First of all, let me apologize for a few things...

• My nails. Yes, they are disgusting. I have been picking them all day but worry no more, I'm getting them done later on today.
• The lighting. The light in my bathroom is rubbish so I had to take photos with flash and they don't look very stylish unfortunately.
• The water I've wasted while taking this pictures. I always turn the tap off when I don't need the water while cleaning my brushes, but it really is difficult to combine cleaning your brushes, the camera and the water all at the same time.

Ok, now that that's out of the way, let me tell you a thing or two about cleaning make up brushes. I gotta say, this is something I hate with passion. I am the laziest person when it comes to clean them up, I know I should do it at least once or twice a month but I must admit I should be lucky if I do them once every couple of months! I do 'wash' them with a brush disinfectant every time I use them, but it's a very quick process and to be honest I doubt it cleans them much.

With that been said, when I know it's been way too long and I can't put it off for any longer, here's what I do.

Take any soft shampoo ( I just use baby shampoo from the £ shop ) and put a tiny bit into a bowl or a plate. As you can see, I use the lid of my hair conditioner.

Dab the brush slightly in the shampoo and put your hand under the warm-ish water. Then rub the brush on the palm of your hand. Run it through the fingers as well and repeat the process a couple of times until it turns completely white.

Once it's white it means there isn't any foundation left in the brush so I move onto the BrushEgg. Some people skip the hand process and do it straight onto their make up cleaner glove, I just like to do it that way first as you can feel the hairs of the brush go softer as it gets cleaner and cleaner. Also, if you don't have one of this, you don't have to use it. They get clean enough using only the hand anyway.

Repeat the same process with the BrushEgg.

Remember to always keep your brushes upside down as you don't want the water to go inside and dissolve the glue that is keeping all the hairs together.

Once you think your brush is all clean, squish it with your fingers and you'll see if there's any foundation/colour left. If there's still coming out of the brush it obviously means that it's still not clean 100% and that you need to do it all again! If nothing but water comes out of the brush, you're good to go. 

Leave them dry for a good few hours always making sure they're not completely flat or it can misshape them.

To be honest, it's quite a simple process and I really don't know why I hate it so much. I guess I am just super lazy and I just wish I could have new brushes every time I do my make up.

How do you clean your brushes? Do you have any more tips?

DIOR CHRISTMAS COLLECTION EVENT

In my teens I always saw Dior as more of a grown up brand. There's no doubt that it is a lot more sophisticated, elegant and classy that many of other brands. It was almost inaccessible and quite expensive for a seven teen year old just getting into the whole make up 'thing'. But guess what? I am now a more sophisticated, elegant and classy twenty eight year old grown up. Or at least I like to think so. It's no lie that I got mega excited when I got invited to the State of Gold DIOR Christmas collection blogger event in Debhenams Cardiff and I could not refuse the invitation.

Apart from the J'adore perfume, I've never had a Dior product before so it was great to see not only the Christmas collection but everything else they have in store.

At the event, Anthony (in store make up artist) showed us how to create a winter/festive look with a gold and copper tones using the Blazing Gold eye shadow palette which, by the way, I love!

What struck me most was that he also used the Diorskin Airflash spray foundation. Some of us got to try it after the demonstration and I can honestly say it looks flawless. You can use on top of your regular foundation for an airbrushed finished or you can use it as a foundation by itself. The bottle is £33 but unlike most foundations this one is 70ml.

When having a look around I found these Addict Fluid eye shadows and I couldn't resist swatching them. They are absolutely gorgeous and so long lasting that even five hours after the event finished they were still intact on my wrist. I especially love the copper tone on the top right corner, I think it would look great on the eye lid with a black smokey eye. I will definitely be adding them to my letter to Santa. 

We also got an amazing goodie bag *who doesn't love a goodie bag*. There's some perfume testers (great to have them in your bag) and the cutest little samples!

Dior Maximizer Lash Plumping Serum. A lash primer that creates a smooth, even mascara base while promoting long-term lash growth, strength and vitality.

Dior Addict Lip Maximizer. Give your lips an instant volume and shine with this lip plumper.

Rouge Dior 999 Red Lipstick, A luxurious, full-coverage lip colour. 

I can't thank enough the staff at the Dior counter as they were both very nice and helpful. I bought something from their Christmas collection and it's limited edition so I will be writing another post about my purchase. Stay tuned because it is beautiful! Also, if you haven't checked out the Dior counter at your local Debhenams lately do it, because this collection is amazing!

BOTL: REVLON MINK vs L'OREAL EROTIQUE

Hello beautiful people, I've decided once a month I'm going to do a battle of the lipsticks (BOTL) comparing two lipsticks that are quite similar somehow whether is texture, colour, price or finish. I will give my honest opinion about both and at the end I will decide which of the two wins for me. I thought it would be fun, what do you think?

