourself feel beautiful?

Lately I've sort of strayed away from lipsticks and been obsessed with using more on my eyes for dramatic looks but my go to lipstick when I want to wear anything is always MAC Patisserie. It's a gorgeous pinky slightly beige toned nude and I just find it's always flattering either on it's own or under a gloss. For a brighter shade, I love MAC Ruby Woo, an absolute classic red that always perks me up if I'm feeling like I look a bit worse for wear!

4. You go back in time for a day to your teenage years, how would you do your hair and makeup differently?

This is a funny one for me as I didn't actually wear any make up at all until I was 18. I started wearing it after discovering beauty channels on YouTube and certainly improved once I started wearing mascara and doing my brows slightly! So the only thing I may have done differently is discover lighter make up sooner and start straightening my hair sooner too, so many frizzy hair pictures! 

5. You ask your hairdresser for a shoulder length Pixie Lott hair cut, but they hear wrong and give you a pixi cut. Do you a) Smile, say thank you, leave and call your mum hysterical b) Cry in the chair and things get awkward or c) Complain to the manager and demand a refund.

After an absolutely horrific short hair cut when I was 12 years old, I would definitely cry if my hair was ever short again. It was honestly the worst I've ever looked! As much as I wish I was someone who could pull it off, I definitely can't. That being said, I would have to say something but I wouldn't complain in an overly rude manner no matter what had happened.

6. Your friend surprises you with a 4 day city break and you have 1 hour to pack. Which ‘do it all’ palette do you pack in your makeup bag?

For a longer trip, I would 100% say my MAC eyeshadow palette but since it's only 4 days I think I'd grab my trusty Urban Decay Naked Basics palette. It covers all over the lid colours, crease colours, a brow shade and an eyeliner shade too so this is often my palette of choice when I'm travelling.

7. Your house has been robbed, don’t worry everyone is safe, but your beauty stash has been raided. What’s the product you really hope is safe?

This one is easy for me, my most expensive item, my MAC palette. I would be pretty sad if that much money on 19 shadows all went to waste but everything else would be a lot easier to replace (bit by bit of course).

8. Your friend borrows your makeup and returns it in awful condition. Do you a) Just pretend you haven’t noticed b) Ask them to repurchase it or c) Secretly do the same to something of theirs

I definitely wouldn't do option c) as that seems really petty. I think with this it would totally depend on how much I'd paid for the product. If it was something cheap, I would probably pretend I didn't notice and buy it again another time and just remember not to lend them my things again. But if it was something more expensive then I would have to say something and hopefully they would offer to repurchase it!

I'd love to know if you guys would have answered differently to me in any way, or if any of you have done this tag yourself! Let me know in the comments below your thoughts. Also, I still have a blogsale going on which now has lowered prices so be sure to check that out if you're interested :)

Makeup Forever HD Foundation Review + Photos!

Hey guys! Today I wanted to review a long-time love of mine, the Makeup Forever HD Foundation. As you may have seen in other posts, this is my number one foundation of choice for any nights out or photo occasions and here's why.

First of all, the range of shades is so wide that I can imagine that almost everyone could find a colour to match them. This is something I find is so rare in foundations as a whole, with most only catering for light-medium skins, completely ignoring fair or darker tones. My shade is 110 Pink Porcelain and it's a perfect match, down to shade and tone which gave it it's first brownie points from me. 

The coverage is medium-full which is another factor I always look for in a evening foundation as I tend to go really red as soon as I'm hot or drink alcohol (not so attractive). I'll be honest and say, it's not the most natural looking finish of all my bases but it isn't overly obvious of cakey either. As long as you moisturize your skin properly, it glides over any problem areas with ease and covers redness perfectly.

Onto the longevity, the Makeup Forever HD Foundation succeeds again. I rarely find myself touching this up, it really does last for hours, which has been particularly handy on days such as my graduation where I had a lot of photos taken and not a lot of time to be reapplying makeup. Definitely one of my longer lasting foundations.

But the real winning point of this foundation, is the actual finish in photography, what it's made for. Here is where it 100% delivers! As you'll see in the photographs below, it really makes the skin appear completely flawless, especially when you note that none of the photos have been at all edited in any way.

The foundation is pretty hard to get your hands on in the UK, I managed to pick mine up from this site. It is around £6 more expensive than the States unfortunately but the product is certainly worth it and I for one will always have it in my collection.

Have you tried this foundation? What other Makeup Forever products would you recommend? 

Also, if you haven't already check out my blog sale! 

HUGE BLOG SALE! Nars Guy Bourdin Palette, MAC, Illamasqua, DIOR, Jo Malone etc!

