My Dressing Table & Makeup Storage

I've never been so excited to write a blog post as I am today! :) I love reading about other bloggers dressing tables and how they store their makeup (I also like to have a good nose at their makeup collections!) 

**I'll just put a little disclaimer here to say that yes, I have a lot of makeup but it's my hobby and my passion. I have built this collection up over about 4 years and unlike a lot of people in their twenties, I never go out drinking, I don't smoke and I rarely spend any money on clothes! I'm in no way showing off, I'm simply sharing my passion with the readers of my beauty blog.

I'd been wanting a dressing table for the past couple of years but I couldn't decide which one to get. I thought about a pretty, Venetian style table with a little drawer and a fancy little stool but it was just too impractical for me considering how much makeup I own! Then, about a year ago, I started seeing the Malm dressing table from Ikea pop up in blogs and on youtube videos, with bloggers and vloggers raving about the practical but stylish piece of furniture that could store a ton of products. I immediately knew it was the one for me, but I couldn't justify the splurge back then. Fast forward a year and the beautiful Malm is finally mine!

It's quite a simple design and I'm a sucker for anything white at the moment so that's the colour I chose (I believe you can get a black and pine version). It comes with a nice hefty pane of glass for the top which is much needed to make cleaning spillages easier :) but the main feature that I fell for was the huge drawer. It spans the length of the table, which is 120cm so pretty big! and I knew I could fit the majority of my makeup in there.

I tried to keep the top of the table reasonably clutter free but I wanted it to look pretty too :) 

On the left are my makeup brushes (excuse how messy they are! It's brush cleaning night tonight...), my face brushes are kept in a black and white polka dot box that I had lying around, the eye brushes are in a cute little pot decorated with large gems that I picked up in The Range about a year ago. In the middle of the dressing table I've got a small set of acrylic drawers from Homebase. They're called the Osco drawers and they come in various different sizes but I chose this one for £12.99. They're so handy to keep my 'everyday' products in. In the first drawer I've got some lip glosses I wear often, concealers and my Urban Decay Naked Basics palette. The middle drawer holds a couple of primers, my Elf brow kit, my mascara etc and the third holds my Eyeko skinny liner (which I featured in my recent favourites post here), a sharpener, my Seventeen heavy duty concealer and a couple of other essentials that I reach for every day. On top of the drawers I keep my beloved Soleil Tan de Chanel cream bronzer which I love and my current obsession - the Makeup For Ever HD powder. I also keep my samples of Benefit's Posie Tint and Cha Cha tint there too.

Next to the acrylic drawers are my 'everyday' lipsticks, so the ones I tend to reach for often and I keep them in an acrylic lipstick holder which I bought on ebay a while ago for £2. I also have my EOS vanilla lip balm handy - dry lips are a no no! :) My current day cream is next, the Decleor oil mattifying fluid as well as my trusty Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream. 

At last I now have a place for my No 7 mirror! I got this in Boots last summer when it was reduced to £15 and I love it :) I had the white wicker heart in my wardrobe doing nothing, so I tied it around the bottom of the mirror and I think it gives the dressing table another pretty touch. Unfortunately I can't remember where I bought it but I'm quite obsessed with hearts! I love buying any decorative hearts I can find. Finally I have my glass cake stand from Homebase (£7.99). Yes, cake stand! I thought it was the perfect thing to add a bit of glamour and I keep some special products on there, my MAC Fix Plus and my Motives 10 Years Younger - my two favourite setting sprays, my YSL Rouge Volupte lipstick in Opera Rose, Estee Lauder eyeshadow duo in 'Raisins', my Chanel lip palette, Guerlain bronzer, my Swarovski earrings, Lancome 'La belle est vie' perfume and my new Tanya Burr nail polishes (one of them is currently downstairs as I painted my nails last night). I have my beautiful Japonesque Safari brush set over there too because it's too pretty to keep in a drawer :)

Now for drawer...

