We all have our prefered lip colours and formulas. Sometimes they change with the seasons or as our own tastes change. Pink shades have always been one of my go to's and in particular the most popular shade I reach for come Spring time. I have so many beautiful pink colours within my collection that all slightly differ in shade range or formula and finish, so there literally is something there for any occasion and any kind of preference for when I decide to opt for a pink lip. There are all also super affordable so if you're looking for some pink lip inspiration for Spring time, then keep on reading..

One lip formula that I and everybody else can not get enough of is a matte finish! It's been on trend for the past couple of years now and it doesn't look like it's going away anytime soon. They're highly pigmented and they last way longer than any other finish. They're so ideal for long busy days where you don't want to be nor have the time to be topping up your makeup all the time. You also want something that is super comfortable. Matte lips can have the tendency (particularly if you already suffer with dry lips) to feel drying and unpleasant when worn. But since I've been trying out a number of different matte lip products for quite some time now, I've managed to find some amazing formulas that don't give you that awful rough feeling.

In life we're always taught to play by the rules, but sometimes taking a risk can be beneficial to us. The same applies when it comes to beauty. We're always advised to follow the rules, that will hopefully in return help us to achieve the best results. Sometimes we can take a risk when it comes to beauty too. 

Berry lips are usually associated with the colder months, e.g autumn and winter. But what if we wore them throughout spring and summer? Is there anyone to say we can't do that? Is there a problem with doing that? Of course not! It can work. It does work. Berry lips hit the 2016 Spring/Summer runways, with fashion models supporting darker hues, proving to us that berry lips aren't just for autumn/winter and are going to be big this spring/summer.

Here's how you can rock a berry lip this spring/summer and keep bang on the beauty trends.

One of the most important things for me when applying my make-up is that I make myself look as awake as possible. I suffer quite badly with dark circles under my eyes and you can also see my veins quite clearly. I absolutely hate it. No matter how much sleep I get or how much I stay hydrated, my dark circles will never seem to shift. But with make-up it gives me that option of hiding away the darkness and bringing some light to around my eye area, making me more awake and less like a zombie. 

There's a fair few brands that I have tried and loved, but have never got round to purchase more products from these brands. You might be surprised from today's post that most of these are fairly affordable and ones that you can easily access with little or no trouble. Also they're mainly beauty based and of the make-up kind. Which may not come as a shock to those of you who have read my blog before, since I'm a lover of make-up, particularly make-up that's good quality and fairly affordable, which I believe these brands are. Today I'm going to share with you the five beauty brands I want to try more from.

I'm not really one to spend a lot of money on make-up, only when I fancy having a splurge or have had my eye on a luxury product for a while and end up caving into buying it. This may sound a little odd from someone who likes make-up. But we're all different. Not every beauty lover is going to love splurging their money on luxury make-up bits all the time and would much prefer to find cheaper alternatives. Those of you who are on the same wave length as me, I've got my top 5 under £5 make-up products from my collection to share with you today.

For the price of this lipstick, your first initial thoughts would be that it isn't going to be one of great quality. The packaging is fairly plain and simple. It isn't the most sturdy either, since I've only ever owned two of these before and both have broke on me if you twist the lipstick too far up. But aside from that, I really like the feel and look of these lipsticks when applied to the lips. I recently picked up the shade Fig Leaf. This is quite a dark nude colour that really represents the 90's go to lip shade very well. Fig leaf work's very well on paler skin tones and doesn't wash you out whatsoever. They feel nourishing on the lips and don't dry you out. Plus the pigmentation is surprisingly good for the price of these. 

One product that I have recently reviewed on my blog is the Miss Sporty Insta Glow Blush in Glowing Mauve. I'm so impressed with the quality of this blush and I'm so tempted to try more blushers from this range. The pigmentation is so good! Glowing Mauve is the perfect go to blush for the spring/summer. It creates a really healthy and fresh glow to the cheeks whilst adding a hint of colour. Even though it has quite a shimmery formula, it doesn't show up glittery at all on the face, which is a bonus if you're a little worried about using non-matte based products. This is a must have product in my opinion!

A brow product that's quick and easy to use! This is one I tend to reach for when I'm in a rush and I just want to quickly pencil in my brows. It literally takes little time to run the pencil through the hairs and bring them to life. The pencil really helps to fill in any sparse areas of brow hair that I might have. Also I find this pencil really helps me to be more precise with my brows and create a nice shape to them. For £2.99 you can't expect the best results, but it is good enough.

I'm a huge lover of highlighters and of course I couldn't pass up the opportunity of adding another one to my growing collection. This one from collection is not only very affordable, but it is also so easy to use. The 'chubby' like style pencil mean's you can get more of a precise application, before you blend it using your brush or sponge and also mean's you can build up the product with no hassle. I've never tried a cream based highlight before, but I've been enjoying using this. It feel's light and smooth on the skin. This highlight creates more of a natural pearly coloured glow and is quite subtle. This is one I tend to reach for when I want more of a natural everyday look, maybe when you're just chilling at home but want a pop of highlight on your face or for those day's when you cannot be bothered too much. For more of an intense highlight, I would suggest popping a powder base highlighter over the top. 

