YSL Black Opium

Yves Saint Laurent's Black Opium perfume is all the rage right now. I've already seen heaps of bloggers talking about it, and being in the market for a new perfume myself, decided to go and give it a sniff. BEST DECISION EVER.

Now I'm not great at describing scents, so ill keep it simple. It is described to have notes of black coffee, white florals and vanilla, with the floral being the strongest in my opinion, yet in no way is it heavy and overpowering. I personally can't really detect the hint of black coffee, but there is the subtle vanilla scent that makes this perfume wonderfully rich and inviting. I find it to be quite a seductive smelling perfume, yet still light enough to wear during the day (which I have been doing non stop since buying it!)

The packaging as I'm sure you'll agree is gorgeous; a black glittery bottle with a pink transparent circle through the centre to easily how much you have left. Even the box is lovely, again with black glitter and pale pink metallic edges, and sits on my desk looking beautiful.

The infamous Naked 2

So, suuuuuper late on the band-wagon here, but to be honest I'm not really one to be up to date with trends. You probably saw a million reviews on this palette when it first came out, so I won't bore you with the obvious details and heaps of swatches; google images has you covered there.

Instead I'll just throw it out there that I absolutely love this palette and have used it basically everyday since I bought it (£29 in the last FeelUnique sale, couldn't say no to that!) For someone like me who loves their taupe-y/cooler toned neutrals then this is such an amazing palette. Yes it is a slight shame that there are only 3 matte colours, but I have plenty of other eyeshadows that tie in with this colour scheme perfectly to broaden the combination possibilities.

I'll be doing looks using the Naked 2 in the near future, so stick around if you're interested in those! Have you tried this palette?

Quex Park & Powell-Cotten Museum

Yesterday Rory and I went down to Quex Park for a little day trip. I remember coming here years ago when I was little, but wanted to come back for the Powell-Cotten museum, which is several galleries full of stuffed animals that were hunted in Africa by the Powell-Cotten family in the early 1900's.

It's rather horrific when you actually think about it, seeing hundreds of poor animals that had been hunted, but if you switch your mind off you can appreciate all these wonderful creatures that you would never get to see this close. The animals are behind glass and all set up to look like they are interacting in the wild, which made for some nice pictures.

The house itself was beautiful, I absolutely adore visiting stately homes and think they are wonderful places, if only I were part of a old, wealthy family!

 

I made friends with the resident peacock, but unfortunately I couldn't convince him to get his tail out for me which I was actually pretty disappointed about. The gardens were beautiful too, with lots of greenhouses full of exotic plants and cacti. 

I treated myself to a cream tea in the cafe as they are my ultimate weak spot and kind of a tradition to have when I visit a place like this. I would recommend this as a day out to anyone as it really is a very interesting place to visit for both kids and adults, and is somewhere you will always remember! 

New in: Lipstick Haul

So recently I've been feeling a bit spendy, and may have accidentally made a few purchases, oops. I haven't been much of a lipstick wearer in the past, but I've recently been wanting to get into it more and dabble in some fun colours for summer.

My first purchase was inspired by Anna from Vivianna Does Makeup, who loves this lipstick I absolutely adored it every time I saw her wear it in a video. It is of course; MAC Patisserie. For me this is the perfect everyday nude/natural shade, which is almost identical to my natural lip colour, and helps to even out the tone and add a bit of shine. The colour payoff is quite sheer but that makes the lipstick so wearable, and is a lustre finish.

Next up is one that I have been dying to get my hands on ever since the 'Playland' collection's visual was released in America so many months ago. Toying Around, again from MAC, is a gorgeous vivid pinky-coral colour which is wonderfully opaque and glides onto the lips. Being an amplified finish the colour is very intense and is easily the brightest lipstick in my collection!

