One Year Blog Birthday & Giveaway

Happy Birthday To You

Happy Birthday To You
Happy Birthday  Dear Life And Lipsticks
Happy Birthday To You

(source)

I bet you sang that in your head instead of reading it normally. It's impossible not to.

If you haven't already guessed (in which case your not the brightest spark in box) its my blogs one year birthday!! I can't believe it's been a whole year since I started blogging! So much has changed since back then, it's crazy to think it was only a year a go.

I know I haven't been the best blogger especially when it comes to regular posting. I haven't even done 100 posts yet- oops! Even so I've really enjoyed blogging. Its given me so many more opportunities and I've talked to so many amazing people that I never would have spoken to. It's really cheered me up at some pretty miserable times. But it has left me a hell of a lot poorer too!

Thank you to everyone has read even just one post or left a comment. After my long Summer break I'm still trying to re build again but so far so good. So to properly say thank you for your support I decided to do a little giveaway. You can win one of my current favourite products- Illamasqua Cream Pigment in Androgen. It's a beautiful multi-use pinky peach cream product. I love it so I thought one of you could try it out and hopefully love it too!

The giveaway is open world wide so you can enter no matter where you are! It will run for three weeks and I will announce the winner on twitter as well as sending them an email. Just as a quick disclaimer I purchased the product with my own money and it is completely unused.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!

TheBalm Mary-Lou Manizer

As promised in my July Favourites post, this is a review of TheBalm Mary-Lou Manizer highlighter. I'd been needing (as much as you can need make up) a new highlighter for a while and I'd seen a few reviews of this before but when EssieButton raved about I knew I had to get it for sure. The amount of things I've bought on Estee's recommendation is ridiculous!

First off, I feel the need to address the name, you wouldn't believe how long it took me to work out the pun and when I did I had one of those "OooO" moments. But I do love a good pun. The packaging is quirky and definitely stands out in my collection but I wish it wasn't plastic considering it was fifteen pounds.

So I'm sure some of you will think this looks pretty scary in the pan and I agreed at first. If this was an eye shadow I'd laugh at anyone telling me to use it on the cheeks. I put it on the cheekbones, nose and inner corner of eyes it gives a gorgeous golden sheen but if you're into the natural look it isn't for you.  A little bit of gives the "hello I have highlighter on look" but too much gives the " HELLO I HAVE HIGHLIGHTER ON" look. What I'm saying here is less is more with this bad boy. Also it is completely free from glitter so it's right up my alley as I don't want a glittery face everyday. That's the reason I didn't get the Mac Mineralize Skin Finish in Soft & Gentle that so many bloggers rave about.

Overally I absolutely love this highlighter. It gives such a gorgeous golden sheen that I haven't seen from another product. Its so gorgeous and buttery soft in texture that sometimes I'll be sitting at my desk and not be able to resist swatching it.

TheBalm Mary-Lou Manizer is available for £15 from FeelUnique.

Getting Some Volume

When it comes to beauty the thing I am worst at is probably hair. That may not be the best introduction to a post all about hair styling though! One of the important things about hair, for me at least, is getting volume. Despite having fairly thick hair I struggle to get that extra bit of oomph but recently I've found a few different tools and products to help out.

 1. Volume Powder- For me this is the best option. I use the Label M Resurrection Style Dust* but I've also heard that V05 do a good one for less than a fiver. All you have to do is sprinkle it close to the roots, rub it in and your done. It works by kind of matting the hair which does mean it feels a bit nasty and needs washing the next day. Worth it though!

2. Backcombing- Not the best option for your hair but a nice and easy one. I backcomb by sectioning my hair in half by clipping the top layer up. Then I use the brush to push the hair up to the root. To avoid the bird nest look that some girls seem to go for I lightly brush over the top which smooths it out. I then repeat on the top layer of hair. My hair dressers told me to do it this way but I was also advised to spray it with hair spray then repeat. My favourite hair spray is the Tresemme Salon Finish because it gives good hold without setting like a rock and brushes out easily. It's also important to use a backcombing brush as they are much less damaging to your hair than a normal brush.

3. Extensions-I'm currently growing out my hair at the moment but it's taking so long to grow! For a quick fix there are extensions such as the ones here that are clip in and seriously easy. If you follow me on twitter you'll have seen me tweet about debating getting extensions a lot the past few month. Gorgeous luscious locks in minutes? Yes please! Besthairbuy.com have lots of extensions that I've been lusting after. It would make do wonders for quickly adding lots of volume.

How do you get volume in you hair?

*PR Product
*Sponsored Post

July Favourites

Last month I didn't post a favourites because I forgot to publish it before I went on holiday and when I came back it was far too late even for me. I know being so rubbish at posting the past few months, I feel guilty! After exams I planned to bombarded you all with posts but I've ended up being really busy this summer. I managed to get a job June which has kept me busy and I was spending all my days enjoying the glorious weather! That seems like a life time a go compared to the horrible clouds we have now Clearly "the sun has got his hat on" song is not working at bringing the sun back out. I'm going to attempt to blog more in August but my cousin is coming over all the way from Texas so we have lots of exciting things planned to do with her. September will be very difficult with college all week and work all weekend! Hopefully I'll be able to work out some sort of schedule but that's for future Megan to deal with.

 Anyway  let's get on with the favourites!

 First up are a couple of brushes I picked up at Imats from Crown Brushes. The large angled contour blush is absolutely perfect for applying bronzer (we'll  get on to what bronzer next) and blush. It's a little to big for contour or highlight but I use the real techniques one for that anyway. The brush is so soft and makes blending really quick and easy. I also got the eye shadow blending blush for around £4. It's meant to be a dupe for the legendary Mac 217 brush which I own. The crown version is a lot cheaper and very very similar so if you're on a budget its a great alternative. Unlike a lot of cheap blending brushes it's dense and tapered.

Next up is a new purchase, The Body Shop  Honey Bronzer in shade 2. Yep that's right, caspar the ghost here hasn't got the lightest shade in a bronzer! This shade is actually still really pale so I don't look tangoed. The texture is really smooth and this bronzer is well pigmented which works as the colour is so light. It's so easy to apply and gives a boost of colour. If you're a pale beauty it's worth investing in one of these.

Finally is the absolute star of the month- The Balm Mary Lou Manizer. I'd wanted to get this for ages so I finally bit the bullet and got it. Boy am I glad I did! This is the most beautiful gold highlighter I ever did see. They'll be a full review of this coming in the next week so you can see it in all  it's glory.

What have you been loving the last month?