IntuMetrocentre Bloggers Event!

I'm quite excited to write this post, because last Thursday I went to my first ever blogger event... and my god have Intu Metrocentre set the president for events to come. If you are from the Newcastle area (which majority of my readers are) you are probably well acquainted with the Metrocentre. It's my first stop for shopping, it has so many brands under one roof, free parking and it's indoors so no rain! Which is obviously a big component when you live up north! If things weren't good enough they've just opened four new stores, which our little group of bloggers were lucky enough to get a tour of!

Firstly we all met for food and drinks and had a little mingle to get to know one another. The food was provided by Fattoush Lounge which is a new Lebanese restaurant that has just opened in the cube! Which I had already tried prior to the event because your gal is partial to a shawarma wrap... We then set off on our tour and by gosh did we travel in style! we all got escorted around in the Metrocentre mini train, which was too cute but I have to say my carriage exits weren't to dignified! It was such a fun way to travel around and a good way to get to know everyone because the carriages were certainly snug!

Our first little trip was to Hotel Chocolat, we didn't actually depart just sort of passed by and handed samples through the window, I ain't complaining who doesn't love sitting on their but and eating chocolate. Did you guys know that they did ice-cream! It was bloody delicious! They also gave me a little box of choccy Santa's which I've pretty much demolished! Since then I had a little browse on their website and their Christmas collection is adorable, go on their website and search a posse of penguins or the reindeer slab... too cute!

Our first official stop was  actually the Jack Wills pop up shop! It's only around for a limited time because the Metrocentre is actually getting a permanent store!! Word on the street is that it is opening in the platinum mall this Wednesday! They had some brilliant stock in the popup, I actually picked up a couple shirts for my fella in the black friday sale! What's even better is that the new store will stock the full range!! I can't wait to have a snoop around! We were also gifted some very cute red socks, which were very festive (I've just uploaded a pic on my insta) and a roller ball of one of their scents. So a massive thanks to Jack Wills and Intu Metrocentre for the gift!

Next on the agenda G-Star Raw. Now I'm not going to lie, I wasn't overly excited about visiting this store. It's a brand I associate with menswear, but after actually being introduced to the clothing I realised that is simply not the case. I actually liked a lot of the clothing in here, shout out to the orange sweatshirt below. ↓

After listening to a representative of the brand talk about the company, I learnt that they are one of the few brands that provide sustainable denim. And by god do they have a lot of choice just walking into the store you can see the entire back wall is covered top to bottom in women's denim jeans. If you're looking for an investment piece of denim its certainly the place to come. G-Star gifted us all a little denim tote which I will be now using as my bag for life (if I honestly ever remember to take it with me, anyone else do that?) and a cute little rhino keyring. The rhino is a key symbol for G-star because rhino's can't walk backwards (fact of the day) and this is a motto the company stands by, they only ever want to move forwards.

We then got treated to a little bit of pampering by Clarins, who gave me the most incredible hand massage! It's not a brand that I have ever really explored but after that treatment I was so impressed I wanted to know more. I was lucky enough to be given a sample box of some of their products and I am sooo hooked on the lip oil! It is my new obsession, legitimately going to order one immediately. Straight to Boots I go!

The next stop was at Couture Club a brand I had never heard of and honestly probably would have never stepped foot in, if I hadn't been taken inside. I'm just so uncool. Street style is not my thing, I love it but I just can't pull it off! However, I absolutely fell in love with some of the pieces they had in store. Especially a light wash denim jacket with the red Couture logo on the back. I was surprised how reasonably priced it was and even more surprised that there were actually things I really liked, even with my old biddy taste in fashion. They were kind enough to gift us a cap and T-shirt. I love the T-shirt the material is so thick and good quality, I threw it on with some mom jeans and loafers the other day and I actually loved my look. Maybe there's hope for me to dress casual after all...

This was not on the official tour but Quiz were kind enough to let us pick out some clothing! How amazing! I honestly can't get over how generous they were! I picked up a banging green satin bodysuit, some serious sexy elf vibes going on. I don't know if that's a thing, but let's roll with it. Keep your eyes peeled for an insta post coming soon!

