The How To | New Year Face

Happy New Year everyone! As promised a new post on the first day of 2014 - eek! Over the next couple of weeks I'll be popping up some "Best of" posts as well as the usual resolution bits and bobs.

I am working today so couldn't do too much of a heavy New Years. I just went round to the besties house with the boyf and her boyf and we had a nice evening of games and drink. Perfect way to bring in the New Year with my two favourite people in the world!

I wanted to show you my New Years face. It occured to me I do a lot of reviews, but it might be nice to see some of these products in action so I'm starting a new feature. First up - New Years! Even though I was staying in I still wanted to make an effort and look that little bit glam.

Products used:

Clinique Stay Matte Foundation | Soap & Glory Kiss Ass Concealer | Nars Deep Throat Blusher | MAC Adored MSF | Estee Lauder Pure Colour Eyeshadow Duo in Raisins | L'Oreal SuperLiner in Black | No7 Extreme Lashes Mascara | 17 Deluxe Lipstick in Prohibition

What was your New Years face? Did you have a good evening?

The Review | Pure Colour Raisins

This product has been raved about continually about over blogs, yes it's Estee Lauder Raisins palette. I blame Tanya Burr and Zoella - they are where I first saw it and from there it seems to have spiralled. So much so it's ridiculously hard to get hold of. I was lucky enough to get it for my birthday last month. My Mum raves about the quality of Estee Lauder's products, and while I've tried a couple I've never been overly overwhelmed by them. This was a game changer.

The powder shadows are buttery soft, apply with ease and grace and stay for hours. These two colours are slightly different from my usual nude. They add an extra winter plum to the mix and change it up, yet still feel incredibly everyday and neutral. I use the paler colour as a base over my entire lid, and then the darker plum to contour by brushing through the crease and blending in the outer corner. It creates a beautiful look.

I've been turned into an eyeshadow gal. Mixed with my usual winged liner this is beautiful. If you can track this down I would get it. It's a tad pricey at £23.00, hence why it was on my birthday list. But it really is a beautiful, luxury product. You can by Estee Lauder Pure Colour Eyeshadow Duo in most Boots store, online here and Debenhams stores.

What's your luxury pick for the Christmas season?

Pure Colour: Absinthe

Estee Lauder Pure Colour Nail Lacquer in Absinthe £14.50

This is part of their new range of nail lacquers and it seems my Mum has most of them already! I decided to take a look at her collection and give one a go. I thought I'd try absinthe as it's a bit of an unusual colour.

The product itself goes on really easily and has a very creamy consistency which is really nice to apply and have on the nails. With regards to the colour, I'm not 100% about it. It's a bit sickly green for me and I'm really not sure how I feel about it.

It lasts quite well however and I know some of the other colours in the range are gorgeous and I can't wait to try the others out.

What do you think of their new range of colours?

from where you are, don't look back

I'm wearing:

cardigan: New Look  |  dress: Tesco |  boots: H&M |  belt: Topshop

Nails: Estee Lauder Absinthe

Yay another outfit post! I'm getting there with them I promise! So this is a dress I've had for a little while and it has become a bit of a go-to in my wardrobe. It's really easy to wear, it's a nice winter colour and it's so comfortable. I love the pattern on it which saves it from being boring.

I've teamed it with an aztec type cardigan from Tesco, just to step up the aztec-ness in this outfit! I usually wear this dress with a plain black cardi, but I thought I'd go a bit different for you guys and I think it works really well. The mixed patterns aren't too overwhelming and both stand their own ground.

Teamed with my favourite ankle boots and here is my weekend outfit! I have completed contrasted the dark outfit with some weird green polish from Estee Lauder. It's my mum's polish and I thought I would give it a go - jury is out for me on this one atm, who knows - may love it later!

What's your weekend outfit? Thoughts on the polish?

Pure Colour in Rose Tea

Estee Lauder Pure Colour Lipstick in Rose Tea £19.50

I found this little beauty somewhere buried in my bathroom cabinet... So god knows how long I've had it! I don't even know how I've ended up with it. I'm going to take a wild guess and say Mum got it in one of her bonus bags and didn't want it as it is a little dark for her.

It's completely differently packaged now, not that I'm too bothered, this design is very simple and chic. The lipstick itself is incredibly long lasting, the colour stayed for around 5 hours in total. The gloss did fade but the colour remained which is the main bit for me.

The colour itself is exactly like the name says. It combines a rose pink with a tea brown to make the perfect combination of a nude pink. It is a bit darker than I'd usually like, but in the photo above I haven't applied it as heavily so not to have it too dark for my skin tone.

Overall it's a really nice everyday lipstick that lasts forever. On the price side it is a bit too pricey for me, I probably wouldn't fork out this much myself, but it does do the job and its the longest lasting lippie I've ever tried (and I have tried a few!).

Which Estee Lauder lipsticks do you recommend? Are they worth the price tag?