Last but not least is my first proper 'high-end' lipstick, which my lovely Dad bought for me. Yves Saint Laurent's Rouge Volupte Shine in Corail Intuitive 15 (quite the mouthful) is my first YSL product and I couldn't be more in love with it! It's a beautiful, sheer peachy coral with a gorgeous glossy finish that just looks amazing with every look I have worn it will so far. When paired with a similar coloured lipliner (I use Sleek's eau la la liner in Melba) it creates a much more opaque, intense look which is just as pretty.

L-R: MAC Patisserie, MAC Toying Around (LE) and YSL Rouge Volupte Shine in Corial Intuitive 

Okay we can all agree I suck at swatches, sorry about that guys.

MAC Patisserie

MAC Toying Around (after about 8 hours wear mind you, stays on like a dream)

YSL Rouge Volupte Shine in Corial Intuitive 15 (paired with Sleek Melba liner)

What lipsticks will be your summer staples?

NOTD: Tropical Water

This nail combination is one of my all time favourites! Nothing like a good glittery turquoise to brighten up your day! This combination is perfect for summer, reflecting the lovely blues of the sky and the sea (if you're lucky enough to be near the sea) but is one that I love wearing all year round.

Sorry the photos for this post are pretty rubbish, took them in the last few minutes before I had to rush out!

As usual I used the Collection 2 in 1 Strengthener and Hardener as a base, Sinful Colors Aqua as the main colour then finished off with Barry M Aqua Glitter to add the sparkles. 

What's your favourite summer nail combo?

Swarovski by Shourouk Necklace

Lets just take a deep breath and have a moment to appreciate how beautiful this piece is. Done? Okay,  let me tell you some more about it! Now I'm not usually one to buy myself to expensive jewellery, but the other week my mum, sister and I visited Ashford Designer Outlet Centre. Swarovski was the first shop we went in and I instantly fell in love, so promised myself that if I didn't spend too much elsewhere that I would treat myself to it. 

After walking for bloody miles round the other shops, I had only made one small purchase (a sports bottle from Nike, nothing exciting!) and so headed back to claim my new love. I seriously love traditional/vintage looking jewellery, and this necklace was right up my street. This piece is part of the collection called 'Swarovski by Shourouk', which is engraved on the back of the pendant. It's quite a short chain which I like, as sits nicely on my chest above the cleavage line so will usually be visible above clothing.

 Having just looked on the website I don't believe that they sell it anymore, which would make sense with it being sold at the outlet store. This baby was an absolute steal, and was £40 reduced from £80! It's obviously something to whip out for nice occasions, so now I just need the excuse to wear it.

What's your favourite style of jewellery? Let me know in the comments!

Everyday Makeup

Here we have a peak at what I would slap on my face on a day to day basis. Most days I tend to not wear make up as I don't leave the house, but when I do have to make a special appearance to the outside world, this is what makes my appearance less horrifying!

First I'll start out by moisturising my face with NIP+FAB Day Cream, which is just something nice and light that absorbs into the skin nice and quickly. This will be followed by massaging in a small amount of Rimmel Fix&Perfect primer in 002 to my t-zone, and allowing that to sink in too. Next up is Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in Light 2 (the shade names have been changed since I purchased my tube) to combat those ever-lasting dark circles, with a small amount dabbed in with my ring finger. The star of the show here is bareMinerals Original Foundation in Fairly Light, a review of which can be found *here*, which is continuing to impress me and will be my go-to foundation for the near future. Next we move to brows, where I fill in the little bald patch I have in my right eyebrow then even out their shape with Rimmel Professional Eyebrow Pencil in Black Brown. Lastly is mascara, of which I am currently using Max Factor Wild Mega Volume. I don't particularly rate this mascara, I'm just trying the finish off the tube as soon as I can so can go back to one that I really enjoy.

So that's everything for my usual routine, if I fancy it sometimes I'll apply a contour and blush, but usually I just still to the products shown.

How many products are in your everyday make up look? Let me know!

Tattoo

Hello there my lovelies! Most of you probably hadn't noticed, but I haven't posted anything on here in a long time *slaps hand*. Uni Work and general life was on top of me and I naughtily let this blog take a back seat. But I now have much more time on my hands so will hopefully be back open for business here on Little Grey Fox!