On to the final event! I'm pretty sure every girl in driving distance of the Metrocentre was overjoyed when it was announced that we were finally getting a VICTORIA SECRET! We have been deprived of gorgeous underwear and cute pjs for to long. If you haven't had a look around the new store yet, it definitely won't disappoint. In true VS style the store exudes feminine luxury. The gorgeous design is all part of the shopping experience, that makes VS so special. I've included a few photos from both VS and Pink, because I'm obsessed with the decor. I think it is the perfect place to pick up a Christmas gift, whether its undies, pjs or their amazing range of smellies! You can't really go wrong, all women love that little pink striped bag! I usually tend to get my undies from Vs and lean towards pink for both pjs and gym wear. My favourite underwear range has to be the dream angles, they are always ultra feminine, delicate little pieces. Our last surprise was that we were offered fitting and then allowed to take home a bra of our choice! How bloody lucky am I, it's not every day you get given a bra from VS. No guesses which range I chose from either, look out for a more in-depth post on my gorgeous gifted bra!

Lastly I want to just briefly say a massive thank you to everyone involved in the event, I'm  still so honoured to have even been invited! It was lovely meeting all the fabulous ladies who blog in my area too! I also have yet to mention the incredible goody bag, jam packed with products that I can't wait to share with you over on my insta! Hope you all enjoyed this post and will make a journey to check out these fab new brands in the Metrocentre! Oh and side note keep an eye on my instagram for little snapshots of some of the gifts I mentioned! it's  @kelsreaay and why not give @intumetrocentre a follow too for shopping inspo and the latest news!

Dior Airflash Backstage Pro's

I am so obsessed with having leaves in my images at the moment... I don't know why I'm just feeling it.  I'm also going to add a new little feature to my reviews a pros and cons list for people who don't have time to read my lengthy reviews... scroll to the bottom. Now that I've gotten that out the way lets get onto what you came here for, my thoughts on the Dior Airflash foundation. 

Foundation and face products are my favourite part of makeup. I am OBSESSED with creating a beautiful base, it is for me the most satisfying part of doing my makeup. So I guess you could probably say that I am a bit of a foundation junkie. I buy and test lots of different kinds from different brands in search for the perfect finish. Truthfully I don't think I will ever stop testing foundations purely because I love trying new things too much! I must say that this foundation is the only one in a long time that has made me consider not trying anything else. So there's a little clue on how this review is going to pan out.

So let's get a feel of what this product is and what it claims to preform like. I'll insert the information from Boot's, which is where I purchased this product.

 'An iconic spray foundation that delivers an airbrushed effect with precision and ease, now available in new shades. Enriched with light-diffusing pigments, this foundation instantly smooths the look of skinned boosts radiance for a perfect complexion that lasts all day, even on the runway. The unique micro-diffusion system delivers a fine mist of foundation to provide a soft, velvety complexion. The water-resistant formula ensures up to 12 hours of hold and colours that stay true. It's ultra-fluid and ultra-fine texture allows for buildable, custom coverage to suit any skin tone and texture. The Airflash range has expanded to include new shades that adapt to the cool tones or warmer tones of any skin colouring, imparting flawless coverage and a long-lasting finish for a radiant, glowing complexion. Mother of pearl pigments even skin tone and diminish the appearance of skin irregularities and fine lines, leaving your skin glowing with optimal radiance.'

So that's quite a write up by Dior, you can't argue that they have written an impeccable little paragraph, that would pretty much persuade anyone to give it ago. So here I am actually trying the product so you can distinguish whether these claims are more than just fluffy advertising to get your money. Which by the way would cost you £35.00 for this foundation. Let's start with packaging an essentially useless part of the review but we would all be lying if we said that it did not impact our purchases. This like every other Dior product exudes luxury, the beautiful silver lid paired with the glossy finish of the can looks so elegant. It is the quality you would expect of a Dior product. My only gripe is that the silver lid gets smarmy with finger print marks but that's just me being a little obsessive.

When you remove the lid you are presented with a spray, this is essentially an aerosol can. I was worried that this product could be potentially gimmicky... something I don't associate with Dior but in the name of curiosity I was willing to give it ago. Dior recommends that you apply it in one of two ways, for a light coverage you spray the foundation directly to the skin in a Z motion 20cm from your face. For a heavier coverage it is recommended that you spray the products onto a kabuki brush and apply in circular motions. I have personally applied it directly to my skin in a Z motion and I do agree that this is affective IF you wear a headband that covers your hairline and expect for it to cover your lips. I then pat the foundation into my skin with a Beauty blender to ensure my entire face is covered. You could just spray it on and go but I think you achieve a more precise coverage if you then go over with your sponge. This method provided quite a light coverage, it looked very natural but at the same time very flawless. It seems to have a blur effect and smooth out skin texture, the only thing I think it failed to cover with this technique is redness around my cheeks and nose. I have not applied it with a kabuki because personally I don't really like using brushes as I find they create streaks and apply to heavily. But another method I tried to get a fuller coverage was spraying the foundation to specific areas of my face and then spreading it around with my beauty blender. I felt that this improved the coverage of the foundation and it still had the blurring and smoothing effect. So essentially I think this foundation can achieve a light to a very good medium coverage. I'm not too sure about full because that's not really a look I go for.