I picked up a large cutlery holder from B&Q which takes up half of the drawer and houses my face products. The rest is organised into various boxes. 

From left to right - Foundations, primers and skin enhancers, correctors, more foundations and BB creams, face powders, blushes, highlighting powders, concealers, eyebrow pencils and mascaras. That's everything in the cutlery holder. Then there's bronzers, single eyeshadows, eye bases, MAC pigments, liquid liners, pencil liners, eye primers, lip liners, lip glosses, lipsticks, my Urban Decay Naked palettes, Stila In The Garden palette and my Z palette which contains MAC and Makeup Geek eyeshadows and finally at the back I keep my eyelash curlers (which I never use) and false lashes.

The only things I can't fit into the dressing table are my larger eyeshadow palettes and my Sleek palettes which I'm keeping on the floor under the table until I can think of a better home for them :) 

I hope you enjoyed reading about my gorgeous new dressing table! I can't stop looking at it and I'm so happy to finally have a good storage system for all of my products. 

MAC Blush in Desert Rose

On a trip to MAC back in December, I decided to splash out on a new blush. I don't own any other MAC blushes and in all honesty I'd gone in there with Melba a firm favourite in my head, but after swatching a few, I had a new favourite - Desert Rose. 

Having a beauty blog and reading other beauty blogs usually means I get swept into lusting after certain products (hence why I thought I wanted Melba) and I hadn't seen any posts about Desert Rose so it was completely unknown to me. But oh how underrated this little blush is! 

Desert Rose is a deep, rosy pink and it's completely matte. I have a fair few shimmery blushes so a matte blush is a lovely addition to my collection. This is the sort of colour I usually gravitate towards, it's natural, understated and compliments my skin tone. This is the kind of shade that will work on lots of different skin tones and it's a great everyday matte product. If I'm wearing quite shimmery eyeshadow, I like to balance things out by wearing this. 

The pigmentation is excellent as you can see in the photo above and I'm extremely glad I bought it. (Sorry if the packaging looks messy in the photos, it's been well loved the past couple of months!). 

Needless to say, this will not be my last MAC blush purchase, so if you have any recommendations then please leave them below :) 

MAC 'Desert Rose' Blush - £18.00 - Link

Current Favourites - Skincare, Makeup & Jewellery

On this rainy, cold Monday I needed some cheering up. And seeing as there's nothing I love more than rambling on about beauty products, I deemed it the perfect day to share my current favourites with you! 

I know most bloggers like to give a monthly update with regard to the products they've been loving, but sometimes I have the same favourites from month to month so I like to be a lot more casual and infrequent with these kind of posts. I have a selection of goodies that have really stood out over the past couple of months so let's get on with it...

Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette

I've posted a review on this which you can read here, so I won't say too much about it other than I haven't been able to put it down the past few weeks! I love the rose gold tones and as usual with UD eyeshadows, they're buttery soft and beautiful to apply. 

Biore Deep Cleansing Pore Strips 

I remember using these as a teenager! Biore has been around for donkey's years and their pore strips are still going strong. This box of six strips is super cheap and they still do the job all these years later. You apply a strip over your nose, wait about ten minutes, pull it off (can be an eye-watering experience..) and voila! Clear pores :) This really does pull all that built up grime out of your skin and as disgusting as this sounds, I get serious satisfaction out of inspecting the strip afterwards, I use one once a week and I can't see myself ever not using them. 

Antipodes 'Avocado Pear' Nourishing Night Cream

Bit of a tongue twister! This is my go to night cream at the moment and has been for the past month. It's packed full of goodness such as 100% pure avocado oil (restores skin cells), calendula oil (heals and repairs) and active manuka honey to smooth and moisten. I use an Antipodes cleanser too and I have to say I'm really impressed with the brand. The products feel lovely and natural on my skin and I love to use a thick night cream like this one to give my skin a good injection of moisture through the night.

