AniqahAtlas

Reviewing | Becca Lowlight/Highlight Perfecting Palette

10/27/2015 06:30:00 am

There comes a point in life where tasks and processes just become part of one’s routine: we forget to savour the process, to appreciate the end result. A rut, if you will. And a rut I did enter when it came to contouring. Once a wonderful, unique idea, contouring just became much of a muchness. It happens. Product just fulfil their job spec, indeed they do it very well, but a little freshness, a...

Tippex and Highlighter | Nails

10/09/2015 06:30:00 am

A peculiar thing has passed over me lately – the necessity for nails that look as if they’ve been tippexed or highlighted. Clean, bright, white. Offensive, obnoxious, yellow. I blame those Kardashians – specifically I blame that Kylie and her envy-inducing one day white, next day yellow, always-pointed, hawks talons. I just adore them. Fascinatingly, they both bring within them a shed-load...

The One I didn’t need | Naked Smoky

10/07/2015 01:57:00 pm

This was the stuff that dreams were made of – I was beyond convinced that this would be the answer to all my palette prayers, and that my life would be made better by the mere inclusion of it within my make-up routine. Alas, this was not to be. Beautiful as it may have been, and there is no doubt that Urban Decay have refined their presentation – tortoiseshell hard case – and the tools they now...

High End | Hourglass First Look

9/02/2015 06:00:00 am

I happened to acquire 2 things from Hourglass - the Ambient Lighting Palette, and the Mineral Veil. It is full-on love. Both are exquisite - from the outer packaging, to the make-up housing, through to the actual products themselves. And this is a little sneak-peek before I present my full-on reviews. Currently, I have a lot of opinions forming - firstly, beautiful. Secondly, the products...

The converted | Liz Earle Add-ons

8/31/2015 06:00:00 am

Any skincare junkie worth their weight in gold knows not only the benefits of a regular, basic routine, but the inherent value of the add-ons. There are a plethora of reasons why one would need add-ons - take this week, for example, and the flare up of my eczema, which brings with it the need for a slathering of coconut oil on the skin. Dehydrated? How about a little hyaluronic acid? Spot issues...

Triple Threat | Lips

8/29/2015 06:00:00 am

I love me a good lip. Mine are pretty good, albeit they have had a little bit of injectable help! I do adore the plump, defined, slightly pillow-esque lipped look that is currently doing the rounds. Thankfully I have found the most fail-safe combination of products to easily achieve this. Line Fully line the entire lip area with Rimmel’s East End Snob. My liner of choice for nigh-on five years...

Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish | Revisited, Reviewed

8/27/2015 06:00:00 am

I tried this, once upon a time. Things did not quite end happily ever after. Then I tried it again, recently, and the angels sang a little bit. What changed? Well, quite a lot, truth be told. In the first instance, I used this at a time when my skin was in a volatile phase. I imagine, therefore, that the Cocoa Butter, and plethora of essential oils just didn’t sit well with my skin. Fast forward...

The Library of Fragrance | Amber

6/29/2015 11:14:00 am

It takes a lot to seduce me in an olfactory kind of way. I have very specific thoughts on scent, and not enough words to describe them. In essence, I like what I like. And lately I’ve been liking something very much. The Library of Fragrance, Amber. That’s it. Nothing fancy. Just Amber. And it is all kinds of sexy heaven. I officially heart it. It’s that little bit of sexy within many fragrances...

Joy | Sculpting

6/17/2015 06:30:00 am

In make up terms, nothing gives me more instant gratification than those days when I pull of a master contour. The true story is that I do contour every day – I love it beyond words – with a variety of different products from fairly subtle (I don’t go too subtle) to full on how’s your father, in your face type contouring. Now, every day I do a fair job of the contour game – but every so often, maybe...

On returning | And empties

6/15/2015 06:30:00 am

To be honest, I don’t really know what happened. I suppose I got busy. I suppose I didn’t make time. For blogging. But now I have supposed to be back. Or, what I should really say is that I want to be back, and therefore I am! I thought I’d start with a little look back at the things I’ve finished, and my thoughts on them. Paula’s Choice Clinical 1% Retinol Treatment I liked this, I really...