Moving on to colour match. A common problem I have moaned about on my blog is finding a good colour match. I have massive issue finding a foundation with undertones that suit my skin. Everything is so pink or yellow and my skin is almost neutral with a touch of olive green. Quite a difficult undertone, because foundations only ever cater to this skin tone in deeper shades. I have light olive skin! Apparently companies just ignore my existence. I bought the shade Almond which is a light foundation with a cool undertone which isn't perfect but it's still a pretty good match! I picked this shade online because it looked like the most neutral light shade. I will say that this shade also did not oxidise which is brilliant! So the shades are true to colour. There are 18 shades which sounds impressive but essentially its a lot of light and medium shades and one dark shade. Which lets be honest is not diverse at all. It goes from dark beige shades to one Mocha shade on the boots website. So although there might be more options in terms of undertone it seems that is only applicable if you are of light to medium skin tone.  This is obviously not an issue that effects me, but in the wider beauty community is something that is continually a problem for many and I think it needs to be mentioned until we achieve complete diversity in the beauty market.

The finish I would describe as semi Matte. It is certainly a matte foundation but the blurring effect adds life to the skin and makes it more skin like... does that make sense? I really like the finish I think it makes your skin look very flawless but at the same time still like skin! That's essentially what everyone wants out of a foundation to look like we have naturally beautiful skin. I find that the lasting power is pretty good, I have oily skin and I find that I have very little breakthrough. I think this is attributed to the alcohol in the formula that makes the spray dry pretty quickly. I think 12 hours is a bit of a stretch but I do often touch my face so I wouldn't expect it to last forever. The staying power is good, nothing extraordinary but I would say that its oil control is brilliant.

Overall I really like this foundation. Which is not something I say very often. I feel like the colour, coverage and oil control are really good! I believe you receive some benefit from the spray function as it allows you to achieve a very light coverage. It disperses the perfect amount of foundation to achieve an almost airbrushed effect.  I have been pairing this with my YSL Touche Eclat primer and I think that this just takes this foundation to the next level. It adds extra radiance to a brilliant foundation and I honestly think these two products are something that everyone should have in their beauty arsenal.

Quick overview for you busy folk! 

PROS

• Buildable coverage
• blurring and smoothing effect
• good range of undertones
• quick application once you have a hang of it
• chic packaging as always
• semi matte finish that looks airbrushed
• Great oil control
• Reasonably long wearing 

CONS

• Can get in your hairline and gets on lips
• Needs practise to get used to spray function 
• Poor shade range for darker skin colours

Caseapp Collaboration!

So firstly a huge thank you to the team at Caseapp for arranging this collaboration! I absolutely adore the items I have received! (ps Discount code down below!) 

If you haven't heard of Caseapp they create custom phone cases and laptop skins. You can choose from a variety of gorgeous pre-made designs or you can unleash your creativity and design your own. I decided to try out both services, so I ordered two pre-made pieces and I designed my own phone case. If you don't know by now, I'm a pretty creative little soul so the thought of adding my own design was so cool. I spent a few hours having a browse on the interweb for inspiration and producing my design.  I made a few mocks and the Llama design is the one I stuck with! I think it's pretty cute! Caseapp do cases for iPhones, Samsung and iPads. They also produce skins for a range of brands Microsoft, Google, HTC, Apple, Nokia and Samsung.  You also have the option to choose a matte or glossy finish, personally I love glossy finish, I think it stays cleaner for longer!

I also order this super cute floral parrot print for my Mac book and another phone case.  It was truly hard to pick a print because they have some beautiful options. There really is something for everyone, cute animal prints, chic patterns, sassy cases, cutesy cases you name it they got it. And if they don't, make your own! Another option is to customise their marble collection with your name, possibly even your blog name that would be cute! Perhaps that's my next purchase. Overall I'm really impressed with the quality of the cases and the delivery was super fast which is always a bonus!
So if you feel inspired to get a new case or jazz up your laptop with a personalised skin you can access the site here: https://bit.ly/2N8BfTJ    and use my code LIFEOFKELS20 to receive 20% discount!

