my top 5 red lipsticks

Recently I have become really into red lipsticks, I wear them nearly all the time and this colour is my first port of call if I am going out somewhere. Today I have narrowed my collection down to show you my top 5 favourites.

l'oreal rouge caresse 'aphrodite scarlet' (post)

I honestly get fooled by this lipstick every time. I haven't gone mad, the bullet looks full on red, but it comes out more of a candy pink. Although it does have slight darker red tones to it which is why I have still included it. The texture is a lovely balm type and very moisturising too. 

Barry M 'shade 121'

This is a very vibrant red, with real orange tones to it. It is probably the most drying red I own, so a balm is definitely needed beforehand. The colour is very pigmented although it can tug slightly, so is best applied with a lipbrush.

l'oreal color riche 'red passion'

The truest red I own, the closest to postbox red I have. It has a slight shimmer to it, but not enough to make it a frost effect. Its perfect teamed with a black winged eye.

MAC 'ronnie red' (post)

I love this lipstick, its red but with a slight pink undertone to it. This is a perfect lipstick if your slightly afraid of bold reds. The sheen to this lipstick is beautiful and its actually one of my favourite reds of all time.

l'oreal color riche 'feeric fuschia' (post)

This is a nice berry red, really cute for when I am having those darker looking days. It has a slight glitter effect to it with lovely purple tones.

So that's my collection of reds! Whats your favourite shade of red? ♥ ♥ GFC ♥ RSS ♥ bloglovin ♥ facebook ♥ twitter ♥

swartzkopf live color XXL 43 'red passion'

Now I'm not going to lie, I am useless. I had all of the photos I wanted to take for this post planned, but then I got so engrossed in the actual process of dying my hair that I actually forgot...what a donut!

I really missed the red tones from my hair after I stripped all of the colour back to brown. My hair was a mismatch of colours, but it really wasn't a nice mix and made me feel like I wanted it all cut off again..okay slight exaggeration, but I really didn't like it. I knew to get it back to a nice red I needed to go with a brand I always seem to use for reds, Swartzkopf. I think Swartzkopf dyes can be very hit or miss, sometimes my hair takes really well and others you can barely notice the difference. The shade i chose was shade 43 'red passion'. I have used this shade before, but just as a red top up not a drastic colour change. This time I could really see the difference, maybe as I haven't dyed my hair for a good few months the colour managed to take better, who knows but I am really impressed. Onto the photos I actually managed to take..

You can see now my hair is quite a vibrant red now and oh how I have missed it! The only thing I dislike about this dye is the smell. Its as though they have tried to cover the ammonia smell with a fruity scent, but it actually makes the ammonia stench much worse so it is really not needed. Other than that I am in love with my red hair again and really would recommend this hair dye to anyone. ♥

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MAC baking beauties 'lavender whip' lipstick

The only thing about finishing work early is that I never seem to go home straightaway, I end up window shopping instead, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it usually progresses from window shopping and actually costs me money. I went to Debenhams to see what new bits they had and I wasn't disappointed by what I found. I started to swatch my way through the MAC Baking Beauties collection, although my usual luck with MAC collections is that I choose my favourite and everything ends up being sold out. Surprisingly though there were quite a few items that were still in stock and eventually I decided to treat myself to Lavender Whip lipstick.

MAC baking beauties collection cremesheen lipstick 'lavender whip' £14

Lavender whip is a milky lavender with a slight pink tone to it. It is a cremesheen finish which is one of my favourite MAC finishes, so it has a good colour payoff and provides a nice moisturising shine. Lavender Whip is a re-release of a shade from 2008 although looking at swatches from before this shade is a lot pinkier than the previous version. The baking beauties collection is amazing, honestly the colours look good enough to eat (get it?!) although they do make me hungry for cakes. ♥

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my pandora bracelet

They say every piece of jewellery tells a story and theres nothing I love more than looking through my nans or mums jewellery and hearing all of the stories relating to them. I love that a simple ring can have the most romantic story or that a bracelet could have a funny little joke attached to it. As you can probably tell I am a little bit of a sentimental sod, so any little gift that I receive or anything that gets passed down I really treasure. This is why I love my Pandora bracelet so much, every little charm tells a story and I want to tell you about each one today.

FROG - I brought this on holiday in Tenerife, just before Pandora bracelets first became 'popular' I found this cute little jewellers that sold Pandora beads and I knew I had to have this as it is a little reminder of that holiday.

DOG - This was a gift from my mum, on a daily basis I seem to ask for a puppy but this is the closest that I have ever got to owning one. It may not be real, but it makes me smile whenever I see it. We have 3 cats, so a dog is not really a good option, especially as one of my cats seems to be the spawn of Satan.

RABBIT - This was a birthday present, again from my mum. I love rabbits, so again because of Satan cat I have to live with a charm instead.

ELF - I got this for christmas one year, if you read this blog over christmas you will know this is my favourite time of the year. So this bead makes me feel all christmassy.

BIRD - This bird is really cute to look at and was another gift from my mum. 

RAINBOW BEAD - I love rainbows and sparkles, so this was the reason behind treating myself to this bead.

SNOWMAN - I got this bead for christmas one year from my mum. I am one of those really annoying people that actually love snow. The first thing that I do as soon as it starts settling is build a snowman. Mum always says I am like a big kid, so now I have a permanent snowman.

HEART SPACER - This was one of the first beads I got, I remember the days when it was swirling around the bracelet all on its own as I couldn't afford any other beads. I love hearts so this is the perfect bead for me too.

BEE - When I first started my bracelet, this was the one bead I wanted more than any other. I don't know why, there is literally just something about it, I think it must be the crown. I saved and saved and then on holiday in Tenerife (when I got the frog charm) it was sitting there and I had enough spending money left to get it and it was cheaper than the UK, was super chuffed!

SWIRL BEAD - I found this bead so pretty and treated myself for no other reason than I liked it. No story here guys, sorry!

GINGERBREAD MAN - I love gingerbread men, case closed. Lewis brought this bead for me, to celebrate my love of that man shaped biscuit.

CRYSTAL BEAD - Another bead from my mum, so sparkly! I do have these in a few more colours but the little gems started to fall out of them not even a month after I got them. Not one for returning things (this was before I had to deal with horrid customers myself, nowadays I will return like the best of them!) I just took them off the bracelet. Bad quality there lovelinks...

GHOST - Along with the bee, I wanted this bead more than anything. It still is one of my favourites, I nagged my dad for weeks until I got it. 

HEART - Lewis got me this bead for my birthday one year. Pretty self explanatory this one really, I suppose he can be romantic at times..

ELEPHANT - Elephants are one of my favourite animals, I really love them. So this one is an homage to my love of elephants.

PINK MURANO BEAD - Not really a story behind this one, my bracelet needed a splash of colour and this was the first bead that I brought myself with one of my first pay packets back in the day!

So thats the story about my bracelet, even talking about these beads bring back so many memories. Do you have any jewellery with stories? I would love to hear about them! ♥ 

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