MAC's Faerie Whispers Foiled Eyeshadows | Review

I don't normally get too excited about limited edition collections from MAC, apart from the Dita Von Teese lippy that I missed my hands on... But, when I saw MAC's Faerie Whispers Foiled Shadows go live on the website, I just had to have them!

And, with my wedding coming up, it's the perfect excuse to play around with new make-up - especially the eyes as I have no idea what to do yet! So I picked up Joy Toy, Enchanted Forest and Faerie Fayre from the collection.

These foiled eye shadows have been created to 'light up the eyes with luminous wet or dry shades' to achieve a beautiful glowing fairy tale look. And they do exactly that!

Joy Toy is a golden coppery shade, and my favourite of the three. 

Enchanted Forest is a warm golden rich brown.

And, Faerie Fayre is a deep brown red.

The pigmentation of these are amazing, and the formulation is so smooth and buttery - they honestly blend like a dream. I've also tried and tested them both wet and dry and I do actually prefer the dry finish. The wet finish would be perfect for a high-end photoshoot, or a night out!

The packaging is the standard 'MAC Packaging', nothing special, however the shadows are embossed with a crinkled effect which is a nice little touch.

In the photo above, I'm wearing 'Joy Toy', which is my favourite of the three. I really like that it's in between gold and copper. And a little bit peachy too.

I think this would be lovely for a wedding day look, paired with Hourglass' blush in the shade 'Dim Infusion' and MAC's Brave on the lips. It would also be perfect for every day if you do like a bit of shimmer!

Feel free to follow me on Instagram: @zoeyoliviablog or tweet me: @zoeyoliviablog. I'm forever responding and interacting on those platforms :).

Four days in Venice

On Monday, we flew away to the beautiful land of Venice for four days! This was a much needed break for both of us (those who have been through the whole wedding planning experience will know what I mean...) and this was also a little birthday treat for Joe.

During our time in Venice, we indulged in heavenly foods - I had the best savoury crepe of my life, we visited the colourful houses in Burano and also got lost a fair few times.

It was a pretty chilled trip, and that's exactly what we wanted. As whenever we do city breaks we always jam-pack our days with so much to do that we end up feeling exhausted by the end of it. And with everything going on at the moment, a semi-relaxing holiday was all we could ask for.

Anyway, I hope you liked our Venice Photo Diary. I will be doing another post on Venice shortly - of things I recommend doing if you plan on visiting. Until next time...

Feel free to follow me on Instagram: @zoeyoliviablog to see lots of other snaps from our trip, or tweet me: @zoeyoliviablog. I'm forever responding and interacting on those platforms :).

Love, Zoey

Spring Primark Haul

It feels like ages since I've sat down in front of my camera and filmed a video! And reason being is that I've just been so caught up in wedding planning, learning to drive, as well as being mega busy at work.

This week I flew to Venice, just to get away for a few days with Joe. Everything has been feeling a bit overwhelming and exhausting lately, and our little break away was much needed.
I will of course post a few snaps on here and share my trip with you very soon.

Anyway back to the main purpose of this blog post, I have a Spring Primark Haul that I wanted to share with you all!
These are one of my favourite videos to film, and they tend to be my most popular ones too. So, I hope you enjoy it :).

Also, I will be back soon with a humongous beauty haul, so keep you're eyes peeled for that. As well as writing lots of reviews on here in due course!

In the meantime feel free to follow me on Instagram: @zoeyoliviablog or tweet me: @zoeyoliviablog. I'm forever responding and interacting on those platforms :).

Love, Zoey

Belated Lush Boxing Day Sales Haul

First off, let me start by saying how sorry I am for posting this so late! I'm normally on top of things, but if you read my life update post you'll understand why I have been falling behind a little.
I was also going to film what I got from Lush too but I think it's far too late to post, but we shall see...

So, a few days after Boxing Day, I purchased a cheeky online order with Lush. I do this every year as the majority of their Christmas collection is half the price.

And, well I got quite a bit! I'll start with the items to the left first.

Santa's Sack Bubble Bar, this is an online exclusive and I've never actually seen this before! It's really really cute.
This bubble bar is three baths in one - take the presents out and leave them aside and crumble the sack under water, and then re-use the bubble bar presents for two baths at a later date.
The main ingredients in this little sack are tonka absolute and neroli oil which are super comforting and warming for the colder months.

Snowcake Soap, this is limited edition and I've only seen it pop back over the Christmas period.
I don't usually buy Lush soap's, however I wanted to give this one a go as I love marzipan, and that's exactly what it smells like!
It's main ingredients are Rose, Cassie and Benzoin oils which combined gives it that marzipan fragrance.

Golden Wonder Bath Bomb, I've had this before and it's amazing! It has a fresh smelling scent that's quite citrusy and not usually the kind of fragrance I would go for.
When you pop it into your bath, it turns your bath a greeny-blue colour, with lots of glittery stars floating around along the top. It also creates lots of bubbles too!