Happy shopping! 

The Wonky Wand.

I'm obsessed with making flatlays, I find the whole process from arranging, photographing to editing so cathartic. I don't know why but I love making pretty things.

Today's post is clearly about the L'oreal Unlimited mascara, or as I have so loving dubbed it the Wonky Wand mascara. As I always take products at face/packaging value lets start there. This packaging sucks, in the sense of design. It looks cheap and simply uncreative. I know that this essentially means nothing and adds no value to the quality of the mascara in the tube, but I like a bit of production value! When I buy any makeup I want to look at it and feel like it's a treat or a luxury and this says neither. In comparison to Paradise mascara in its pretty pink and rose gold packaging with its beautiful cardboard outer, this looks like the very ugly sister. In terms of looks this does not tick any of my boxes but I'm trying not to be shallow, so lets dig a little deeper. 

I know you're probably thinking, if the packaging repulsed you so badly why did you buy it? Well I'm looking past the frankly LAZY packaging because I'm so intrigued by the wand and its ability to move to a 45 degree angle. I was curious, is this a gimmick or does it actually improve mascara application. So I've used this every day for around a week to try and figure out if this wand is the way forward for the mascara market. So my first impressions were that the unique angle of the brush did seem to help get right to the root of the lashes with ease. I felt like it was easier to coat the very end lashes at both the inner and outer corner of my eye. The biggest benefit that I noticed was that it was a lot easier to apply to my left eye, I don't know why but it just felt less awkward than usual. Not that it is a daily struggle or anything but it can be difficult applying mascara to the eye that's not on the same side as your dominant hand. I usually find myself swapping the wand around a lot more to try and get into the corners on my left eye than my right. Strangely enough I didn't find myself doing that with this mascara. 

Maybe we should compare my thoughts to what L'oreal claims this mascara should do : Taken from the Boot's website

- Bendable mascara wand for precise application  - Reaches every last lash, from corner to corner - Lengthens, volumises, defines and separates lashes - Intense black finish for high-impact lashes - Longwear formula 

Well the wand is certainly bendy, so were off to a good start. As stated above I do agree that it is easier to reach the lashes on the inner and outer corner, which is why I really like this wand. I feel as if the mascara itself lengthens very well and definitely defines and separates the lashes. I do however feel that it's not a great voluminous mascara. In comparison to Paradise (which I really like hence the constant comparison) this barley adds any volume to your lashes. I really like chunky, thick lashes and I don't feel like this mascara achieves that very well. That however is personal preference and not a fault of the mascara at all. In terms of colour it's very dark just how I like it and the longevity was very good. I can suffer from transfer of mascara from my lashes to my brow bone or eyelid and I noticed none with this mascara. Most importantly I didn't get that weird crumbly thing either. 

My final verdict is that I really like the shape of the wand, what I'm not blown over by is the brush... Am I just picky... probably. This mascara is excellent if you want long separated and defined lashes. If that's your thing go for it. For me I'd prefer this if it was more of a thickening mascara with a chunky brush. Similar to that of Paradise. Basically I want paradise brush and formula with this wand. A girl can dream right?

Hello Happy Foundation

One of the first foundations I ever used was Benefit's playstick in the shade paper dolls. I distinctly remember loving this foundation, from the shade to the little cylinder cardboard outer packaging.but I'm pretty sure they don't even make it anymore but for many years it was my pride and joy. I wish I could say that my romance with Benefit had lasted a life time (or at least the 23 years I've so far existed) but apart from their brow products there's very few items that have taken my breath away. I hate to sound mean but I always feel like the brand is style over substance, beautiful creative packaging wrapped around average products. Harsh! I hear you cry, but read it back I said average I didn't say poor. A lot of the products I've used from benefit have been good, but not good enough for me to uproot my old faithfuls from my makeup bag and make their products permanent residents. So because of my ill feelings towards the brand... perhaps manifested by the longing for a product that no longer exists... I usually skip over their new releases. To put it blankly it's not a brand I have on my radar. 

I honestly only picked this up out of sheer impulse. My cousin wanted me to order it for her and I just had a mild moment of spontaneity and ordered one for myself. I had pretty much no expectations, other than it would look super cute in a flatlay. I think they are ultimately the best purchases, when you're not really expecting to love something and it ends up being something you really like. Yes cats out the bag, I like the foundation. For once I feel like the beautiful packaging matches the quality of the product and I couldn't be more happy that I spent my hard earned coin on this. Why do I like this foundation.. let me count the ways:

1. Lightweight but great coverage
2. Matte but not heavy or caked, skin still looks like skin!
3. Great oil control 
4. Good longevity 
5. Small amount goes a long way.

