illamasqua i'mperfection spring 2013

"Nothing is perfect, only uniquely beautiful; in fact within the word 'imperfect' live two words that challenge it - 'I'm perfect'."  Alex Box

Tomorrow is the launch of Illamasqua's highly anticipated Spring 2013 collection; I'mperfection. In true Illamasqua fashion this collection is their way of encouraging us to embrace all the qualities we possess that other brands encourage us to cover up. From freckles to birthmarks Illamasqua are teaching us it's these "imperfections" that makes us who we are, individual, unique, our own person. In a world where negativity seems to be overwhelming this is the perfect cure, just like Generation Q, this collection is that little self esteem boost we all need from time to time, telling us that it's okay to challenge the norms of the beauty world and to put ourselves out there for who we truly are, i'mperfections and all!

The collection will consist of an exciting range of products from a brand new innovative line of speckled nail polishes (they look like mini eggs in a bottle!) to a bright green lip gloss - everything in this collection has a fantastic Spring twist in a completely original way. Illamasqua have also produced a new blush brush 'Blush Up Brush' for the collection, the brush is designed to have a unique shape and create strong contoured cheeks. As well as some new products there are also some well loved favourites such as Precision Ink in Abyss and Scribe which were used to create an amazing speckled eyeliner look. The complete collection will consist of:

Speckled Nail Polish - £14.50

✿ Fragile - pastel blue

✿ Mottle - pastel spring green

✿ Freckle - pastel nude brown

✿ Speckle - pastel lilac

✿ Scarce - pastel tea rose

Blusher Duo - £26.00

✿ Love & Hussy - matte appricot peach & matte candy pink

✿ Katie & Ambition - matte pale pink & neutral pink shimmer

✿ Beg & Bronzerella - matte dusky rose & deep bronze shimmer

Blush Up Brush - £28.50

Lipstick - £16.00

✿ Immodest - bright hot pink

Intense lipgloss - £14.00

✿ Shoot - bright grass green

Precision Ink - £17.00

✿ Abyss - black

✿ Scribe - white

Illamasqua will launch I'mperfection on 31/01/2013. What do you think of this collection? Are you a fan of the story behind the campaign? Which products have caught your eye? 

mac mixing medium

MAC MIXING MEDIUM WATER BASE - £14 @ MAC PRO STORE

On a recent trip to MAC's pro store off Carnaby Street I picked up a product for my kit that I'd heard a lot about but had never tried for myself. Mixing Medium can be water, alcohol or gel based and is designed to improve the adhesion of products such as loose pigments or powders onto the skin, you can also use it on products which are thicker (such as foundation) for a thinner consistency and sheerer finish. Using Mixing Medium with pigments or eyeshadow really intensifies the colour making it much more vibrant, it minimizes the chances of product fall out and you can also create custom colours which can be used as eyeliners, body paint, glitter gels, etc. 

The main reason I bought this product was the custom colour option, I love the idea of creative eye looks but often the colour wasn't quite right or didn't 'pop' enough so Mixing Medium was a must to help me solve that little problem. To use this product I use two empty pots, one with loose shadow in and one with a single drop of Mixing Medium, I dip my brush first into the Mixing Medium and then into the eye shadow and continue to apply as normal. You can see from the photo above that Mixing Medium works wonders with glitter products, applying glitter before was always a bit of a pain but thanks to this product it's so easy! I used my Stargazer glitter in silver and notice how without Mixing Medium it's sparsely scattered on the area I applied it, whereas when mixed with the solvent I could create a thick, heavily pigmented line of product. For eye shadow I used my Kryolan Satin Powder and although this product is well pigmented Mixing Medium really helped with the texture and vibrancy of the finished application.

