Sleek Storm Palette and Papaya Punch Lipstick

I've been seeing a lot of love for Sleek products on blogs and youtube but never ventured into the brand myself but in one of my rare visits to Superdrug pretty much everything from the Sleek counter caught my eye but being a poor student I couldn't buy it all so went with the Storm eyeshadow palette and Papaya Punch lipstick.

I was torn between buying the Storm palette and the Au Natural palette but there was only one left of the Storm so I snapped it up, I'm sure I'll pick up the Au Natural Palette at some point. I loved the colours because it has a mixture of browny shades but I like to mix it up with a bit of colour too so these looked great.

The colours are so pigmented, just as good, if not better, then some higher end brands. They look great all day with no creasing, fall down or fading. I also love the mixture of matte and glitter shades in this palette. Also, a matte black is always handy in any palette as it means I can use it to line the upper lash line. They don't have names but I love the second, third and last shade of the top row and the second, fifth and of course the matte black on the bottom row.

I also picked up Papaya Punch lipstick for £4.99, I was on the hunt for a bright coral like shade for summer and this seemed perfect.

It is a great shade with a high colour pay off. It's a matte finish and has a good staying power. Again, I always expect more reasonable brands to not be as long lasting or particularly strong in colour but Sleek has definitely proved me wrong. This is a fabulous lipstick, being a matte finish it is a little drying on me so I just press a bit of lip balm over the top.

I am now slightly addicted to Sleek, I just want to try everything.It is definitely one of the best high street brands out there. The unusual colour range and extremely good quality products are really what won me over.

I would definitely recommend checking the Sleek stands out :)

Ophelia.

University - I've Only Gone And Bloody Finished

I can't believe that I have actually finished university. It's been a very hard 3 years but it's been worth every second. I had an amazing time, met the best people and even got a boyfriend during it all (no photos of him in this though) - top notch.

Thought I'd share some photos from my three years I've spent here. In two weeks I move out of my last ever student house, where I live with two of my friends and my boyfriend so I'm dreading move out day, lucky the boy doesn't live far from me at all and we're also viewing some potential grown up houses for us this week.

All in all, university was an amazing experience. The work is hard but the experience is fantastic. For those starting uni this year all I can say is to remember to enjoy your spare time with your friends. Also - buy multiple saucepans, baking trays and a butt load of cutlery.

Now it's time to find myself a good job and be a little bit more of a grown up, but not much more.

Hope you're all well and good luck to those starting and finishing uni.

Ophelia.

I love Illamasqua!

Illamasqua is quickly becoming one of my favourite brands and when they recently hit 50,000 followers on Twitter they gave a one day only code which was a 50% discount. I was screaming with excitement on the inside... and a little on the outside. I had so much on my wish list and narrowed it down to these three products; Gleam Highlight in Aurora, Cream Pigment in Hollow and their Eye Brow Cake in Thunder. If I had more money at the time I also would have picked up the Neutral Palette and their Brow and Lash Gel :(

The highlight was definitely an impulse purchase. I saw it + it was pretty + it got added to basket = my way of shopping (Who's with me, eh?). But I would go as far to say that this is one of the nicest highlighters on the market. Also, being a cream product means it work well with my dry skin, giving the most beautiful sheen to the face without looking overdone.

I had the Cream Pigment in Hollow on my wishlist for sometime after hearing it was a great contour colour for us ghostly white gals instead of bronzer, which it definitely is. The colour has none of those bright orange undertones and just subtly defines cheekbones easily. I get a bit worried about cream contours as I always think it'll be too creamy and the brush will pick up too much product and I'll end up looking ridiculous but the consistency of this is just right.

Saving the best till last. I fell in love with the Eyebrow Cake in Thunder from first use. I tend to just run a eyeshadow colour through my brows but this gives a completely different look to my brows even though it is essentially a powder shadow as well. It makes them look so much more full and filled in and just awesome, but not slug like (top notch!). This is a dark brown shade and my hair is naturally dark brown and this matches perfectly with no orangey undertones. I'm a bit OCD with my brows, i'm definitely not an over plucker as I love my brows at my natural fullness but I like having them as neat as possible and this is just making them look a million times better than before.

If you've never delved into Illamasqua products then I cannot encourage you enough. They really are just insanely beautiful and some of the best out there.

Ophelia.

Highlighter used with Real Techniques Setting Brush, Cream Pigment used with Real Techniques Contour Brush and Eyebrow Caked used with Crown Deluxe Angled Liner Brush.

Stila In The Light Palette

It was coming up to pay day and the main thing on my list of things to buy was this Stila Palette called In The Light. Sods law, it sold out on ASOS the day before I got paid. It didn't seem to be in stock on any other UK websites. So I not very hopefully popped to the nearest large Boots store and there it was, the last one left and I nabbed it. I must have looked overly proud at the counter.

I've been after a new neutrals palette after someone nicked my Naked palette - I'm looking at you Mum! I debated purchasing the Naked Basics palette by Urban Decay but this Stila one was far more up my street with the lovely glittery colours. This retails at £25.00 and I think it's a great price for the overall quality and quantity of the eyeshadows.