Eyeko Skinny Liquid Liner

I'm not a huge eyeliner lover, it's not something I wear on a daily basis but when I do I've been reaching for this one more than others. With it's felt tip applicator, it's fool proof and glides onto the eyelid with no fuss and no mess. It's super black and opaque and I can really quickly wing my liner out with this. If you're looking for a good liquid liner, give this a go.

Seventeen Phwoarr Paint

This heavy duty concealer is flippin amazing stuff! I'll admit I wasn't expecting much as the brand is at the lower end of the price scale and I can't say I've ever heard many raves about it. But I stand corrected! I've been applying this every single day since I bought it to conceal any darkness around my eyes, I do get some purple-greyness in my inner corners but this seriously covers it! It's really thick and creamy but definitely not cakey and it doesn't budge. I opted for the shade medium as it has a salmon undertone which is perfect for getting rid of any dark circles.

Motives '10 Years Younger' Setting Spray

This stuff is the business. If you want your face to stay matte all day even if you have oily skin, buy this. You will not be disappointed. I've never found a setting spray that keeps my makeup in place like this does, everything stays put for an 8 hour work day and that's something to rejoice over! It's pricey as far as setting sprays go but I'd pay it five times over for this.

Statement Necklace from The Jewel Shack

I came across The Jewel Shack on facebook and immediately I fell in love. Anyone that knows me knows I'm obsessed with statement necklaces. I have far too many and I just can't stop buying them! The Jewel Shack has such glamorous, over the top designs and this particular necklace is my first and far from last purchase. It's called 'Bailey's Latte' and it's the perfect accessory to go with just about any outfit. Check them out if you love your statement jewellery! 

Maybelline 'Big Eyes' Mascara

The 'Big Eyes' Volum Express mascara is Maybelline's newest offering and I was pretty excited to pick this up. I actually saw this in my local Tesco when I was having a little browse and it originally caught my eye due to the fact it's double ended - one brush for your upper lashes and one for your lower lashes. On further inspection I got even more excited when I saw how tiny the lower lash brush was. 'Finally!' I thought, 'an alternative to my beloved Clinique Bottom Lash mascara!' I freaking love that mascara, it's absolutely perfect for hitting those bottom lashes, but at £11 a time (and it's a pretty small tube), it's just too pricey. So finding a drugstore dupe would be very convenient!

Upper Lashes 

The brush for your upper lashes is a bit of a unique one, with lots of different sized spikes (technical term!) it coats your lashes really well and separates beautifully. It definitely lengthens but I wouldn't say it thickens. All in all it's seriously good! I apply two coats but to be honest I could easily get away with one. 

Lower Lashes 

As I mentioned, this is a much smaller brush, designed to get right to the root of your lower lashes and reduce the risk of creating a big black mess under your eyes. The brush makes the application more precise but I found I had to apply two coats to get any kind of product payoff. One coat barely does anything. A slight disappointment but after a couple of coats, I'm good to go. 

I'm really happy to report that I had no under eye smudging with this little beauty either! That tends to be a problem I normally have with drugstore mascaras, but no panda eyes here :)

Two coats of Maybelline 'Big Eyes' mascara

All in all, this is definitely worth a try if, like me, you're a fan of dual ended mascaras. Who doesn't love a multi-purpose product? It's certainly worth £6.99 and you're basically getting two mascaras for the price of one.

My 'Wantable' Accessories Box

I've pretty much tried every monthly beauty subscription box in the UK. Some were good, some were awful and a couple of them I loved, but the main theme running through each of them was a box of samples sent to you every month. If you like samples, great! But it can get a bit tedious after a few months and to be honest I decided to spend that monthly amount on something I really wanted rather than a hit or miss box. But if there was a subscription service that offered full sized makeup products, nail polish or accessories I would be all over it. 

Cue Wantable! A US company offering three different subscription box options. Yes, three! A makeup box, an intimates (underwear, socks etc) box and an accessories box. The lovely people at Wantable were kind enough to send me one of each box just in time for their UK launch! I'm so pleased they're shipping to the UK because what they're offering is so unique and unlike anything we currently have over here. Yes, we have countless beauty boxes full of samples but trust me, Wantable are so much more than that.... 