I'm really pleased with this product, it's very versatile and you can customise your finish from opaque to sheer. I think it's one of those products where you need to play around with it yourself to fully appreciate all the make up possibilities and how helpful it can be! There are also Mixing Mediums specifically designed for lashes, liner, matte finish, etc so I'm thinking of trying these out also. What do you think of this product? Is it something you'd like to try?

photo diary #19

❤ LUNCH TIME ❤ FAVOURITE BATH ACCESSORIES ❤ LOVING STRAWBS & CREAM ❤ SNAZZY INVITE FROM WORK ❤ CUTEST LUNCH ❤ OTT NAILS ❤ PLAYING WITH ILLAMASQUA ❤ LITTLE D ❤ GOOD SHOPPING DAY ❤ DECORATING FOR D ❤ PEACHY KEEN FOR D'S PARTY ❤ BIRTHDAY PRINCESS! ❤

Obligatory Sunday post is a Monday post this week as I was a busy bee yesterday! I hope everyone's had a lovely week, I'm happy the snow's gone - snow + prams do not mix! D and I were housebound for the worst parts. I've had a lovely week off work and spent lots of time with Daisy, I can honestly say I've also never watched CBeebies as much in my life, I'll be really sad to go back to work this week, maybe I can sneak Dais in and she can be a Benebabe too!? We had such a great day for Daisy's birthday, all our friends and family came to our favourite Mexican restaurant which we hired and D was well and truly spoiled once again, a very lucky girl! It was perfect, I couldn't have wished for her to have a better birthday.

Apologies for the lack of blogging last week, I had a problem with my internet so I'm hoping to make up for it this week with a few bits and pieces! Also, I've just bought my first MAC pro palette and if anyone has any recommendations for eyeshadows please let me know otherwise I will be ridiculous and try to buy all of them - not that my bank balance would allow that but hey ho! Hopefully this will be more a chilled week, no more party planning for a while now. I'm seeing JLS, James Arthur and Rylan (yes, Rylan) at the o2 on Saturday, I haven't been out since my birthday in September so I'm super excited for some mojitos and James Arthur stalking! Much love, H x

butternut squash, tomato, feta & basil tarts

NUTRITION PER SERVING: 272 CALS/PROTEIN: 7.4G/CARBS: 24.1G/FAT 16.9/SAT FAT: 7.8G/FIBRE: 1G/ SALT: 1.07G

In this post I've swapped beauty for cooking, I love to cook and thought I'd share a delicious new recipe I found today with my own twist. This is a pretty simple, quick recipe for butternut squash, tomato, feta & basil tarts (if you're not vegetarian of course add a meat by all means, some pancetta cubes would work well) they make a great lunch or fancy dinner. If you have little ones you can use cookie cutters to shape the tarts in a more interesting way for them - anything to get them to eat their five a day!

You will need:

❤ 200g puff pastry

❤ 250g butternut squash

❤ 20g feta cheese

❤ handful of cherry tomatos

❤ handful of basil

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/200C fan/gas mark 7. Start by rolling out your pastry sheet (you can buy them ready made from tesco, sainsburys etc) and dividing into four individual squares.

2. Wash, peel and slice your squash into 1/2 cm thick slices. Prick your pastry with a fork a few times and place the squash on top - this doesn't have to be neat just lay around 4/5 slices onto your tart in a single layer and leave a little gap around the edge. Season and pop in the oven for 10 minutes.

3. Slice your tomatoes into quarters and halves, dice and rip your basil and crumble your feta over each tart. Place back in the oven for 15 minutes until pastry is golden brown.

4. Remove from oven and add a side salad if desired (I just have a few spinach leaves), drizzle a small amount of olive oil over and enjoy!

photo diary #18

TRYING CHANEL'S PERFECTION LUMIERE ❤ BATH TIME PAMPER SESSION ❤ FRINGE DOING WHAT IT WANTS AS USUAL ❤ FAVOURITE ❤ AN AMAZING MOVIE! GOSLING ON TOP FORM ❤ HOMEMADE SALAD FOR WORK LUNCH ❤ BLINGTASTIC TOPSHOP BUYS ❤ I ❤ MY CURLING IRON ❤ HEALTHY DINNER & DESSERT ❤ FAVOURITE SNACK ❤ NEW OBSESSION ❤ MY CURRENT LIPS SAVIOUR ❤ HOMEMADE STUFFED PEPPERS & ICED GREEN TEA ❤ JANUARY GLOSSYBOX ❤ HEALTHIEST SHOP EVER ❤ BOYFRIEND WENT CRAZY WITH TAKE AWAY NANDOS ❤ WEEKEND VEGGIE BURGER & HALLOUMI TREAT ❤ PRETTY SNOW FOREST ❤

