Kirstie's Beauty Buys Of The Week #2

I first did a BBOTW post back in June and had a great response to it so after buying a few new bits over the past week or so I thought I would go ahead and do another one!

Everything in this post was actually bought from Boots (minus Glamour), I am obsessed with the all the deals they always have on, I am all about saving money and if there is a way for me to get some discount on something I am all for it!

Now, I used to have a serious serious addiction to magazines. I am not kidding I would buy at least 6 a week. It was bad. But a good few years ago now I realised that I didn't actually read them all cover to cover and actually I knew alot of the stuff in them already because of the internet (I spend quite alot of time on here ya know!)

That being said I'm not saying I never buy them! I love curling up with a magazine and looking at the beauty  the fashion, he bargains and the interviews!

So each month I normally pick just 1 or 2 of the monthly magazines! This month it is Glamour. I am such a fan of Glamour, I first started reading it years ago when I used to steal my Mum's (who is also a known magazine buyer/hoarder like myself) and seeing as it as just £1 I couldn't say no! 

This issue is really thick and I know it's the sort of thing that I'll be able to pick up throughout the whole month and still have something to read in it! Not to mention the gorgeous Nicole on the front and an awesome free sample of Rimmel's new foundation that I've been dying to try before I purchase!

Since I found out about this new product from Real Techniques I have been waiting and waiting for it to be released.

 So as soon I saw it had popped up in my local Boots store I didn't even pause to consider and I flung it straight into my basket! So far I have only tried out one of the eBay cheap beauty blenders which cost me about a £1 and even though it wasn't bad I can already see and feel this is going to be a million times better!

 It is so so soft and after trying it out with both some of my new CC cream and my True Match foundation I can see how much better the quality is! It gives such a lovely flawless finish and I may have to jack in my brushes for a bit while I'm totally in love with this! For £5.99 I am really happy with this purchase!

Autumn is officially here (well where I live anyways.. Brrr!) so it's that time of year here lips start to become extra dry and chapped! *Queue the thousands of lip balms and butters I will be hoarding over the next few months!*

 This is one of the lip butters from Nivea and this isn't my first. I first mentioned these in my July favourites post after buying the Vanilla and Macadamia version and falling head over heels for it. These lip butters are just as good if not better for your lips as vaseline and they all smell so incredible (which is what drew me to them in the first place!) You won't get bored of putting these on to help soothe your lips, in fact you may become addicted!

Like I just said, Autumn is here and along with the changing of bare legs to tights and t-shirts to jumpers comes the changing of nail and make-up shades.

 I'm not saying that I completely ditch my bright corals and pinks over the Autumn and winter period but it is the perfect time to get out those deep, warm, rich colours from your make-up collection and rock the sultry,vampy look! 

I've always been a bit of a wimp when it comes to really really dark colours as I thought they never suited me. But over the last year or so I've slowly been teaching myself to come out of my wimpy shell and try and rock as many different shades as possible!

This had lead me to this - Barry M's Lip Paint in shade 156.  This is a gorgeous deep purple shade and I thought it would be perfect for the up coming months! I think the swatch actually looks a little lighter on my arm than it will on my lips and I am actually a little annoyed at myself that I didn't include a lip swatch - sorry girls and guys! I cannot wait to try this out on a night out, I'm thinking of wearing it with a really simple eye, maybe just fake lashes and no shadow! Have any of you got this shade?

I mentioned in a previous post this week how much I am loving Seventeen's products at the moment. They are normally a brand I will overlook and not really bother looking at as I would rather stick to the stuff from brands like Rimmel and Barry M which I know I love. But recently I have been so pleasantly surprised with the stuff I have bought from them and have a long list of products from their range that I want/need to add to my collection!

This is their new CC Cream which retails for £6.99. I have been wanting to try out a CC Cream for a while now as I love the thought of all the redness and fatigue vanishing off my face!

 I have been looking at so many in all the drugstores and once I saw this one I knew it was the one. This is literally as good as my True Match foundation which I use everyday, I love full coverage and a matte finish and this does it all! I was worried a CC Cream may have left me a little shiny but this stuff is fantastic. I bought the shade medium, although with it coming to the cloudy/rainy part of the year now I'm thinking I probably should have bought the light, so I may have to invest in that one too! 

Lastly it is a repurchase. The Eylure Naturalites false eyelashes in 107 are my go-to lashes every single time. 

Now and again I will stray to the 101's but 107's are my ultimate favourites. If you ever see a photo of me and I am wearing fake lashes 99 times out of 100 it will be these! I get through so so many pairs and it seems silly to always be forking out for them but I love them so I just don't mind spending the money!

My natural eyelashes are so short and I am alwasy moaning about them so when I am doing a full-face of make-up with eyeshadows etc (normally for a night out or big event like Bestival) I always like to complete my look with a pair of these!

Now the reason these are in my beauty buys of the week this time is because they were, of course, on offer! All make-up & make-up accessories are BOGOHP at the moment AND these packs of 107's have a FREE extra pair in them! Meaning that instead of paying £21.40 for 4 pairs of these I only pay £8.02 - basically only £2 a pair! That will keep me going for a while!