So I had a little looksee on Benefits site to see what they claimed this product does: ''This lightweight foundation evens out skin tone and blurs imperfections with soft-focus optical blurring spheres. With a natural-matte finish and light-to-medium coverage, it looks like skin and feels like nothing at all. Happy looks good on you!''.  For once I pretty much agree with the overall description of this foundation, I think the foundation is very light, but offers good coverage and has a beautiful matte finish that still looks like skin texture and has a life to it that some foundations just lack. Matte usually makes me cringe, I really hate looking like you've got a mask of dull foundation on. I don't know how but this foundation has got the right balance. For an oily girl who needs shine control but doesn't want to look dull and loose the skins natural luminosity, this is your best friend. I feel like this foundation was hand made for me...that annoying girl who's like ' I have oily skin, but I hate matte, oh but also I don't want to be tooo shiny.' I know only a hand full of you will relate to that, but if you do just know that your time has come! I'm leaving this review here, I think its clear that it's secured a spot in my makeup bag, how about yours?

ABH Norvina Palette First Impressions

If you came here via instagram, then you probably know that this isn't going to be a gushing review. I typically don't do first impressions but fuck it I feel like venting my frustrations. So grab a snack and get comfy cause I'm here to ramble on for a while.

I'll start with a little background info, I usually adore abh shadows I own Modern renaissance, soft glam and prism all of which I rate. I also really love purple shadows so this is not because this palette doesn't appeal to me. Because let's be honest I'm not in the habit of spending £43 on shadows I think I won't wear. I also have ZERO issue with the formulation in the sense of fall out/ kick up, I blend quite softly and all though I experience fall out it's not really an issue for me. What I'm finding with this palette is that the shades look so different in the pan to when they are applied to the lid.

 When swatching the shadows I was impressed with the iridescence of the shimmer shades, yet when I put them on my lid I found them incredibly lack lustre. Celestial in particular had very little shimmer too it even when I used my finger instead of a fibre brush. The only one that really had some intensity I found was wild child but even then I foiled the shadow with fix plus to add a bit more oomph. The shade love really confused me because it looked like a peachy pink colour in the pan, it was so much darker on my lid. I intended to use it in my crease but it came up so much darker with almost a brown cast too it. Soul was the colour that really drew me to this palette, it's a really unique colour. So of course I wanted to incorporate it into a look, I found that the pay off wasn't that great even building up the colour and patting it on the shade just felt muted and dull. Maybe it just doesn't suit my skin tone? I really don't know. I used love in the crease first and tried to blend in soul to it, to make a gradient but it just kind of looked dark and messy I tried to brighten it up by adding celestial to the lid and adding wild child foiled to the centre, but it all just got very dark and a bit amateurish really fast. Which is really odd because all of these colours are pretty light.

I'm kind left a bit puzzled, looking at images on Anastasia's site and images on the gram of peoples creations and I am stumped. How did they get these vibrant looks? To me every matte shadow applied darker than what it looked like. Don't get me wrong this is not a disaster palette and I spent my hard earned coin on it so you bet I'll fucking use it... but I'm left just feeling so underwhelmed so sad at what this palette could of been. Why do such bright colours feel so dark and muted? Maybe it's just me, perhaps I have super high expectations or maybe I have just completely misunderstood the concept of this palette. I think I will use this palette but not to create an entire look, I will pick and choose colours to combine with other shadows and try and make this work, for the sake of my bank balance and my guilty shoppers conscious.

Please comment your feelings if you've bought this palette I need to know if it's just me or if this palette's got you on makeup downer too. Final comment is that I still love you ABH I'm just not in love with this palette, but maybe I just need to give it some time.

Supermarket Sass.

Lately I feel like mixing up my blog a little. If you haven't noticed I've been producing more outfit posts than beauty ones lately. That's just the direction my creativity is taking me at the moment. I having a lot of fun organising photo shoots and creating themes. So here this week's titled Supermarket Sass. 

Yes this was in Sainsbury's and yes it was embarrassing. Yes I bought cereal out of guilt. 

Outfit details at the end of post.

Sassy top

Heart Mom Jeans

Block-Coloured Jacket

Similar bodysuit