Cinders Bath Bomb, this is one of my favourite Christmas Lush bath bombs. It has a spicy cinnamon scent and crackles when you drop it into the bath. It's super warming and comforting for the winter months. Highly highly recommend.

Frozen Bath Bomb, this is part of Lush's fairly new collection and has been inspired by the film Frozen.
This one has quite a fresh scent, it has grapefruit oil, neroli oil, rose oil, amongst many other ingredients. Quite excited to test this one out soon!

Intergalactic Bath Bomb. I bloody love this one! It creates the most beautiful galaxy bath! I've previously spoken about it in a past blog post, if you're interested, click here to read it.

Snow Fairy Shower Gel. Snow Fairy is highly raved about on the interwebs and is exclusive over the Christmas period! I picked up a 100g bottle which is plenty enough for me.
If you haven't tried Snow Fairy, it's a sickly sweet scent and you will smell like unicorns, candy floss and all things sugary sweet!

The Experimenter Bath Bomb. I've always been intrigued by the shape of this, it's very cool. And the scent is unusual - it's quite minty and spicy vanilla-y. I'm excited to give this one a go!

Rub Rub Rub Body Scrub, I'm unsure if this is new but I've never seen it before! And, I haven't tried one of Lush's scrubs in a ridiculously long time so I thought I'd trial this one.
It's main ingredients are sea salt, illipe butter and has a cherry blossom flourish. It's very Japanese like, so I was very much drawn to it for that reason!

Candy Mountain Bubble Bar. if you like Snow Fairy, you'll love this one! It's sugary sweet and creates a beautiful pink bubbly bath! I usually get this every year as it's quite nice to be bathed in pink water and feel like a princess.

Dashing Santa Bath Bomb. Last but not least, we have Dashing Santa! I usually get this one every year as well.
He's pretty awesome as he dashes around your bath and turns your bath a lovely red colour.

So there we have it, my belated Lush Boxing Day Sales Haul! If you would like to see what these look like in your bath, follow me on Instagram, @zoeyoliviablog as I'll be posting them over the next couple of weeks!

Love, Zoey

NEW Charlotte Tilbury Lipsticks Kiss Chase & Between The Sheets Review

Charlotte Tilbury has just launched her two new and exclusive lipsticks just in time for Valentine's day! One of the lipsticks is new to the Matte Revolution range, named 'Between The Sheets', and the other is now apart of the K.I.S.S.I.N.G range titled 'Kiss Chase'.

Charlotte held a competition on Instagram, Facebook and on her main website a little while back, asking everyone to name her new lipstick shade, which I thought was really cool and lovely to get her audience involved. I had a few ideas and did comment on Instagram but I can't actually remember what I wrote (bad memory alert!) But, I'm really liking the shade names that were selected, especially 'Between The Sheets'!

Anyway, I bought the 'Date Night Duo' set which works out cheaper than if you were to buy them separately. And I got two free samples with my purchase which is always a bonus! I got a sample of the Magic Foundation in the shade 2, fair and Light Wonder Foundation in the shade 2, fair as well.

Back to the lippys... I bloody love them! I love all of her lipsticks to be honest, especially 'Bitch Perfect' it's one of my all time favourites, you can read about that lipstick here if you're interested.

Ok, so starting with her Matte Revolution: Between The Sheets lipstick. This is a matte formula in a 'dreamy vintage rose petal' shade.
On the website, this does look more of a vibrant pink than it is in real life. It's a lot more subtle and more of a toned down nudey-pink. It is the your lips but better shade!

I really do love Charlotte's  matte formulas, they are creamy and the longevity is fab, I would say they last around 4-5 hours before needing to re-apply.
The formula is also enriched with 'Lipstick Tree extract' which protects the lips and is a natural oxidant, and also has Orchid Extract which soothes and hydrates for a soft, build-able cashmere finish.

And for packaging, it comes in Charlotte's classic beautiful rose-gold casing which I absolutely adore. Packaging makes such a difference in my humble opinion!

Moving on to the second shade, 'Kiss Chase', new to the K.I.S.S.I.N.G range! The name is a reminder of that game we all used to play when we were young.

Likewise, to the other shade, this is shown as more of a vibrant berry on her website and is a lot more toned down in real life. 

Charlotte describes this shade as a 'tawny berry hue' which I agree with. And is curated to suit any skin-tone.

This formula is also enriched with Charlotte's secret 'tree extract' which is an anti-oxidant that naturally protects lips from UV damage and external pollution leaving your lips cashmere soft and adds moisture to the lips.

This shade is gorgeous, I think I prefer this out of the two! And the formula is super nourishing!
The longevity is pretty good as well, I applied this around 8:00am and it lasted till around 12:00pm where it just needed a little touch-up.

Also, it reminds me of MAC's Plumful a little bit - which also suits near enough every skin-tone. So if you are looking for a cheaper alternative, I would highly recommend Plumful. And, if you're interested, I have a blog post about it as well, click here.