An eye palette that has been very well loved over the past few years in my collection is the MUA Undress Me Too palette. As you can see, I've hit pan on quite a few of the shades and you don't even want to see the state of the outside packaging on the palette. Aside from that, this is still a palette I go to when I want to create an eye look for an event or just to add something different to my standard everyday look. You can create so many different smokey eye looks with this palette through the use of the different colour shimmery shades and the matte brown to add a contour through the crease. The pigmentation of these are also very good and the stay time is fairly decent for a product of this price. For £4 you get a fair few shades to choose from and a selection of looks to create just from one palette.

I haven't tried anything from Miss Sporty in so many years. It was one of the first brand's I tried when I first got into make-up in the first two years of high school, mainly due to the affordability of the products. As my love towards make-up grew, I ventured out into trying more brands from the drug store and high end counters. However I seem to have gone backwards and after reading some positive things about Miss Sporty's recently new range 'Insta Glow', I thought I'd pick up one one of their blushes to try.

The weekend is the perfect time to not only chill or go and have some fun  but also to do those small tasks that you have been putting off throughout the week. I find I'm more prepared for the week when I've been slightly productive during the weekend. Today's post is all about the five beauty things you can do at the weekend. These are the sorts of things you can do to prepare yourself for the week commencing, as well as cross off anything on your to do list. Plus their beauty related, so there's still an element of fun if you're a beauty lover!

Alongside lipsticks, highlighters have to be my favourite beauty product. I personally feel no make-up look is complete without adding a touch of highlight to my face. I love creating a soft glowy look, that also helps to brighten my face and create dimension. Surprisingly, I only own a select few highlighters. But the ones that I do own are ones of great quality, affordability and stunning colour. Here are some of my current favourites from my collection:

Makeup Revolution - Golden Sugar Ultra Blush Palette (£8) - Top Left Shade:

First off, I hate how this palette doesn't actually have names for the eight shades. It makes it hard for me to try show you what I'm on about. But anyway, one of my favourite highlighters is the top left shade from this palette. This shade is the perfect shade from this blush palette for highlighting. It's a stunning bright pearl colour! Because of how bright it is, it really helps to lighten up any areas that you wish to bring some life to. I personally love applying this to the inner corners of my eyes, to make my eyes pop and also I like to apply this on my cupids bow to give the illusion of fuller lips. Although this highlighter is just as stunning when applied across the cheek bones, down the bridge of the nose and under the brow bone. I believe this palette works great for pale girls, who want to lighten their face and create an extra bit of glow! I have a full review of this palette here.

MUA - Undress Your Skin Highlighting Powder - Pink Shimmer:

The cheapest in my collection is this £3 highlighter from MUA. It's not only very affordable, but is also one of great quality. It is a pigmented pearly champagne pink colour. It gives the skin a lovely girly glow, one that I find will suit all skin tones. I love wearing this during the spring and summer months. For being a pink based shade, it is isn't too over the top or overpowering. Although you can easily build this up, if you fancy going for more of a prominent highlight for a night out look. It is also easy to blend due to it's lightweight formula, so if you make any mistakes, there's no need to panic about having to start again. I think this is a great highlighter for any beginners, since's it's purse friendly and really easy to use. 

theBalm - Mary Lou Manizer (Luminizer):

A product that has been featured on my blog probably way too many times already, but one that has soon become a holy grail of mine and one I'm always reaching for. On more of the pricier side (£17.50), Mary Lou Manizer is a product that I am so glad I invested in. It's a gorgeous stunning golden champagne colour with high pigmentation and long staying power. I wear this daily, even though some may find this a little too over powering for everyday wear. But I enjoy using this in my day to day look, because it gives me such a healthy glow and creates great dimension to my face. I honestly couldn't live without this product in my make-up collection! I have a full review of this product here.

What are your current favourite highlighters? Have you tried any of these, if so what are your thoughts on them?

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For those of us who have pale and light skin, finding a bronzer that isn't too dark or orangey for our skin tone can sometimes be a problem. I've trialled a few bronzer's over the past couple of years and have always found myself stuck in this situation. However after a sample of this product, Hoola has been the bronzer for me to solve this issue and produce brilliant results!

Hoola Bronzer has been a popular product in the beauty world for quite a while now. There's no doubt about it as to why it is. It is simply such a great little product. This bronzer is the perfect shade for those with lighter skin tones and can also work brilliantly on those with darker skin tones. Instead of coming out too dark or orange toned, Hoola is more of a light shade of brown and is quite subtle. Because of this it doesn't leave any harsh lines on your face. It creates a more natural warmth to your skin. In terms of the quality of the product, the texture of this bronzer is very smooth. It doesn't feel harsh on the skin and has more a lighter feel to it. Hoola is also very easy to apply and creates an evenly blend of product on the skin. I like to take this over my cheeks, down the sides of my nose, over my forehead and sometimes along my jawline using the Real Techniques Sculpting brush. 