For the first battle of the lipsticks I chose Revlon Creme Mink (£7.99) and L'Oreal Color Riche Matte Erotique (£6.99). I've been testing both of them now and all I can think is, how the hell am I going to chose between these two? I mean, Revlon is probably my favorite brand for lipsticks but have you seen how beautiful the L'Oreal one is? I think I've f*&%ed myself over by choosing these two! Never mind, let's get to business.

Mink has got more of a brown tone while Erotique has more of a pink base. As for the finish, Erotique is definitely matte as oppose of the glossy finish of Mink.

I've been wearing these two lipsticks only for the last two weeks and I've come to the conclusion that even tho matte lipsticks normally last longer on, in this case I have to give the point to Mink as it's definitely stayed all day long before without me having to re-touch it at all.

The packaging... well, I have to give it to L'Oreal simply because it's gold and it just looks expensive even tho the Revlon one is £1 more.

(left Erotique, right Mink)

Overall, I think both of them are awesome. They're both good quality lipsticks, very pretty colours and finishes for any look. It's a tough decision as I really do like both and even tho I like the matte finish of L'Oreal Erotique I love the darker colour of Revlon Mink. Mink also last slightly longer and it's more of an autumn colour, however the packaging for Erotique is just out of this world and I makes me want to have the whole collection but for the simple fact that I prefer the colour and it stays on for longer I have to go with Revlon Mink! Like I've mentioned before Revlon is one of my favorite brands for lipstick and they didn't disappoint with this one.

Which one do you prefer? Do you have either of these two? Let me know which one would you choose! 

ONE BRAND ONLY - MAKE UP REVOLUTION PALETTES

When it comes to Make Up Revolution I must admit I'm a bit of a hoarder. What can I say? They are  cheap and they're good quality so I can't really say no when I walk past Superdrug... So it's no surprise that I've managed to accumulate a few of them *and a lot more that I still want*.

I thought it would be a good idea to share with you guys all the palettes I own from MUR and briefly comment what I like and don't like about them.

I'm going to start with the face palettes.

Ultra Cover and Concealer Palette Light - As you can see I only use a couple of the shades (the lightest ones). I don't use them on my under eyes as I feel like they crease quite a lot after a while, so I use it for my brow bones and around my lips to clean any unwanted lipstick. It's due to own preference, I prefer more 'liquidy' concealers rather than creamy like this.

Ultra Blush and Contour Palette Sugar and Spice - (top left) This colours are super pretty, but I find myself only using it in the summer months as they're a bit too pink for me. You have to be very careful when using this are they're mega pigmented!

Ultra Blush and Contour Palette Hot Spice - (top right) Now this one I love! The colours are a lot softer and natural. I use this one daily, especially the one in the top left corner. Isn't it pretty?

Iconic 3 - (left - UD Naked 3 dupe) Since I've had this one I've barely touched my Naked Palette 3 much as it's pretty much the same! Sure the Urban Decay one is more pigmented but it's also five times more expensive. I really love this palette, the lighter colours I find I have to pack on a lot of product and maybe go over twice, but that doesn't really bother me much, not for £4.

Essential Mattes - Now this one I thought I was going to love, as I'm a big fan of matte eyeshadow, however, it's not my favorite. I don't seem to want to reach for it very often and I don't really know why. I guess they're not as pigmented as I expected.

Iconic Pro 2 - I love the colours on this one. There a mix of matte and shimmery shades and they all complement each other very well. I love the silver one and the purple on the bottom right corner.

Salvation Palette Unicorns Unite - This is the newest one I have. The colours are so vibrant and amazing I couldn't refuse buying it. I use the greens in the bottom middle quite a lot!

Salvation Palette Run Boy Run - This one is without a doubt my favorite palette of all the ones I own by MUR. I use it very, very often. It's super pigmented and it does stay on all day. I love the reddish colour and the black one. I use the bottom three matte ones as transition shades all the time!

I Heart Make Up Fast Love - I got this palette because I love all the colours but I was a bit disappointed as it's definitely not as good as all the others, not as pigmented.

I Heart Make Up N1 - I don't think they do this palette anymore *at least I can't find it on their online store* which is a shame because I really like it. The highlighted in the bottom right corner is amazing, and the dark colours like the black and dark purples are amazing!



So these are all the MUR Palettes that I have so far. Some of them have a lot of similar colours and I barely use but I just like having them all and if I could I would have every single palette they've ever made *getting there slowly*!

Do you have any of these? Do you like MUR as much as I do? Let me know what you think if you have any of these! :)