I'm wanting to try more and more of Charlotte's range and with my wedding coming up, it's an excuse to buy and experiment with more make-up! I've got my eye on the Film Star Bronze and Glow, the eye palettes and the foundations! So much to choose from!!

Let me know what you think of Charlotte Tilbury's new shades in the comments below! And, what you would like me to review next. As always you can always tweet me, @zoeyoliviablog, watch my vlogs, or follow me on Instagram, @zoeyoliviablog.

Love, Zoey

Laura Mercier Creme Brulee Duet | Review

Holy macaroni, I think I've found my holy grail bath set! 

I've had my eye on Laura Mercier's bubble baths for a while now and I've heard nothing but great things about them, so, over the Christmas period, I treated myself to Laura Mercier's Sweet Temptations Creme Brulee Duet, £35.00. This duo is inspired by the aroma of French Patisseries, made with gourmande ingredients including delicious notes of warm caramel, spun sugar and french vanilla bean. Heaven in a tub, basically.

Anyone who knows me in person will know that I love baths, I love all kinds of scents, bubble baths, bath bombs, salts, oils, everything! So, when I say I think I've found my holy grail bath set, that's a pretty bold statement from a hardcore bath lover if I do say so myself.

Ok, so, in the Laura Mercier Creme Brulee Duet, you get a 200ml creme brulee honey bath, a 200ml creme brulee souffle body creme and a cute little honey dipper wand. Both are absolutely incredible, and yes, they smell just like creme brulee!

What I LOVE about these products is of course that luxurious heavenly smell, but I also love how beautiful they work together. 

The honey bath is actually amazing, I love spending hours in the bath with this and a book. And, my skin feels super silky afterwards. But if you want even silkier skin, then lather on the body creme!
The body creme is gorgeous, it's a thick rich creme and blends into the skin beautifully and dries super quick.
I'm also really impressed with the scent, it lingers for hours and hours, so I can smell like creme brulee all day!

A beautiful, amazing, perfect, holy grail bath duo. I highly recommend this to anyone - a treat for yourself perhaps, a special friend, or even a loved one.

Have you tried any of Laura Mercier's body and bath sets? I really want to try the Almond Coconut Milk Collection, so if anyone has tried that, let me know if it's as good as the Creme Brulee Duet!

Love, Zoey.

As always you can tweet me at @zoeyoliviablog, follow me on Instagram @zoeyoliviablog or keep up to date with my latest vlogs!

Winter Fashion Haul | ZARA & ASOS & Life Update

Why hello blogging friends, it's been a little while. Apologises that my blogging and YouTubeing hasn't been on top form, I've just had a lot going on since I got engaged, which I will go into more detail about in a sec...

But first, I finally got round to filming my ZARA & ASOS haul yesterday evening. So, I do hope you enjoy seeing what I picked up!
Also, this is the first time I've used my studio lights, which I brought way back in the Black Friday sales! The lighting isn't perfect, I would of liked it to have been a lot brighter, but it's my first time using them, so it can only get better right?

Any who, I thought I would just write down all my thoughts and explain why I've been a little absent on social media.

The first reason is that I'm getting married this year! Crazy I know, but me and Joe have decided that 2016 is the year for us. So, I have been incredibly busy at the weekends going to wedding venues, wedding fair's, creating mood-boards, booking wedding dress appointments, you name it. It's been hectic but we are getting there. And, by the end of this month, we should have final confirmation of our date and fingers crossed... have my dress sorted!
And then onto the other important weddingy stuff, like finding the perfect photographer, videographer, floristy, bridesmaid dresses, Joe's suit etc. Weddings are hard. Really hard. Who knew eh?

Another reason is that I'm going to be taking my theory test during the first week of February so I have been 'studying' every single night (...well almost every night). I have also booked in an intensive driving course in February which I am super nervous about, but it needs to be done!

As well my driving situation, I've also had a few annoyances and upsets during the past couple of weeks.
Sadly my dog passed away at the start of this year, which has affected me quite a bit. I won't go into too much detail but we adopted her eleven years ago from Battersea Dogs Home and she became part of our family. She was a lovely little dog and whenever I saw her face, it would literally make my day!
It was really hard to see her go, but I'm happy knowing she had a really good life.

I've also just been really ill for a month solid, I've had the flu, and an awful cough (that I still bloody have) and my Endometriosis has been pretty bad, well more than bad. I've had a swollen belly for a week solid now, it's irritating to say the least.

But yes, other than wedding planning, learning the highway codes, and dealing with a few personal things, I have been of course, been busy with my full-time job and also trying to maintain a relatively normal social life too!
Phew, I think that's everything...

Anyway, sometimes it's just nice to ramble to the internet world, and I've actually really enjoyed spending an hour of my Sunday evening blogging. It's kind of therapeutic and nice to get away from my never-ending busy little life. But, now I may treat myself to a film (... yes, watching a film is a treat these days), possibly one of the Harry Potter films, in memory of Alan Rickman.

Until next time, you can always tweet me @zoeyoliviablog, or follow me on Instagram,  @zoeyoliviablog.