Hi everyone. I wanted to do a quick blog sale as I have SO much stuff I never use, particularly after coming to the realisation that actually - blush looks terrible on me! Just a few rules:

- I'm only going to be shipping within the UK for the safety of the items / pricing.

- Postage will be £3.99 so I can ensure they are wrapped properly but if you get more than one item, this will stay the same.

- It will work on a first come, first served basis on comments on the post!

- Payment through PayPal to katherine.parkes@hotmail.co.uk.

- No refunds, all sales are final.

With that all out of the way, here are the items!

Diorskin Nude BB Creme in 001 (RRP £30) - Used three times - £14
Chantecaille Just Skin Tinted Moisturizer in Alabaster (RRP £58) - Used twice - £35
EX1 Cosmetics Liquid Foundation in F100 (RRP £10.50) Tested once - £3

Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous 3 in 1 Foundation in Creamy Natural (RRP varies) Tested once (wrong shade) - £4

Becca Luminous Skin Colour Ultra Sheer Foundation in Porcelain (RRP £32) - Used three times - £13

Diorskin Nude Shimmer Instant Illuminating Powder (RRP £32) - 95% left - £15

Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hour Blush in Amused - Tested once - £12
Illamasqua Naked Rose Blush (RRP £21.50) - Used Twice - £10
Illamasqua Tremble Blush (RRP £21.50) - 85% left - £6

Thanks for looking! :)

Everyday Makeup Products

Hi everyone! Today I thought I'd share the makeup products that are in my everyday routine. These are the items that are present no matter what makeup look I'm going for and my absolute staples. Starting with base products, the first item is my MAC Prep + Prime Skin Refined Zone Treatment, a primer that is amazing at creating a matte, longer-lasting base. I smooth this over any oily areas and really notice a difference in my levels of oil production and shine. The next product is more of a skincare item, but the Clinique All About Eyes Serum is something that really helps create a great base for my concealer. It really cools the undereye area with it's roll-on applicator and gives a nice level of moisturisation that sinks in quickly. The next step then is always to apply my Bobbi Brown Corrector which really is the best product for disguising and neutralising dark circles. On top of this goes my favourite concealer, the Rimmel Match Perfection Concealer which is amazing at brightening as well as applying a little more coverage.

To give my skin a bit of warmth, I adore The Body Shop Honey Bronzer in 01, a really natural shade for fair skin. It's also completely matte which is a bonus for me, as the more natural the finish the better. For contouring, the Kevin Aucoin Sculpting Powder is a firm favourite for me. This is a great contour shade as it's a medium toned brown with a hint of grey which really gives a natural shadow effect to slim the cheekbones, something that anyone with chubbier cheeks like me desires! Finally for the skin, a long term love of mine is the MAC Studio Fix Powder which I use purely to set my foundation on my nose where I'm most oily. I wouldn't use it all over as it can be a little heavy, but for some coverage and oil control it does a good job.

Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph one of my favourite brow products which is MAC Charcoal Brown Eyeshadow. This is a really lovely shade for anyone with medium to dark brown hair as it's very cool toned and I find it's the easiest method to really shape and fill my brows to how I like them to be. On top of this, I'll always use my Benefit Brow Zings in Dark Brown just to set them in place as well as provide a bit more 'filling in'. If you have naturally good shaped brows this is fine on it's own too!

Finally for eyes I have five staple products. Although I like a few different mascara's, the Magnetic Lash Mascara is definitely one of my favourite. It claims to give you 'falsh lash effect' lashes with it's two step system, one a normal lengthening style mascara and one fibre one for volume. I actually just use step one day-to-day as the second step can be a bit messy as the fibre's tend to give quite a bit of fallout and I love the effect of the first step alone for long lashes. To help curl them, I love the Shiseido Eyelash Curlers. They're a really good shape with a slight curve to fit the eye and really do a great job, far better than the Shu Uemura in my opinion! For my bottom lashes I love the Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara which gives longer bottom lashes without looking unnatural or smudging.

The Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner is something I've now repurchased three times and it's definitely worth the hype. It's super black, lasts a long time and is the easiest method of application I've found with a slim nib and a pen style applicator. Finally, for priming my eyelids for eyeshadow the NARS Pro-Prime Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base is the best I've found for crease-free, long-lasting results.

So these are the products I use on an everyday basis! The only things I mix up really are foundations, eyeshadows and lipsticks which I love to change up daily. I'd love to know what products you use everyday, I find it's the best way to find out what products someone really loves!