Hello lovlies, hope you've all had a nice week and aren't too snowed it! I'm pretty happy this week is over, it's been a good week but from now until mid Feb I have lots to look forward to instead of January just dragging out! Mitch and I went to see Gangster Squad with our friends Laura and Sam on Wednesday and it was brilliant! I loved the movie and drooling over Gosling was a bonus, I was also drooling over Emma Stone's make up - she looked amazing!

I've kept up my healthy eating and have had lots of fun trying out new recipes and ingredients I've never tried before, I love to cook! I've just signed up to Graze boxes as well in search of healthier snacks, thanks Em for the free first box promotion ;)! I've lost a stone now and I couldn't be happier - just need to continue being strict and working out and hopefully I'll reach my goal weight soon. I've been umming and ahhing over Chanel Perfection Lumiere foundation for a while now and after picking up a sample from work I was quite pleased with the results, has anyone else tried it? Let me know how you found it!

It's been snowing all day here today, I woke up early this morning to heavy snow and it's only just stopped, I love the snow! I cant wait to take Daisy out in it tomorrow, the last time it snowed she was only 3 days old so we decided it was definitely best to keep her indoors for that one! It seems like everywhere is snowed in, I wonder if it will continue this week? As usual I'm curled up on the sofa watching a movie, this week it's Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl (mmm Johnny Depp), I'm looking forward to a week off work now and spending lots of time with D before her birthday next Sunday. Have a lovely week! Much love, H x

illamasqua succubus intense lipgloss

ILLAMASQUA INTENSE LIPGLOSS IN SUCCUBUS - CURRENTLY £5 @ ILLAMASQUA

Illamasqua's Succubus is a relatively older product from the brand which was part of the Throb collection in January 2011. That particular collection has always stuck in my mind and the visual created by Alex Box (pictured above) is one of my favourite make up looks ever. I recently bought the Alter Ego Mystery Selection Box from Illamasqua and Succubus was one of the products I received. It's an intense, blood red which is packed with colour and very highly pigmented. I'm finding myself favouring this gloss over lipstick at the moment because I love how soft and moisturising it feels. One application lasts for a good couple of hours which I find rare in a lipgloss, when faded down it's a deep, pretty rose pink which I also like about the product, it doesn't leave you with that awkward red line around the lips either. I'm tempted to purchase a few more of the Intense Lipgloss shades after being so pleased with this one! Succubus is currently in the Illamasqua sale for £5.00.

benefit - so hooked on carmella

BENEFIT COSMETICS SO HOOKED ON CARMELLA - £29.50 @ DEBENHAMS

One of my favourite beauty products at the moment is Benefit Cosmetics So Hooked On Carmella perfume. It's one of the brands Crescent Row scents and it's ultra feminine, sweet smell had me hooked from the moment I first tried the product. The perfume is a floral vanilla scent that isn't too overpowering but still noticeable when you're wearing it, I like a perfume that lasts all day and this does just that.

Carmella is made up of grapefruit, vanilla, lemon, amber  tiare flower, rhubarb, sandalwood, peony and cyclamen. The main aspect I love about this scent is that it smells like sweets, I still cant work out which sweets exactly but the scent reminds me of candy and I love that! The packaging is so detailed, there's a theme with each Crescent Row perfume and each box is intricately designed right down to the last little detail - in Carmella's case a pair of heels and perfume tray, it's beautiful as is all Benefit packaging!  

Have you tried any of the Crescent Row perfumes? Which are your favourites?