I was asked to go to the website and fill in my personal profile, this is a list of questions which ultimately decipher what style of jewellery, beauty products etc. you prefer. Each question gave me the option to 'love', 'like' or 'dislike' something and once you've completed your profile you can rest assured that you'll never receive anything you've disliked. So if you don't like earrings, you'll never receive them. If you don't like bright lipsticks, you'll never receive them. You get the idea! This is something UK beauty boxes do not offer. Sure they might ask us to fill in a personal profile, but there's no guarantee we won't receive products we don't like.

Today I'm focussing on my favourite box of the three, the accessories box. Before mine arrived, I did a bit of googling and became seriously excited because the blog posts I read were amazing! Statement necklaces and scarves (both of which I'm entirely obsessed with), statement earrings and cool midi rings. These boxes seemed to be full of top quality, luxurious items that were bang on trend. Then my box arrived :)

I'm in love with it all. The leopard print scarf has gorgeous little silver studs and I've already worn it twice, a welcome addition to my collection. 

The earrings are beautiful and definitely something I'd pick out for myself, The grey multi faceted gems are so pretty and I wore them out on Valentines day :) 

My favourite item has to be the statement necklace. With coral, navy, turqouise and grey gems it's completely unique to anything I own. I'm a bit of a statement necklace fanatic so I was thrilled when I saw this in the box and I've had so many compliments when I've worn it. 

The three accessories combined are worth over $70 (£40) and considering the box costs $36 (£21.54) a month it's great value for money. I much prefer this concept to buying a beauty box full of little samples that I either won't use or can only use once due to the amount of product. These accessories are items I'll use over and over again and it just makes so much more sense. And another great service Wantable offer, is giving you a full refund if you're unhappy with your box! All you have to do is send your box back and you'll get your refund, no questions asked. Because your box is being sent from the US there are inevitably handling and tax fees (£8.49) which is a bit of a pain, but understandable.

If you fancy having a read about Wantable and signing up, head over to their website by clicking here for a browse, it's such a stylish site and super easy to navigate. 

Haircare Heros

I'm someone that's constantly on a quest to have that perfect, silky, shampoo commercial, amazing hair :) A hard task indeed! I've come to realise over the years that the products claiming to give you 'shine' and 'silky soft' locks are usually just coating your hair and basically creating short term results without really improving or benefiting it. This was never really a huge problem for me, as long as it's making it look nice then what's the problem, right? At least that's what I thought until I started noticing my hair becoming dull and weak. I guess repeated use of these shampoos, conditioners and masks that just coat my hair had taken their toll. 

I'd read about clarifying shampoos on various blogs and just general internet browsing but I never really thought it to be a necessary purchase until a few weeks ago. I came across the Moroccanoil Clarifying Shampoo on Feel Unique and thought ahh what the hell, let's give it a go! Clarifying shampoo is used to strip your hair of all the product build up. You're meant to use it once every couple of weeks to really give your hair a good cleanse and basically start with a nice, fresh base to apply your hair products.

When you first use this, it's quite a strange experience because it doesn't lather. At all. This then makes you automatically use more, then it still doesn't lather. But fear not, even though this isn't lathering up like your normal shampoo, it's still doing it's job! Try not to be tempted to add lots of this, a small amount (like you'd normally use with your everyday shampoo) is all you need to really clean your hair and breakdown all that built up product. Then use your conditioner as normal, heat protectant, hair dryer etc. 

After a few uses I'm really loving this. I can't compare it to any other clarifying shampoos because I haven't used any! But this really does leave my hair squeaky clean and soft! I'm hoping over time this will help put some strength back into my hair too. 

