#Giveaway Sleek Eye Shadow

Eye shadows determine how natural or dramatic you will strut through the day. This is my new fave eye shadow this season:

Now, as promised today I'm hosting my first giveaway so I'm giving you the chance to WIN one of these eye treats for yourself! That's not all, the prize comprises of a make up goodie bag containing a selection of my favourite things:

- One Sleek i-Divine original eye shadow palette

- One hot pink and black nail varnish by BarryM

UPDATE: THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

To be in the chance of winning these goodies simply:
1. Follow my blog via GFC (google friend connect)
2. Follow me on twitter ( @kate_martin85 )
3. Tweet "I've just entered @kate_martin85 's giveaway at allmyfavouritethings101.blogspot.com"
4. Post a comment with your Email & Twitter handle below

Note: You must be a UK or Mainland European resident.

Giveaway closes on the 18th of December at 5pm GMT.
The winner will be announced at 9pm the same day on my blog and twitter.


The winner will be selected at random via random.org

Right, now all that remains to be said is good luck and thank you for reading and following my little blog,

xoxo
Kate

Luscious Lashes

Everyone has one or two favourite things about their appearence. Some take pride in their hair, others in their figure and some in their lips or eyes. Well, I'm always at a loss of what I like about myself let alone what I like best. After all, the grass is always greener and everyone always looks thinner, prettier etc. However, when I did my eye make up yesterday I kind realised I was really happy with my eyes. It's amazing what a little colour can do - even if it's black like my favourite extension mascara.

I've been using Model Co's Fibre Lash Mascara for over a year now and think it probably is the reason why I like experimenting with eye make up so much and usually stay away from falsies.
It's what I asked my make-up artist to use for my wedding make-up. Have a look at some of the shots.

In case you haven't stumbled upon this mascara yet, Model Co's Fibre Lash Mascara is applied in three stages. First you coat the eyes from base to tip with the big black bottle. Then you use the Lash Fibre bottle, applying a layer of white thin fibres to your lashes. The final step is to apply some more extension mascara which colours the fibres black!

The end result? Luscious lashes that take you from day to night.

Budget Make-Up Test Part 1

As promised in my previous blog post I have been putting budget Make-Up to the test the last couple of days, starting with Collection 2000's "Angelic Eyes" which comes in at just over £4 at my local Boots Store.

With all sorts of vibrant colours in this eye shadow set, I decided to test the blue shades and run with the whole Under the Sea theme which is inspiring the fashion world right now. Here's the result: 


Whilst I am by no means an expert when it comes to applying any kind of make-up here's how I did it - in case you'd like to give it a try yourself..

• I started by generously applying the light silvery colour (1) to my entire eyelid using a fluffy round eye shadow brush, making sure to cover both the outer and inner corner of my eye and brushing up to the browbone and highlighting it at the same time. Then I lightly dusted below my lower lash line using the same colour and removed any excess powder with a cosmetic tissue.

• After lightly scraping the sky blue shade (2) with the end of my eye shadow brush to reach a colour rich result, I went to sweep the medium shade in a half-circular move on the crease of my eye lid. To add some depth I blended the shade down towards my upper lash line with a round-tipped brush that had no product on it. (I find that it's easier to avoid unwanted smudging by using a clean brush for blending heavy contrast shades)

• Next I went to softly dab the purply blue (3) coloured eye shadow just up onto the outside corner of the eyelid and using my little finger I went to blend that same shade ever so lightly into the inner corner of my eye lid.

• I used the navy blue shade (4) to accentuate the eye crease and applied a light grey eyeliner to my upper lash line, the inner corner and the outer corner of my lower lash line as well as a few dots on my brow bone. Then I finished the Under the Sea inspired look by applying some black mascara.

The application of the eye shadow took me a bit less than 10 minutes and its removal was straight forward leaving no ugly dark stains (as some other colour rich eyeshadows are known to do) so all in all I was extremely happy with the result.

As to the colour strength/pigmentation, here a little colour swatch so you can see all colours in this set

The colours lack a bit in intensity despite the fact they look so vibrant but there's nothing a good primer (as a base) and a good strong brush won't fix :) I actually used my Studio Secrets Primer from L'Oreal - have a look at this Review I wrote a little while ago if you want my opinion on some current Primers on the market.

So here we go, a big thumbs up from me to Collection 2000 Angelic Eyes - eyeshadow palette.
Really good value for money.

My piggy bank is happy and so am I. :o)

xoxo
Kate

A lovely gift...

I received this goodie bag filled with beauty products for buying two Estee Lauder products at Boots last week. Whoop! (You gotta love freebies!)

So here's what Estee Lauder put in it (from left to right): Candy Shimmer No. 16 Lipstick, Advanced Night Repair Balm, Sumptuous Mascara (black), Daywear Creme SPF 15, "Pleasures" perfume, Pure Colour Eye Shadow Set - shades: ivory slipper (10), tranquil moon (13), lilac whimsy (67) and sepia sand (18) as well as their Perfectly Clean Splash Away Foaming Cleanser.

I'm looking forward to indulging in these little new friends of mine - oh the perfume is lush by the way. That I can already tell, however spray with caution it's a little on the potent side!

Head over to Boots to see if the promotion is still on - definitely worth it! <3

With that said. Have a great weekend my lovely readers!

xoxo
Kate