A slightly different post than usual today, as I have had my tattoo for a year and a month! (should have made this post on the year date, would have made much sense but oh well.) The time has flown by and I can't believe that it has been on my body for over a year already. The top image was taken a week after having it done, and the second photo taken today.

So, time for a little back story I guess. My Dad's birthday and mine are 5 days apart and last year we both hit significant numbers, I turned 18 and he turned 50, so we decided to mark the occasion with something we had both wanted and thought about for a long time; getting a tattoo. It was a first for both of us, and I'm so glad that we got to share the experience with each other. My Dad has loved The Lord of the Ring's his whole life, and since a very young age I too have loved the stories, so we thought both getting something inspired by the books would be something we both liked, as well as having a link between the two of us.

I hope no one gets offended by the side-boob, is just that if I wore a bra/bikini top some of the tattoo would get covered up!

'Not all those who wander are lost' is an excerpt of a poem from J.R.R Tolkien's book The Fellowship of the Ring. To me, it means that even though I have no strong plans or goals for the future, it doesn't mean that I will amount to nothing and be a failure. I was originally going to get the whole passage down my ribs, but later decided that it would be far too expensive and far too painful for myself who is a pain-and-needle-phobe! The font is a Tolkien inspired one that I had done a lot of research into, and it came out better than I could have imagined. The session took just over an hour and while it did hurt, I found it bare able, which is saying something as it hurts if someone even pokes me (yes I know I'm a wuss!) The artist was so lovely and very gentle with me as he could tell how scared I was about getting it done, and he, my Dad and I chatted the whole time,which made the whole process much more relaxing. There was no after pain, bleeding our peeling, and my skins recovery time was ridiculously fast.

Over a year on I am still so in love with it, and will be visiting the same tattoo shop soon in order to get a quote for my second tattoo, which will be another line from the same poem that this one is from, I can't wait!

FOTD: Pastel Pink

So you may have seen my previous post in which I mention MAC's Pink Plaid lipstick (if not go have a browse here) so thought I would do a simple little spring-esque looking using it. 

I kept everything light and simple in order to achieve that fresh, glowing skin that we all desire around this time of the year.  I applied my base as usual then skipped the contour and blush to keep it, as I already said, simple. I popped some of Topshop's Glow highlighter in polished onto my lids, but a very thin layer so as to prevent it creasing and leaving that undesirable white line. Due to being pale, this doesn't show up too strongly on me, but instead gives a pretty sheen when it catches the light. For mascara I applied one thin coat, so as to be just enough to give my lashes some definition. To finish I of course used Pink Plaid on the lips, which is the main focus of this very easy look. 

Products Used:

Collection Lasting Perfection concealer - Light

bareMinerals Original foundation - Fairly Light

Rimmel Professional Eyebrow pencil - Black Brown

Max Factor Wild Mega Volume Mascara - Black

Topshop Glow - Polished

MAC lipstick - Pink Plaid

Spring Pinks

So this post is a combination of potential lipsticks that I will be wearing during the spring time, and some dupes for MAC's ever so lovely Pink Plaid. I'm not a huge wearer of pink lipstick, but it appears that my favoured shade is that of dusty rose tones, hence why I have some pretty good duplicates. 

In the bullet the lipsticks appear to vary quite a bit in colour, but once applied they simmer down to very similar hues. All are lovely creamy formulas that apply nicely onto the lips, with Pink Plaid outlasting the other two (which is to be expected for the price!)

(L-R) MAC Pink Plaid, ELF Classy and NYX Paris

Here you can see just how alike these lipsticks are, with slight variations in shade. Pink Plaid is more of a cool pastel-y pink with slight purple undertones, Classy is a tad more vibrant and bubblegum pink whilst Paris is closer to that wonderful dusty rose colour.