What have you bought recently that you have been loving? Have you bought any of these?

Deborah Milano Natural Blush - 01 Chocolate

Now you all know I'm just really a blush fan, for some reason I've never really liked the look of it on me. It may be because when I was younger I always used to have red cheeks and hated it!
So... I always like to go for a brown/coral toned blush if there is one instead of a pinky shade! So when I saw Deborah Milano had a "chocolate" coloured blush I thought perfect! I am the bronzer queen - I love them.
I first encounered Deborah Milano a few months ago and did a post on a lovely lip colour - you can read it here.

First of all I love this packaging, the shape is so cute and unique.. (sounds stupid but it really reminds me of those shells you skim along the water at the beach...) and it comes with a little brush too. I'm going to be honest here, I will probably never ever use this brush but it is great if you are on the go and really don't fancy carrying around your usual brushes, but for me I'd rather lug around my Real Techniques or Zoeva.

The love the shade of this bronzer it is pretty so wearable and would be perfect for a variety of different skintones. 
It is mostly a matte colour but there is a slight teeny weeny bit of shimmer in there - reminds me slightly of the "chocolate" bronzer from Bourjois (what a coincidence haha!)

A little bit of information straight from the Deborah Milano site - 

Natural Blush is enriched with precious gem dust: Amethyst,Mother-of-Pearl, Coral, Tourmaline, Amber, Jade and Ruby. Precious gems are bursting with the minerals and trace elements that skin needs, and are especially gentle on sensitive skin types.The unique formula blends flawlessly into skin, leaving a luminous, matte finish that lasts and lasts.

For only £6.90 I think this is great value for money! Deborah Milano have such lovely products and if you haven't tried any yet I really do recommend them!

What are your favourite bronzers? I have so many I struggle to choose one to wear in the morning!

(***Disclaimer : This product was kindly sent to me by the lovely people at Deborah Milano. All thoughts, opinions and ideas are always my own and I would never include an item or product on A Yellow Brick Blog that I didn't truly believe in.)

SEVENTEEN Skin Wow! 3 Way Highlighter

I'm back! Well.... To be fair I haven't really been gone but I feel like I haven't properly blogged in forever! (Reading back my last two posts I'm horrified at my crap writing and awful sentence structure.... I do apologise I have been extremely tired!)

 In the last 10 days I've moved house, gone to Bestival and when I haven't been getting drunk in a field or building a dressing table I've been working full-time - life has been busy!

But I've vowed to myself to keep up the blogging as I have soooo many posts in my head that I need to get into my laptop and onto the Internet!

Today's post is a beauty post! ('Yayyy' I hear you all cheer!) And it is all about a new highlighter that I have fallen completely and utterly in love with -
Seventeen Skin Wow! 3 Way Highlighter. (I just wanna say sorry about the bad quality of my photos today - lightning in my new place is apparently not on my side!)

I spotted this a good few days ago and as soon as I saw the name it drew me in!
I am such fan of highlighters and I love finding new ones to try out, the dewy/glowing skin look is my favourite - I die with jealously everytime I watch Tanya Burr's videos - seriously how does your skin glow like that Tan? Amazing.

This is one of the new products from Seventeen who I have to say I am LOVING at the moment. They are on top form with their new prime and conceal range and this particular product is called the Skin Wow! 3 way Highlighter.

The first thing I love about this product is the fact it is in a pump bottle, I do not own any other highlighters that are and I think it is the perfect way for distributing it.

It is called the 3 Way highlighter as it can be used in 3 different ways. (funny that eh?)
Perfect as a primer before your foundation, just blend a small bit all over your face after moisturising  - this will give your face a gorgeous radiant base!

Secondly, you can mix a small bit up with your foundation and put it on together - again and fabulous way to go from drab to fab in seconds!
And... my personal favourite - using it simply as a highlight, only putting it on certain areas of my face such as my cheek bones and brow bones. I alwasys do this after I have applied my foundation and before I apply bronzer! It gives my skin such a pretty and natural glow.

I would definitely compare this stuff to High Beam from Benefit (a personal favourite product of mine that I have used for years and years) it's pearly pinkish iridescent colour is so so similar and I think it works just aswell!

Just one pump is enough and probably even too much for one use but it is so easy to adjust how much you use at one time (the second photo is probably only about a 1/4 of a pump!) ! I personally think this bottle will last me ages and for the price of only £5.99 it is such a bargain compared to other similar highlighters out there!

Do you use highlighters? What are your favourites? Any bargains out there?

The BEST Festival - BESTIVAL

If you haven't heard of Bestival... where have you been?! This year was the 10 year anniversary and one of the best line ups yet!
If you've read my blog before then you know that I actually live on the Isle Of Wight (where Bestival is held) so obviously each year me & all my friends get seriously excited as soon as September begins! 
This year, firstly, I need to say a HUGE thank you to Schuh, who, on twitter, randomly found me and GAVE me and one of my best friends a ticket each for no reason at all and just as "a random act of kindness" - I am still in shock, made my year.
Bestival is a fancy dress festival and on the Saturday thousands and thousands of people dress up to the theme - this years theme was HMS Bestival and not only did everyone get involved and look amazing but there was an actual ship on site which was turned into a stage!

