Deep Plum and Chocolate.

For a recent trip to Cardiff I tried something different - plum lips. I'm in love with this combo and felt like I had to share it with you lovely people. I paired the dark lips with a warm toned neutral eye and warm, bronze skin. (To see my looks, follow my instagram: oicharr). To see how I achieved the look below, carry on reading.

Firstly it's very important to moisturise and prime the skin. I use the Smashbox Photo Finish Colour Correcting Adjust primer. The primer is a green colour and helps correct my redness. I love this primer!

Next I apply my M.A.C Pro Longwear Concealer in NC15 with a random, cheap fluffy brush to brighten my under eye. Using my favourite foundation, M.A.C Studio Fix Fluid in NC15 and a M.A.C 159 brush I apply my foundation in small patting motions in the centre of my face and blend in circular motions close to my hairline, ear and down my neck to blend it out.

Brows are my favourite part of my routine - they're like my babies! Using an Anastasia Beverly Hills no.7 brush I spooly my eyebrow hairs upwards and using the brush side, I use Dipbrow Pomade in Dark Brown to draw out and fill in my brows. To darken the tail I use the same brush with M.A.C Fluidline in Dipdown. To carve my brows out I use Benefit's Erase Paste in Light and a random concealer brush (I think it's from Morphe).

Now for the long part, the eyeshadow. Firstly, to prime my eyes I use Urban Decays Primer Potion in Original. Using a Zoeva 228 brush I take M.A.C's Rule eyeshadow and blend it into the upper crease area as a transition shade. Next, I go in with my crease colour with a M.A.C 217 brush and the shade Swiss Chocolate. To deepen the crease I take Embark with a Zoeva 224 brush and concentrate on the outer V and bringing it lightly into the crease. Using a Zoeva 237 and M.A.C's eyeshadow in Artificial Earth all over my lid. Taking the Zoeva 231 and 224 I go under my eye with rule and swiss chocolate.

For mascara I use Maybelline Great Lash and Benefits Badgal Lash. My under-ey concealer is Rimmel's Wake Me Up concealer with the Real Techniques Sponge (the beauty blender dupe).

Contour is very important for me as my chubby face means a lack of definition and shape. Using Bobbi Brown's Foundation Stick in Almond I create lines on my cheeks, forehead, nose and chin and buff the product out with a Real Techniques Stippling Brush. Followed by a Morphe contour brush and Anastasia Beverly Hills contour powder in Java.

For blush I use a Zoeva 126 brush and M.A.C's Blush in Buff to add colour to my cheeks. Next I use M.A.C's Bronzing Powder in Golden to add a glow at the back of my cheek bones. For highlight I use M.A.C's Vanilla Pigment on a Zoeva 105 brush for my face and 227 for under my brows and my inner corner.

Finally, it's time for the stand-out part of the look - the lips! I line my lips in M.A.C's Lip Liner in Currant and their Lipstick in Hang-Up. To finish the whole look I spray my Fix+ all over my face and voila!

Feel free to leave any questions or requests in the comment section! Thanks for reading!
Char xo

My M.A.C Lipstick Collection.

Over time i've collected a few of these heaven in a bullet-form. M.A.C lipstick is hyped about all over from Instagram to Twitter, but is it worth the hype?

To the right is a (very bad) swatch picture. From bottom to top; Myth, Creme cup, Angel, Viva Glam Gaga, Nouvelle Vogue, Vegas Volt, Heroine, Rebel and Hang-up.

First i'll talk about Myth. Myth is a very light nude and is gorgeous over Boldly Bare lip-liner (a pink-toned nude) as alone it looks a tad like foundation lips! It's a satin finish which I love as it gives an opaque coverage of colour and is long-lasting. Satin finishes are matte with a tad of sheen so they don't look as flat.

Personally, i'm not that keen on Creme Cup. It's a gorgeous colour but with my very light complexion it tends to wash me out. I do love to mix it with other lipsticks though.

Next up is Angel. This is the perfect soft pink shade, even though it is pretty dark I find. It's a frost finish which makes it pretty shimmery and the colour pay-off is still pretty good. Some frost lipsticks can be very shimmery though, so i'd suggest swatching them in-store before purchasing rather than online.

Viva Glam Gaga is a baby pink lustre lipstick. It's a sheer coverage but because of the lightness of the pink I personally think that's a good thing otherwise it would be too over-powering. The finish is glossy and the pink inside packaging is to DIE for. Unfortunately this is no longer available to purchase.

Nouvelle Vouge was a limited edition and was a matte. This lipstick is pretty dring but very opaque and lasts ages. Because you can't buy it I wont go into too much detail apart from the fact that I really like it.

I really need to invest in other orange shades as personally I think they suit me. I've absolutely fell in love with Vegas Volt! It's a gorgeous orange described as 'fill power coral' on the website. It's so creamy and glides on with a gorgeous opaque colour pay-off.

Heroine is a new buy for me, but with my love of purple lipsticks was a must purchase! I've only wore it once and I think its amazing. If you love purple but don't want to go too daring stay away from Heroine and get something more like Up The Amp. Heroine is a matte formula and is totally gorgeous.

Rebel is super popular and I completely understand why. The colour is a gorgeous mid-tone plum and in my favourite finish, satin. The colour pay-off is opaque and creamy with a slight sheen to it.

The last of my swatches is of the cremesheen Hang-Up. This is a new buy and I havnt used it before but one of the girls at M.A.C was wearing it and I instantly fell in love.

Next, i'm going to talk about my beloved 'Up The Amp' (the poor one in the tub!). Sadly, my mum stuck it in the wash with my jacket and it got ruined so I de-potted it into an edible glitter tub. 'Up The Amp' is an amplified formula which means that it has an opaque coverage with a vivid colour pay off but isn't drying at all. It's described on the website as a 'lavender violet' which i'd agree with very much. I honestly love this colour and if you're not afraid to wear purples, I highly recommend it.

Lastly, I'll talk about my VIVA GLAM keepsakes palette. This was a Christmas edition and I don't believe you can still buy it but you can purchase every colour individually at £15.50 and that goes towards M.A.C's aids fund. I love the variety of this palette as it's perfect for on the go and contains some gorgeous nudes and it's perfect to mix the colours to create your own custom colour.

Overall, being priced at £15.50 make's them moderately affordable and I think that they're worth the money and the hype. The colour selection covers EVERYTHING and they have a finish to suit everyone. They're my favourite lipsticks around and they smell like vanilla...they're good enough to eat!

Thanks for reading!
Char xo