Pink Plaid retails for £15, Elf Classy for £1.94 and NYX Paris for £4, so these dupes are very friendly on the purse!

bareMinerals Original Foundation Sample

Sweet baby Jesus. Let me warn you now, in this review I'm going to do nothing but sing praises for bareMinerals Original loose foundation. I recently picked up my free sample from my local bareMinerals counter, using a voucher that I received by liking their Facebook page. If you're interested in getting your hands on one, click here and followed the instructions, offer ends 30th April!

I received my sample in the shade 'Fairly light', which I believe is their lightest neutral-to-yellow toned colour, and also the most adorable little kabuki brush in which to apply it. Having never used mineral makeup before I wasn't totally sure how to apply it, but the little booklet provided instructed me to swirl some of the product into the lid, tap away the excess then buff into the skin; easy stuff. Having moisturised my face, I proceeded to apply the foundation without a primer so that I was able to have an accurate feel of how it worked and looked as the day progressed. Even though the brush stand at around 2 inches tall, it did a great job of applying the foundation and found the application took much faster than I originally thought.

I usually wear liquid or cream foundations, my favourite of which is MAC Studio Sculpt foundation in NC15, then set with the Studio Fix powder. While this achieves a nice enough finish, I find that it just doesn't last that well throughout the day, even when used with a setting spray. Another thing that I find with all my foundations is that they settle into my pores, regardless of the primer I use, and seem to start breaking up on my skin in areas like my eyes, laugh lines and round my nose. The bareMinerals Original loose foundation did none of this. While my pores were still slightly visible (which is expected as they're about the size of pound coins) it did not accentuate them, and even after wearing for 12 hours the foundation did not settle into them. For me, the finish is phenomenal. No other word for it. The foundation claims to give a luminous finish, which it certainly does no doubt about it. However for me it is slightly too glowy, which is perhaps my only minor complaint, but this was easily fixed by dusting a very light of MAC Studio Fix powder over the top.

I have extremely dark freckles across my nose and cheeks, and while there are those who accept/love freckles, I hate mine with an absolute passion. Nothing I have ever used can cover them up unless I pile on about an inch of product, which lets face it isn't cool, but this mineral foundation not only lightened them considerably (see pictures below) but completely evened out my complexion and still managed to look like a second skin, even after a second layer being applied in my problem areas.

Twice now I have worn it for period of about 12 hours and it has lasted amazingly, especially as it claims to have an 8 hour staying ability. In fairness I did I have to make one or two touch ups throughout the day just to tone down the natural luminosity of the foundation, but that is down to personal preference rather than the performance of the product itself. I even wore it to the gym once (an accident rather than on purpose, I hate wearing make up to the gym and think its pointless) and it lasted perfectly throughout my long and dare I say sweaty workout. 

This is how the foundation looks in natural light; I'm standing right in front of a large window here so that the lighting is nice and even. I decided to put these images in straight from the camera, so that no post production, even the slightest, would alter how this foundation photographs. It has come out slightly warmer than it looks in reality, I am a little bit more neutral than the colour you see here, but its the finish that really matters. In both images, I am wearing nothing but the foundation on my face, so that nothing distracts away from my skin.

Here I have used my camera's inbuilt flash, which has lead to a very colour accurate image. Even with the SPF of 15 and Titanium Dioxide present in the formulation, no flash back has occurred! This may vary slighting depending on the intensity of the flash e.g. from a flash gun or harsh studio lighting, but I think I am pretty confident in saying that even in these cases it would not be drastic.

I am so impressed with this foundation and how it has worked on my skin that I think a purchased of the full sized product is inevitable in the near future. I already have a vast foundation collection, which is what's holding me back, but have nothing similar to this as all the others are liquid or cream foundations. Also at a price point of £25 and being a poor student, it seems hardly justified, though just yesterday I was lucky enough to stumble across it on Feel Unique for £19.95! *link* Using that logic and from seeing the results I really can't deny myself such a wonderful product, now isn't that a shame!