My weekend was amazing , highlights included -me and my friends all dressing up as fish in green sequin dresses, one of my best friends surprising us by coming home from her season in Greece early to party with us (an amazing reunion), a motorbike stunt sh0w called the Wall Of Death and watching Elton John live!
Here's a few photos I took over the weekend .....

Top to Bottom -

A massive thank you to Schuh!

Finally sat down after a morning of tent building.

Rocking out in Wagamama's Thursday night.

Exploring the campsites

I <3 Bestival Sign

Friday Morning - ready and raring.

Face Of The Day - Naked Palette, Eylure 107's & Big Bang Apocalips

The incredible Wall Of Death - best £3 I spent all weekend!

Playing musical bingo in the drag tent - my kind of party.

Daytime crowd

HMS Bestival

Me & My Fishys!

Completed hair and make-up

Swimming around Bestival

We tend to get a bit silly when we are together.

We found a member of Bastille in the crowd! (We think....)

Sunday afternoon taking in the view!

Watching THE Elton John!!!

 Have you been to any festivals this year?
What has been your favourite weekend this year so far?

New Family Member

If you follow me on twitter or instagram you probably know already that..... I got a puppy! Well my family got a puppy, he is an 8 week old Springer Spaniel and his name is Bauer (named after Jack Bauer from 24... of course!)

So I thought I would do a little life update and really quick post and include some photos of him on here because... well... he is so darn cute! I am literally obsessed with him!

I'm very sorry if you aren't a dog person....

Have you got any pets? Tweet me photos of them! :)

August Favourites

Another 31 days, another 4 weeks, another month down.
 Can you BELIEVE it is September?!?
Is it bad that I love it - I love the build up to Winter because... winter is my favourite season! (waiting for people to look at me in disappointment - sorry kids!)

Anyway August has been both a good and a busy one and September looks to be even crazier! I'm moving out of my house for the first time.. TODAY and I'm off to Bestival on Thursday - it is all go go go!
Anyway back to August and my favourites of the month...

Yes, this is the "wash bag" from Ted Baker,but looking at the size of the Make-up bags from them though I knew they would not be big enough for the likes of my daily face so I thought I'd get the washbag where I knew everything would fit!
I bought this from ASOS and it was £25. I love French Bulldogs. Like, alot. If I see one it makes me want to cry and my number 1 aim in life is to be a French Bulldog owner (I even have names picked out already..... am I sad?) but anyway.... this pattern is perfect for me! So so cute! 

Now... if you have been reading my blog for a while you know that in last month's favourites I raved about Soap & Glory's Sugar Crush Body Buttercream. The smell is just so incredible (if you want a description head over to that post) and at the end of that post I said "I cannot wait to get the body wash aswell!" ... Well guess what came back into stock! And with it being 3 for 2 I grabbed 3 while I could! They are £6.50 each, which in fairness for a bodywash is a little expensive but the smell is just amazing and they are so creamy and moisturising I can't imagine using anything else now! 10/10!

I love Taylor Swift, you should know this by now, and I own all of her perfumes. (I am not ashamed, I have an obsession with country music and I think she is so talented.) Her first perfume Wonderstruck I actually bought when I was travelling in the US as it wasn't out in the UK yet and is probably my favourite perfume of all time - big statement there.
 So when she bought out another new perfume a few months ago - Taylor by Taylor Swift - I knew I had to have it! But with me trying to be sensible with money I have been putting off splashing out for it but this month I just thought why not? My local Superdrug only had a 30ml so that's what I settled for and it was only £22, barry bargain!
I love love love this scent, alot more than the second perfume, "Wonderstruck Enchanted" as it is alot sweeter and I actually really recognise the scent but can't work out what it smells like! Nice work T-Swizzle!

My Zoeva brushes HAVE to be in my favourites for this month. I did a whole post on them so I won't bore you again with everything but you can read that here if you want to find out more! But they are just such good quality and I have been using them non-stop! Fabulous brushes!

I know I am a big slow with the up-take on this one but I am loving the Garnier 5 sec Perfect Blur Smoothing Perfecting Primer. Yes this has been out for a good while now and I have been meaning to pick it up for months but for some reason every time I always thought "I'll get it next time" But when it was down to about £8.65 or something on promotion I snapped it up and I am so glad I did! 
This stuff is awesome, primers are something I switch up all the time and this one is brilliant! It leaves your skin so silky smooth and perfect for make-up application - I have used so much of this that I'll probably be buying a replacement real soon!

I'm just going to have to add Pretty Little Liars to my favourites this month. THAT finale was just amazing!
 I'm still sat here thinking about it! I have read a couple of the books and have been a loyal watcher/fan since the show started and I recommend it to everyone and anyone! Obviously I'm not going to write any spoilers but if you watched it too and are upto date you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about! Bring on October 22nd and the Halloween episode!

What have been your favourites this month?!