New York Haul

Hi everyone, hope you're all well! Back in April I made a trip to New York for my mum's 50th, a surprise trip her boyfriend had been planning for her for months. It was incredible with all kinds of amazing experiences from a helicopter ride above the city, visiting Ground Zero (something I'd wanted to see for a while) and of course, all the shops filled with goodies we can't get in the UK! I haven't posted in an extremely long time, mainly due to focusing solely on getting my degree but now that I have obtained my 2:1 I'm back to blogging more regularly which I'm so happy about.

I did end up spending quite a bit in New York but trust me, this was me holding back. There were so many amazing brands and products I really had to narrow it down to the wishlist I'd had of things I really wanted to try. Here's what made the cut!

Can you tell I'm a foundation junkie?! Base products are definitely by far my favourite makeup product to collect and I'm constantly on the hunt for the 'perfect' foundation. Starting with the Tarte Clay Full Coverage Foundation, this was something I had to pick up after seeing countless positive reviews online. It is a lovely foundation, like it says on the packaging it offers great coverage whilst appearing light on the skin and not too matte. Really love this for covering up redness.

The next foundation was the first of my repurchases, the MakeUpForever HD Foundation which is my all time favourite base for nights out. It really does live up to it's title as in photos this makes my skin look flawless without an imperfection in sight. I don't love it for the daytime as it can look a little heavy but trust me, if you want something for photo or evening use, this is a great pick. My second repurchase was the Covergirl Outlast 3 in 1 Foundation. Unfortunately, I picked up a shade darker than my usual colour so I'm unable to wear this unless I mix it with something lighter but the foundation itself it great for long lasting staying power and good coverage without looking too heavy.

Finally, I went for another Tarte favourite, the Tarte Clay Airbrush Foundation which is a powder foundation. I have to say, I'm undecided on this one. It's definitely one for days where my skin is looking a look less red which isn't much at the moment and I don't find the staying power great either. A bit of a let down but good for those who don't require as much coverage and have more normal skintypes.

Stepping away from foundations, I also picked up the extremely hyped GlamGlow Mud Mask. I have to say, for something so eye-wateringly expensive I really expected more from this. It is a good face mask but I wouldn't say it's any better than cheaper ones I've found at clearing my pores. If you have the money to spend it might be worth a try but I wouldn't buy this again. Another hyped product I purchased was the Fresh Brown Sugar Perfume. I love how America sells the rollerball perfumes, so convenient, I got far too excited over this! This perfume smells so amazing, as the brand would suggest it's a really fresh scent, slightly sweet but also citrusy. If you get a chance to smell this I definitely would, I'm addicted to it.

Next was a recommendation from a friend, the Clinique All About Eyes Serum. This stuff is my saviour against my puffy, dark circle eyes in conjunction with my Bobbi Brown Corrector as the rollerball applicator and product combined really cool and depuff my eye area. I didn't realise this before going but Clinique is SO much cheaper in the US so I'd recommend grabbing some of their stuff over there if you can.

Finally, I was given this Buxom Full-On Lip Polish in Sophia which is effectively a lip plumping gloss. Firstly, the colour is so gorgeous. It's similar to my natural lip colour but with a really subtle shimmer to it and a sheen that makes my lips appear lighter. I'm not sure it massively plumps my lips but I really love the staying power and colour of this gloss, not bad at all for a freebie!

The only hair product I picked up was another thing I slightly regret, the It's a 10 Miracle Leave-In Product. I'll start by saying it's not that this doesn't work, it does detangle and fulfill the uses listed on the bottle however I CANNOT stand the smell of this at all, it's so horrible! I have other products that do a similar job so I wouldn't buy this again, it was pretty expensive and I'd probably rather by something that has a nicer scent if it will be noticeable on my hair for days like this was.

Lastly, I bought a Victoria's Secret Body Spray in Passion Struck. I really wish these were more accessible in the UK as they are so lovely. This scent in particular contains notes of Fugi Apple and Vanilla Orchid, making it a really fresh fruity, sweet fragrance that I haven't stopped wearing!

So that's my New York Haul, have you tried any of these? I'd love to know what you all thought of the same products!

A Very Late 13 Best of 2013!

Hey everyone, hope you're all well. You may or may not have noticed I haven't posted for a while which is down to a combination of things. Namely having a bad time at my job and having to quit, being a busy third year university student and some exciting goings on which have meant I haven't been able to blog as much as I'd like. I'm hoping now this will change as I've really missed posting and thought i'd start my return by doing my belated 13 favourites of 2013. As everyone says, it's so hard to narrow it down to just 13 products so I really tried to pick the ones that absolutely stood out over everything else and managed to eventually whittle it down to these!