This has turned out to be a rather long review! Sorry for rambling on, I just wanted to let everyone know how great this product is, specially if you're a freckled girl like me in desperate need of finding something that works.

Have any of you tried this foundation? What are your thoughts on it? Let me know!

NOTD: Sparkling Lavender

Now that it is officially spring I have found the need to whip out the lighter and more refreshing colours from my nail varnish collection. Yes, I know pastel purple is such a stereotypical shade, but it is one that I haven't worn in a very long time, as my girly-er shades tend to get shoved to the back of the shelf. So this won' t be a very long, interesting post, just thought I would share what's currently going down on my nails.

As a base I used the Collection 2 in 1 Strengthener and Hardener, followed by two coats of Barry M Berry Ice Cream and then finished with a generous coat of Models Own Jack Frost, which is hands down my favourite glitter top coat (which is a pretty prestigious position as I do love my glitter polishes!)

What's your favourite glitter top coat?

Forever 21 Haul

I know spring had barely sprung, but I have already made my first summery purchases of the year! I had a free shipping and 10% off code from Forever 21, so of course couldn't pass up the opportunity to bring some colour into my monochromatic wardrobe.

Black Floral Crop Top // £6.50 *link*

I seem to really be loving floral print at the moment, and loved the cute detailing at the back of this crop top. It does show the back strap of bras, but my long hair will cover that nicely, or would look really nice with a cute bandeau underneath.

Cream Floral Crop Top // £5.50 *link*

Another flowery crop top, this time something lighter as I only seems to have dark colours in my wardrobe, so I am surprised that my inner vampire liked this one. I do have a weak spot for roses, so that may be why!

Crocheted Cutie Shorts // £10.50 *link*

I couldn't keep the black at bay completely, but managed to keep things a bit girly with the lace detailing at the bottom. These are really light and loose, so will be really comfy and cool in the summer (fingers crossed that we do eventually get some warm weather!)

Tropical Frond Knit Shorts // £7.25 *no longer available*

My favourite item from the bunch, I absolutely adore these shorts and cannot wait till its warm enough to wear them! Something that I never thought I would like in a million years, yet they look great on and will definitely be well worn in the summer.

Mint Ankle Length Leggings // £3 *link*
Having a legging collection comprising of 95% black, with one grey and one burgundy pair thrown in, I thought it was time to splash some colour in that department too. These are really nice quality, completely opaque and nicely stretchy.

I wanted to do some outfit photographs to show what these pieces look like on, but the weather has been so awful that I haven't been able to venture outside, and its been so dark that pictures don't look too great, especially to compliment these summer items!

What clothing items are you looking to purchase for the summer?

Food Heaven

So for the last week and a bit I have been staying with my boyfriend at his uni, and whenever we are together we just love to have takeaways and eat bad food, its kind of tradition. This is why I haven't made any posts as I don't have many beauty products here with me! So instead I hope you have fun drooling over this food porn. 

Above is the bacon burger I had from Five Guys, complete with lettuce, onion, tomato and green pepper. Holy Cow. If you haven't been to a Five Guys then you better get your ass down there sharpish! This is hands down the most amazing burger I have ever had in my life. Ever. The only downside is the price, as it cost a staggering £8! Yes you read that correctly! It is so worth it though, as I'm not one to spend without good cause and have already been back for my second pile of goodness.

Some good old chicken chow mien, which I also had with a serving of beef in black bean sauce and of course some prawn crackers.

Someone then recommended an Italian dessert bar called Creams, so of course we had to go and check it out! Rory (le boyfriend) and I can handle our fast food pretty damn well, so we went in there expecting to be able to demolish half the menu no problem. I had the chocolate and strawberry waffle and he had the m&m one, and these monster where the size of dinner plates. The serving of toppings were insanely generous, and dear lord were they filling! I shamefully couldn't eat all of mine and required some help to clear the plate! It was insanely tasty thug, so we will definitely be making another trip there next time I am over.

I hope I haven't made you too hungry! What's your favourite takeaway/place to eat out?