The palette includes 10 eyeshadow shades all together and an eyeliner (top, left - right & bottom, left - right); Bare - matte light nude, Kitten - shimmery pink, Bliss - matte brown/pink, Sunset, shimmery bronze with a hint of pink, Sandstone - matte medium brown, Bubbly - shimmery champagne gold, Gilded Gold - shimmery dark antique gold, Luster - Dark Brown with a hint of shimmer, Night Sky - blue/grey with a hint of shimmer and Ebony - Black. The eyeliner included is one of Stila's smudge sticks in Damsel which is dark brown shade.

All the colours are super pigmented and apply so smoothly. My favourite look is to mix together Bare and Sandstone for an all over the lid colour and then apply Sandstone on the outer V of my eye and underneath my bottom lashes. Press a bit of Bubbly over the entire lid and I'm good to go. Sandstone also doubles up as a perfect eyebrow colour for me too - Bonus!

All in all, this is one of my favourite eyeshadow palettes I've come across and is great value for money!

The only place that I can find online that still has this in stock is on the QVC website (link!) for a super cheap £24.00, which includes a free lipgloss.

Ophelia.

What's in my make-up bag?

I just thought I'd share the products that are in my current make-up bag rotation. I change up the products a lot but this is what is currently in use.

I start by priming my face with Nars Multi-Protect Primer before adding my foundation, which is currently MAC Face & Body in N1. I'm ridiculously pale and this is the only foundation that I currently own that comes close to matching my ghostly complexion. I leave my base and then go onto my eyes.

I find eyeshadow creases on me really bad so I always prime my eyes with Urban Decay Eye Primer Potion. I then apply MAC Shroom eyeshadow all over the lid and Woodwinked in the outer corners and underneath. I don't put anything in my crease as my eye shape would just eat it up, never to be seen again. I line my upper lash line in a cat eye shape and tightline with Maybeline's Gel Eyeliner before putting Une Skin Glow Pencil on my waterline. A slick of Urban Decay  Curling Mascara and that's the eyes done. For brows I fill them in with my Clinique pencil.
Back to skin, I conceal with MAC Studio Finish Concealer and then powder under my eyes and forehead with Bourjois Eclat Mineral Powder. I then bronze my face with Guerlain Terracotta Sheer Bronzing Powder and then apply a bit of MAC Melba blush to the apple of my cheeks.
A bit of lipgloss/lipstick and I'm ready to go.

Ophelia.

A Hairstyle Ramble

I'm definitely known for switching my hair colour and style up often. My problem is I get bored of my hair so quick, since I was about 13 no hairstyle has been sported for more than a year, tops. I'm a natural brunette and the most common hair length I've stuck with is shoulder length.

2008 (I must have been about 15) is the oldest photo I can find but this seems pretty close to my natural colour and the style I use to go for more often than not. But of course, I had to experiment with being a blondie when I was 17. This only stuck around for about 6 months before I decided that I wanted to look like Frankie from The Saturdays, lopping it all off and dying it back dark brown. Instant regret filled me up and since 2010 I have been trying to grow my hair out. I experimented with extensions (2011) as soon as my hair was long enough to scrape back again. In 2012 it finally reached a length that I deemed acceptable and could finally play about with again. So at the beginning of this year I decided that I wanted a change and died a dark blonde with lighter blonde highlights running through the bottom half of my hair, and also I've opted for a side fringe again.

But, the time has come again that I'm craving something new. My hair is currently the longest it has been since I was about 12 and I have vowed never to cut it short again. Instead, I want really long hair, I may even part with my beloved side fringe, opting for a middle parting. I'm also thinking about going a really dark brown colour with a few lighter colours run through the ends, a la Megan Fox.

What do you guys think? I hope my hair ramble wasn't too long. Do any of you guys change your hair up like me?

Ophelia.

A New Addition To The Family

Hello! A slightly different post from me today, as I would like to introduce you all to my lovely bunny, Moogle. I picked him up from the adoption section at Pets At Home on the 8th March. He'd been in the store for roughly 5 months and as he's quite a large bunny, they had so much trouble trying to find him a home that they had to put him up for adoption instead of the usually process of buying one for £25 there. I fell in love with him instantly, he has huge ears and is quite a sociable little bugger. It took him a few days to settle in but now he thinks he's running the show. He is quite a fatty and gobbles down his food like he's never been fed before and enjoys gnawing the bars of his cage at 6 in the morning. He's definitely a character and loves to run around causing mischief. He's a very welcomed addition to my home, especially since moving out of my family home as I've really been missing the company of a pet.

He'll probably become quite a featured face on this blog so I look forward to making a few posts including my Moogle but for now I hope you're all well and will leave you with this picture of him eating his lettuce (nom!).

(Also, if you want to see more of Moogle you could follow me on Instagram - okay_ophelia, where I'm sure there'll soon be a ton of photos of him.)

Ophelia.