1) Benefit Porefessional & MAC Refined Zone Primer (not pictured) - This may be cheating a bit but this combination of primers is my absolute favourite. I find the Porefessional is great at hiding any pesky visible pores around my nose whilst the MAC is amazing at reducing shine and mattifying any oily patches of skin for longer lasting make-up.

2) Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous 3 in 1 Foundation - Sticking along the theme of long lasting make up, I adore this foundation! Not only does it stick around for hours but it contains SPF which is great for daytime, is a perfect colour match and gives great coverage without looking too unnatural. The only downside for me is that it's unavaliable in the UK but if I ever visit the US I'll definitely be stocking up!

3) Loreal Nude Magique BB Powder - I really like this powder for looking really natural whilst helping with any oil control on my face. It photographs nicely and sits well on the skin whilst not being too expensive or clogging my pores. The only negative is that the shade range is limited to around two. They are fairly adaptable but if you have a medium-dark skintone, I'm not 100% sure this could work for you.

4) Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder (White) - This is one of my favourite discoveries of the whole year. The perfect powder for under eyes as it not only sets the area beautifully to allow a crease-free finish but also further brightens any undereye dark circles left after concealer. I will definitely continue to repurchase this throughout 2014!

5) Illamasqua Blush in Tremble - I have to admit, I'm not someone who always wears blush but when I do, this is the one I reach for 90% of the time. It's such a pretty, wearable peachy pink that I can't imagine looking bad on anyone. When my face needs perking up it's the one i'll always choose. I love it because it's the most long lasting brand of blush I own and it's matte so doesn't leave too much shimmer on my face. Highly recommend this!

6) MAC Patisserie Lipstick - This is definitely my all-time favourite everyday shade. It's basically a much easier way of wearing nude as it's a pinky brown shade which doesn't wash me out or look too unnatural. It provides a bit of a sheen and a wash of colour and for someone who finds nudes just don't work for them I find this perfect.

7) MAC Sable Eyeshadow - The perfect plummy toned shimmery brown. It's a hard to describe shade but it's great all over the lid or in the crease and I find it works well with practically any colour I wear. Seriously beautiful and I use it quite a lot!

8) MAC All That Glitters Eyeshadow - My favourite all over the lid, everyday colour. This is a colour I will always repurchase and that gets the most love from me! It's a really lovely pinky gold colour that is super flattering.

9) Stila All Day Waterproof Liquid Liner - This year brought about a new love of liquid eyeliner that I'd never had before and it's all because of this baby! It's a really opaque, slightly glossy black and I find the thin nib of the felt tip applicator makes application so much easier. The only negative is it does take a minute or two to dry so I do tend to wait before curling my lashes.

10) Soap & Glory Archery Brow Pencil & Liner - Another one of my favourite discoveries of the year. I never really heard this talked about but I absolutely love it. I also own the Hourglass Brow Sculpter but find this so much better. You get a felt tip applicator on one end which is great for sparser areas of brow where I need to mimic hairs and then a really pigmented pencil which leaves an amazing finish on the brows. So, so good!

11) YSL Babydoll Mascara - Although expensive, this was definitely my favourite mascara of the year. I'm still not sure if this is 'the one' but it's one of the best ones I've used for creating a slight curl, adding length and volume. It leaves a really nice finish and has left me wanting to try every YSL mascara there is now too.

12) Bumble & Bumble Dryspun Finish Spray - I've gotten through around 3 cans of that this year as I just can't leave without big hair. This stuff is really good at just adding some texture and volume to the roots and ends and creating good bed hair. I'm not 100% sure I prefer this to the Oribe offering but at £17 cheaper it's definitely worth it!

13) Models Own Hedonist, Topshop Celestial & Barry M LE Holographic Silver Glitter - As you may be able to tell, I've massively cheated here. But who realistically can be just one nail polish for the whole year?! It was hard enough to get it to three.. But anyway! These were the three that stood out to me. Hedonist is an incredible neon red shade that I could barely take off all summer. Topshop Celestial is probably my joint favourite shade ever with it as an amazing cornflower blue shade that works any season. Finally, I picked up this Barry M LE Shade (with no name) towards the end of the year and it is THE most amazing glitter - it's like a silver toned rainbow on the nails! I must have stocked up on around five so if you can find it i'd definitely recommend it.

So that's my (sort of) 13 favourites of 2013. I'd love to know what you think of any of these products or what you're favourite products were and i'll hopefully be back soon with another post! Thanks for reading :)