MAC Cosmetics Mineralize Heat Element

This is the first time I have stepped into the world of Mac's Mineralize Eyeshadows and I managed to pick this up in a blog sale one of my friends had recently. This one is called Heat Element and it is gorgeous. The top shadow is a rich, yellow gold and the bottom shadow is a rusty, brown and they complement each other perfectly.

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Seventeen Cheek Blush Stamp

I have had my eye on one of these for so long and then I won this in the lovely Bethany's giveaway on What She Did. I got the shade Made You Look which is a striking, hot pink and a shade I have never worn or thought to pick up. I'm a coral blush girl through and through but this has got me looking on the pinker side of life recently. 

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Sephora Haul

Last week my beautiful best friend arrived back in the UK from her honeymoon in San Francisco, Hawaii & Las Vegas. And you know what holidaying in America means... Sephora! It pains me that Sephora is no longer in the UK as we use to have a large store in my local shopping center. Whoever decided to pull out of this country needs sacking. Wednesday evening the newlyweds came over with a bag of goodies for me from their travels and today I'm showing you the pieces Louise picked up in the mothership for me. 

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Urban Decay Naked Palette

I jumped on the Naked palette rather late after my parents gifted me the beautiful Naked 3 for my birthday in the new year and since then my love has well and truly grown, from their flushed palettes to the Naked Basics, it was only fitting that I complete the whole set so today I bring the original Naked palette. 

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MAC Kelly Yum Yum

MAC Cosmetics have been churning out the collections recently, I could barely keep up but here I am again with another lipstick to show you. I should be stopped. After treating myself to Alluring Aquatics - Enchanted One and most recently Pedro Lourenco - Ruby, I said I wasn't going to get anything from the much anticipated Osbourne collection because nothing really jumped out at me. That was until I found myself at the MAC counter again and with this Kelly Yum Yum being the last in stock, I had to give it a new home. 

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Letterbox Cakes from Baker Days

If you follow me on Instagram (@alicespake) then you'll know I'm partial to a bit of baking. I love spending afternoons in the kitchen making different sponges, fairy cakes or brownies and then obviously eating it. A few weeks ago I had an email from the lovely guys at Baker Days asking if they could send me one of their letter box cakes to try and as I rarely get people making cakes for me I said yes straight away. 

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Real Techniques Retractable Lip Brush

I am a big fan of Real Technique brushes. They're fab quality, reasonably priced and are pleasing on the eye so when the retractable brushes launched I wondered off to my local Boots to get my hands on more brushes. Because you always need more right?! My most recent purchase is the Retractable Lip Brush to help me perfect that cupids bow I'm dying to get right. 

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Pedro Lourenco for MAC

I occasionally stalk the American MAC website to see what is going to be gracing our shores and found the Pedro Lourenco collection and fell a little in love. Pedro Lourenco is a Brazilian fashion designer, you can view his latest collection on PedroLourenco.com where there are some beautiful pieces.

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Garnier Shine Control Moisturiser

I've been trying different moisturisers the last few months to find the perfect one but with so many new releases being churned out I want to try them all. The one being used at the moment is Garnier Pure Long Lasting Shine Control Moisturiser. Phew. Long name. 

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Primark Homeware Haul

This is a very different post from me today but I thought I'd put it out there as I love reading other blogger's home hauls and as a few you may know, Arran and I moved into a new flat at the beginning of April. I've been picking up random bits here, there and everywhere recently. I've dragged him to Ikea, Debenhams, BHS, The Range and Primark on numerous occasions. 

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The Decleor Products I'm Using

If you read this blog regularly you'll have seen my previous posts, Decleor Skincare Brand Focus and Decleor Facial Experience; you'll know that I've been having a bit of a love in with Decleor in recent months. Decleor is a French, professional skin care brand and this post is going to be on what I've been using and loving the last few months.

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The Body Shop Haul

A few weeks ago there was a 40% off discount code floating around Twitter and on The Body Shop website so I obviously made a tiny order. I haven't used any of their products for years, I just use to pick up what was on offer in Boots or use my trusty Soap & Glory Righteous Butter; but after having a good look in the store a few weeks ago and falling for the scent of the raspberry collection I thought I'd give it another look. 

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Birchbox Harper's Bazaar

Birchbox collaborated with Harper's Bazaar last month to bring you this gorgeous, Summer inspired box, with the help of some experts from Harper's Bazaar this box is full of essentials to see you in to the next season. There was also a mini mag enclosed with helpful tips and tricks from HP's Beauty Director Sophie Bloomfield and the experts at Birchbox HQ. I've never signed up for a monthly beauty box subscription so I didn't know what to expect. It is something I've been thinking about for a while so the email from Birchbox couldn't of come at a better time. 

The box was smaller than I thought it would be but I think that's down to photos making it look bigger. I'm not complaining, I was just quite surprised at how much was fitted in. Inside is a small drawstring bag with six products, one being full sized. I received Benefit They're Real, Aromatherapy Bath & Shower Oil, Laura Mercier Flawless Skin Face Polish, Philip Kingsley One More Day Dry Shampoo, Imedeen Supplements and a full size Soigne nail polish in Cerise. 

I've had Soigne Cerise on my nails for three days now, they've been through showers, a hair wash, washing up, cooking and scrubbing the hob. Guess what? No chips! Benefit They're Real doesn't need a review.. it's one of the best mascaras on the market today. Laura Mercier Flawless Skin Face Polish smells amazing, just like apricots and left my skin feeling so, so soft. I can feel a full size purchase coming on soon. Aromatherapy Bath & Shower Oil smells fresh and you can really pick up the rosemary scents in it. I've used this is one hit in a bath and it relaxed me more than revived me.

I wish the sample was just a little bit bigger. Imedeen supplements are meant to improve skin quality and maintain skin radiance, I can't say they work as I haven't take them and I'm not sure yet whether I'm going to. Finally is Philip Kingsley One More Day Dry Shampoo, again the scent of this is lovely and quite fresh, but it left quite an obvious grey residue that was really difficult to get rid of that I had to go and wash my hair. Maybe I used too much, I haven't written it off just yet. 

  

I would totally recommend having a look at the Birchbox website where you can see all their previous boxes. I was really impressed and can feel a subscription coming on very soon. 

Features press sample - see disclaimer.

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Naked Flushed Palette in Streak

Urban Decay are releasing three new palettes to their Naked Flushed range today! Eek! On Thursdays My sister, Emily and I, go shopping and talk each other into buying stuff we don't need. This week we went to the Urban Decay counter so Emily could get colour matched with Naked Skin and we had the best experience We/I've ever had on a beauty counter. The Sales Assistant was amazing, she knew her stuff, let me play with numerous palettes while she colour matched Emily and let me buy this gorgeous flushed palette before it's release date. 

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