Another product I've been pretty addicted to is hair oil. I've tried quite a few (mainly drugstore) but I grabbed a small bottle of the Macadamia Healing Oil Treatment at on a recent trip to my hairdressers. I apply a small amount of this (about a 50p piece) to damp hair before I blow dry. I massage it into my mid lengths and ends (avoid roots!) and it immediately makes my hair feel super soft. Again I'm hoping this will help to strengthen my ends whilst keeping my hair lovely and soft, it's definitely a step I never miss in my hair washing routine! 

Clarifying shampoo and oil were never essential products for me, but strangely they've both become must haves! Do you have any haircare heros? Or have you tried either of these?

Moroccanoil Clarifying Shampoo - £18.45 - Link 

Macadamia Healing Oil Treatment - £11 (30ml) - Link

Just a side note - my Naked 3 palette giveaway is running until Wednesday, so make sure you've entered! It's a UK only giveaway. Click here to enter.

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My Motives Collection

I'm so excited to be posting this today! If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you may have come to realise that I'm now a distributor of the hugely successful American cosmetics brand, Motives by Loren Ridinger :)

Motives has only very recently become available here in the UK and I'm the very first distributor in the South West! Eeeek exciting stuff! 

If you have Instagram, have a look at #motivescosmetics and you'll truly be blown away by all the amazing makeup looks created using these top quality products! 

Motives is owned by American entrepreneur Loren Ridinger and is part of the huge corporation that is Market America. There's also a line within the brand called 'Motives for Lala' which is fronted by reality star Lala Anthony. The main focus for the brand is bringing 'beauty in every shade' so they cater for fairer skins right through to very dark skin tones, something for everyone! 

I'll say now that the quality of these products is outstanding. Definitely of a high end standard with an affordable price tag! I've wanted to find a makeup brand to sell for quite a while and I knew this was the one for me when I kept seeing it pop up on Instagram. As soon as it came to the UK I couldn't wait to sign up as a distributor! 

So let's get on to the exciting bit, all the pretty products...

Motives products shown - 

Pucker Up lip plumper in Diamond

 '10 years younger' setting spray

Perfecting face primer

7 piece brush set

Gel liner in 'Little Black Dress'

Eye base

Onyx mascara

Liquid Powder Mineral foundation

Bronzer in 'Miami Glow'

Blush in 'Lust'

Essential brow kit

Lipsticks in Natural, Ruby & Pink Sugar

Lala lipstick in 'Beso'

Lip shine in 'Radiant Glow'

Lala mineral lip shines in 'Soho Pink' and 'Gossip'

Eyeshadows in Cinnamon Spice, Fantasy, Creme Fresh & Cappuccino

I won't talk in depth about every single one as we'd be here all day! But I have some firm favourites so I'll give you the low down on those today and if you'd like a full review on any of the products shown then comment below :) 

Lala Mineral lip shine - 

Even in the photo they look stunning, but in person, they are just gorgeous! These are part of the Lala line and admittedly one of Motives best sellers. The shade range is fantastic... 

I only have two for the time being but believe me, I'm getting every single one! Soho Pink is a bright, hot pink with holographic glitter. Such a girly, barbie shade! Gossip is a deeper, plum toned pink which is more opaque and full of shimmer. 

Two absolute essentials are the 10 years younger setting spray and the perfecting face primer. 

The primer has that signature velvet feel once you apply it and creates the perfect base for your foundation. Combined with the setting spray my makeup does not budge all day. Seriously I've been using these everyday for work and my makeup is still in place by 5pm. Amazing! The spray seems to also keep shine at bay, which is normally unheard of for my skin! (My friend has bought Motive's other setting spray 'no more shine' and says it keeps her skin matte for hours). 

Whatever Motives are doing, they've got it spot on! The products WORK. There's no two ways about it. 

If you'd like to have a look at the products or even order some for yourself then use the link below. I only have a small amount of the range, there's so many more gorgeous products on the website. It's free shipping too! 

Link 

If you'd like to know more about becoming a Market UK distributor and selling Motives then email me daniella.chapman@yahoo.co.uk

My twitter - @daniellacha

My Instagram - @daniellacha

Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette Giveaway!