For a price tag of £23.50, I definitely think it is worth the investment. I have had two sample sizes of this product and even with daily usage they have lasted me such a long while. It's a great travel friendly size product, that comes equipped with a angled brush and mirror to make it easy to apply or touch up when you're on the go. Anyone who is after a matte bronzer, then Benefit Hoola is one to try!

Have you tried Hoola?

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I've always been one to shy away from red and bold lips. I always thought that they never really suited me. However I really wanted a new lipstick from Mac that would be perfect for the cooler months. For Christmas I was lucky enough to receive Diva by Mac under the Christmas tree. Since wearing it a few times, I've fallen in love with this gorgeous lipstick and I really feel a lot more confident about trying more red shades. 

Diva is what can be described as being a berry toned red. which has vampy coloured elements to it and the perfect shade for autumn/winter. It is a matte formula. Sometimes with mattes you have to be careful that they don't dry your lips out. However with Diva I would say that it doesn't completely dry them out, which is a huge bonus when it comes to a matte product. It has quite a creamy texture when you apply it and once dry it doesn't feel too drying on the lips. Although I would recommend placing some lip balm before and after you have worn this lipstick to avoid any dryness. This lipstick has great staying power. I would say it lasts around 3/4 hours without needing another reapplication. I applied this lipstick at 8:30am one morning and by 4:30pm that same day, after eating and drinking, you could still see that there was elements of this lipstick present on my lips. 

I would highly recommend Diva to anyone out there after that bold intense berry shade for the autumn/winter season. I believe it's suitable to most skin tones out there. It's the perfect lipstick to wear during the day with a natural look and also at night if you want to go for something more glamorous. I'll definitely be repurchasing this lipstick when I run out and believe it is a great addition to my collection.

Have you tried Diva? 

1. When did you begin loving make-up? 
I can always remember putting on a few bits of make-up when I was younger and off to the school disco or to a family party. It wasn't anything major and back then it probably made me look worse due to not having any clue about make-up. We can all relate to the experience of being young and thinking that bright blue eye-shadow looked great across our lid. However wrong were we?
I didn't start to wear make-up properly till I was around thirteen, which seem's weird to think that was only five years ago? It feel's like I have been wearing make-up a lot longer than that. The only make-up I can remember applying was foundation or a powder and a light touching of mascara on my eyelashes. To me now that just sound's so minimal and you would never see me leaving the house to go out anywhere with that amount of make-up on! When I was around fifteen, I think my love of make-up started then and I even started to consider a career in this field. Unfortunately that didn't work out for me. But I still enjoy applying make-up and love trying out new products despite what happened.

2. How do you feel without make-up?
I'm just going to be honest here. I actually feel so gross and horrible without it. I hate looking in the mirror when I haven't got any make-up on. It literally makes me feel so insecure. I am so grateful for whoever made make-up haha! I am not very confident when it comes to my appearence or confident at all when it comes to anything really! But I would say the times that I do feel comfortable without wearing make-up are when I am chilling at home, at my boyfriends or even around close friends. Sometimes I love no make-up days as it just feel's so good to give your skin a break. But then again, I love knowing that if I have something planned for the day which involves me going out, I can apply my make-up and it gives me a slight boost in my confidence, even if it is only a natural look.

3. What do you love about make-up? 
I love how much positivity and enjoyment it can bring to people. For me personally, I think it really helps to bring out some of my features and make me feel better about myself. For someone with low self-esteem, I really struggle to find anything good about myself. But when I have make-up on I do feel slightly better about myself. It's mad how something so little can make such a difference to your confidence. Also I love how you can create so many different looks to suit a particular theme or event that you are going to and that you can also experiment with different products to find one what suits you best. Lipsticks or highlighters are my favourite thing about make-up for sure!!!

4. Three holy grail items - I don't have the biggest or most expensive make-up collection, so this question is fairly easy for me to answer.

Naked Urban Decay Basics Palette - I love this palette. It's small and compact so you can take it out with you or put it in your travel make-up when going away. You can easily create different eye make-up looks from the palette simply just by using the six shades included. Also you can use the shade 'venus' as a highlighter to highlight your brow bone or the inner-corner of your eyes.

Maybelline New York The Colossal Go Extreme Volum Mascara - I mentioned this product in my first haul here. I really believe this is my holy grail mascara. I cannot fault it. I have tried other high end mascara's for double the price and I believe they do not perform as well as this one from Maybelline. It makes my eyelashes appear long and feathery. They also do not clump together which is a major bonus!!

Mac Snob Lipstick - The reason why I would say this is one of my holy grail items is because this was the first ever Mac lipstick I ever bought. I feel that it's a shade that I never get bored of and I think I will always love. In my opinion, any Mac lipstick is definitely a holy grail item because of the affordability compared with other high end lipsticks, the finish is great and they are long lasting.