Playing with fire, red eyeshadows

After seeing Chanel’s le rouge collection No.1 everywhere, I realised the eyeshadow quad Candeur et experience looked awfully similar to a five eyeshadow palette that I already owned for the fraction of the price; Rimmel London’s five pan eyeshadow in Brixton Brown.The main difference between them being the Rimmel palette consists of mainly shimmery shades whereas the Chanel quad is all matte, but the colours themselves are very similar.

Here’s my favourite way to use this little palette:

I chose to do my eyes first as these shadows have slight fall out. I took the matte grey brown shade in my crease and then using the bottom left shade, a gorgeous dark browny red, I added this to the outside corner of my eyes. I took time to blend the shadows thoroughly with a fluffy brush. I packed the pale shimmery shade all over my lid using a flat eyeshadow brush, stopping when I reached the dark shade on the outer corner. Now time for my favourite part, the red! This colour is a beautiful coppery red. I packed this onto the centre of my lid, over the top of the pale shimmer. I made sure that these two shimmery shades were kept below the crease. Finally, I used the darkest shade in the palette on an angled brush to create a soft wing.

I finished the rest of my face makeup before going in with the pale grey brown shade on my lower lash line. I added some depth to the outer corners with the darkest shade and blended them together. I highlighted my inner corners with the pale shimmery shade. Curled my lashes, added mascara and I was done. I paired this look with a nude lip, Topshop lipstick in Nevada.

Here I am playing with autumnal colours and its 26 degrees outside. But I love this little Rimmel eyeshadow palette and the red was calling out to me.

Do you have any good dupes for the new Chanel collection? What is your favourite way to wear these eyeshadows?

Meg x 

Flower of the Month

Japanese Anemone has been my favourite flower this month. It makes a lovely plant to have in the garden but they are also stunning in floral arrangements. They look beautiful through all stages of flowering. From the rounded bud to the delicate full bloom through to the ball left when the petals have dropped.

There are many different varieties of the Japanese Anemone that come in white and varying shades of pink. My personal favourite are the Honorine Jobert variety. The bright yellow stamens contrast the pure white petals that surround them. They grow up to 75cm tall, making them a perfect stand out plant in your garden, grouping them on their own or mixed in with other plants. The height is also why I love them as a cut flower; no restrictions on what I can do with them!

Just beautiful!!

Do you have a flower that you’ve been loving this month?

Meg x 

My Breakfast Smoothie

Being a florist, some mornings I have to be out the house super early, therefore any extra minutes that I can get in bed are happily invited. But unfortunately I’m not one of these people who can skip on breakfast, especially if I am busy at work. So this would mean choosing between eating breakfast or putting concealer and mascara on; a choice I never want to make!

I have found that making a breakfast smoothie that I can take on the go is the perfect solution. Taking about five minutes to make, being super filling, and tasting so good, this smoothie is my saviour! Slight exaggeration, but it is really handy.

Using my blending machine at 4 o’clock in the morning wouldn’t go down so well with the parents, so make it the night before and store it in the fridge overnight. Just don’t walk out the house in your sleepy state, forgetting to pick it up!

 

So what’s in it, you ask?

250 ml of almond milk

I like Alpro almond original

2-3 dessert spoons of fat free vanilla yogurt

I chose Yeo Valley 0% fat vanilla yogurt

1 chopped banana

½ cup of porridge oats

½ cup of frozen blueberries

Squeeze of runny honey

I just use cheapest one at Sainsbury’s

This makes a pretty decent sized smoothie, filling a third of the blender cup which I just put the lid on and take with me. Drinking this throughout the morning keeps me feeling full until lunch, which is often after three. The banana and porridge oats are the two ingredients that mainly fill me up, the others are just to make it creamy and taste amazing.

Hope you give this recipe a go, let me know of any good breakfast smoothie recipes that you love!

Meg x