Hi lovelies :)

I'm very excited to be doing a little (actually pretty big!) giveaway this evening!

You may have read my 'first impressions' post on the Naked 3 palette, if not you can read it here... I was lucky enough to receive another Naked 3 as a gift, but seeing as I had already bought it I figured a girl really doesn't need two identical palettes. I considered selling it but thought it'd be much more fun to give it to one of you guys :) 

I've used photos of my own palette, but obviously the one I'm giving away is identical :) you'll also win a little sample set of Urban Decay primer potions!

So we'll keep this short and sweet.... 

RULES

- You must follow my blog either via GFC or Bloglovin. This is mandatory.

- Leave a comment on this post telling me why you want to win and your email address. This is also mandatory.

And that's it!

I'll choose a winner on Wednesday 12th February and the winner will be informed via email. You'll have 24 hours to reply or I'll pick another winner.

If you share the link to this post on twitter, you'll get an extra entry :)

This is a UK giveaway only.

And most importantly.... Good luck!

Japonesque 'Safari Chic' Brush Set

Can we take a moment to admire these beautiful brushes.....

So gorgeous! I love travel sets like this one because they're so handy... If you're going away for the weekend, or if you just want a useful little brush set to keep in your handbag whilst you're on the go, these would be perfect. 

I only own one other Japonesque brush (an eyeshadow brush) but it's such a huge name in the makeup brush world and I'm very happy to be adding to my collection! Of course, the unique animal print design was what I initially fell for, I don't own any brushes that are similar and I thought this travel set would be a great collector's item. This trio of cute brushes are cruelty free and synthetic. They're super soft too!

With a powder brush (perfect for touch ups during the day) and two eye brushes (one for the crease and another for blending), this is such a handy set to have and a great way to try out some Japonesque brushes without spending too much money. 

I got these from Cult Beauty for £14.00 but they seem to have sold out (again!).

What do you think of travel brushes? And have you tried Japonesque?

Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette - First Impressions & Daytime Look

I'm not one of those girls that jumps on the bandwagon for every new palette release, I don't sit in an online queue on the MAC website when they bring out one of their 5 million collections every year and I certainly don't spend my money on something just for the 'hype'. BUT. I have a certified weakness for the Urban Decay Naked releases. I own the original Naked palette, which I have used to death and absolutely love. I also have the Naked Basics palette which I love equally as much! But I passed on the Naked 2 as the shades seemed too similar to the first palette and with a £37 price tag, it just wasn't worth it for me... 

Then came the Naked 3.

I held off for a couple of months but I finally bit the bullet and ordered it! Whenever I'm considering buying a palette or something high end with a pretty hefty price tag, I like to do a ton of research and this was no exception. I read numerous reviews and watched lots of youtube videos, scoured through loads of swatch photos and I came to the conclusion that I loved it! I really love the fact that it's so different to the first Naked palette, with more rosy, pink tones too. Again, this is quite an expensive makeup purchase at £37 and although I'll mainly use this on myself, I also do freelance makeup now and again so it'll come in handy for that :) 

First Impressions 

I've only had it for a few days, so it's not really the right time to give a full review, but the swatches speak for themselves. As always with Urban Decay eyeshadows, the pigment is amazing, they blend beautifully and the shade choices for this palette were spot on. There's three matte shades and the rest are shimmer. 

You also get a double ended brush which is really handy. The larger end would be great for packing colour onto the lid and helping to blend and the smaller brush could be used for highlighting under the brow on the inner corners.

There's so many options with this palette! From subtle, day time looks, to dramatic, darker evening looks. The theme is definitely pink, rosy shades but there's a gorgeous bronze shade called trick which is beautiful and I love blackheart, a really unique deep purple with gold glitter. 

Subtle Day Look 

I had a play with the colours yesterday and used some of the pink shades to create a really subtle, daytime look. I love these kind of colours with blue eyes! And I can't wait to create lots of different wearable looks :)