The Quick | Empty and Review

2/28/2015 09:00:00 am

It’s been quite a while since I’ve attempted an empties post – mainly due to my inability to remember to keep the actual products once I’ve finished them! But seeing as quite a few things seemed to run out at the same time, I thought I’d give it a bit of the old “finish and review” treatment. Rimmel Lip Liner in East End Snob – I cannot even attempt to tell you how many of these I have had...

Running Like a Girl | Review

2/05/2015 12:29:00 pm

It appears that I may have turned into the furthest-removed type of person from myself. One who is starting to enjoy exercise. One who is starting to like to run. Granted, running in the warmth of my own home, but running nonetheless. The first few times, I really had to push myself to do it, and then one day a miracle happened. After a few hard runs of about 20 minutes, I pushed myself over the...

Return to | MAC

1/21/2015 03:47:00 pm

I haven't been a lover of Mac for quite some time. Once upon a time, like a beauty obsessee's right-of-passage, I was quite infatuated. But like all infatuations and dalliances, it's time came earth-crashingly to an end, and I realised there were very few things I truly loved from the range, In fact, up until that fated night last Thursday, I think the only Mac in my collection were a handful of...

Lush | Unicorn Horn

1/20/2015 06:00:00 am

Baths are something that I heart. I heart them completely (and I can now legitimately heart them as "heart" was the most used "word" last year). I find them ultimately relaxing, deeply comforting and a wonderful part of my day. But add in a little Lush, and #POW, you've got yourself something a little more than special. I tend to splurge on Lush once a month, and like to think of it as helping my...

Forever Learning | Working Out

1/15/2015 12:15:00 pm

Exercise has never been my thing – if I’m honest, it is universal activity that has not once been my thing. At primary school I would use any justification I could to not be in PE lessons, to not be in the playground. I was that book girl – you know the one. That was me. And really, I am still that book girl, but I am no longer that 18 year old book girl who could eat 2 dinners and put on not an...

Unveiling | Illamasqua

1/12/2015 06:00:00 am

Illamasqua is a brand that I have coveted for a silly amount of time - for some reason I read about it, admire it, but never buy it. Until one crisp winter's morning when I received notification of their annual after-Christmas sale. And the rest, as they say, is history. It has always been the bases and the palettes that have intrigued me the most, but as a little bit of a base connoisseur, I was...

Most Used | Base Combo ft. L'oreal, Clarins & EX1

1/11/2015 06:00:00 am

I have, am, and always will be a sucker for a good base - laying the perfect (excuse the pun) foundation always helps my day to start a little more brightly. I like to think my beloved Kimmy K and J. Lo feel the same way, and experience these little true but shallow emotions. Creating a flawless face helps the exultation of confidence, and lets me stand that little bit taller. Now, when it comes...

The Repurchased

1/09/2015 06:00:00 am

In this world that we call beauty, things are oh so fickle. A new product here, a new launch there - it is with the utmost difficulty that one stays loyal to anything for any length of time. Take my bathroom - boxes full of things I am trying to finish. Granted, I am making the effort now, using more, buying less, and a dent is sloooooooowly being made! But when I do repurchase, I feel the products...

Upping the Skincare Game | Obagi 360

1/07/2015 06:00:00 am

I am now 27. Shock. I don't dislike it, if I'm quite honest, I actually really like the number. I do not, however, like what 27 does to my skin. I am fortunate to have been in the beauty industry since the age of 21, learning how to look after my skin, and to know the science behind it. But after those years of looking after it, 27 has let me down, and my skin is where I am feeling my age. So I sought...

High End Perfume Favourites | Chanel Coco Noir & YSL Belle D'Opium

1/05/2015 06:00:00 am

Perfume is something I have always loved - my olfactory senses are a little ridiculous, to the point that sometime leaving an empty tea mug by my bedside table can disturb my sleep! Aged 7, I was obsessed with a perfume I saw in quite a few of the houses I frequented at the time - Karl Lagerfeld's Sun, Moon, Stars, and felt ridiculously grown up when I received a bottle of it as a gift. To this day,...

And so it Begins: Here's to Not Worrying | 2015

1/03/2015 06:15:00 pm

I have been absent from this little corner of my world for about a month now - December got hectic, involved a family holiday, a kidney stone and a stomach ulcer, but some wonderful times with some family I hadn't seen for 14 years! Today I ease back in with the picture from my phone that have been inspiring me and making me giggle a little. I bring to you, the beginning of 2015: This year, in...