New Dressing Table

I've recently moved back in to my mum's house, trying to do the adult thing and save for a mortgage. Since moving home I am really missing the space I had in my flat in Manchester, my bedroom was humongous compared to the tiny box room I have at home! :(

I really wanted a dressing table, but my room is so small i needed to browse around. I eventually found one in my catalogue which is designed for small spaces, yay! I spent a FULL Sunday putting it together, (yes I am a DIY genius, not!). Here it is in all it's glory...

I have most of the skincare items I'm using or testing at the moment on top of my dresser, some are in a separate drawer or in the bathroom. I also keep my brushes in front of the mirror for easy access. I try and keep the top as clutter free as possible, anything I'm not using, goes in a separate drawer unit.

As well as skincare, I also keep makeup and eye makeup removers on top as I use them daily. I found this cute heart shaped glass dish at a car boot sale I went to with my mum a while ago for 20p! I think it looks lovely and fits my cosmetic pads in just nicely.

My brush holder is from Elf, it fits perfectly in front of my mirror and is a great size for holding all my brushes with plenty of room for new purchases! :) It has 3 compartments for Eyes, Lips and Face brushes. I also tend to keep things like my eyelash curlers, tweezers and my Duo eyelash glue in here, just for easy picking! For some reason in this picture I have a Pixi eye pencil in there too (not quite sure why, ha).

The big problem I had was with the drawers. Because its a slimline dresser, the drawers are much smaller, so no storage solutions would actually fit. As you can see at the moment I am using little boxes to separate my makeup, but eventually I would like to get some proper storage for it all. In my left hand drawer, I tend to keep all my lipsticks, lipglosses, powders, mascaras, eyeliners and my palettes. I tend to keep the products I use most often in my drawers and store the others elsewhere.

 

In the right hand drawer I tend to store my foundations, single eye shadows, bronzers, blushes, eyelashes, brow palettes and brush bags.

I try to keep it as tidy as possible, but it's hard when your trying to use different products and test different things out.

 So that's it for my dressing table, and once I get my storage solutions sorted it will be fab! I love having somewhere to sit down and do my make up and skincare.

Do you have a dressing table? Or do you have a different makeup storage idea?

Elf Cosmetics Review

I'd heard a lot about Elf products, mostly from our friends overseas in America. I believe in the US most Elf products are $1, which is just amazing value. In the UK our equivalent is MUA, which I'm also a big fan of. 

When Elf launched a UK website I was really excited to try the elusive products and recently have placed a couple of orders with them.

The first thing to say is that the delivery is EXCEPTIONAL! I placed my first order at 9.30pm, the next morning I had an email to say it's been dispatched and my order was with me by 9am the next day! What a fantastic service. I always thought MAC were quick, but Elf are quicker! 

So I ordered a range of products, lip glosses, brushes, concealers, lip liners, eye liners etc. I have to say overall I'm impressed. 

  

I bought a range of Elf brushes. The basic brushes are £1.50. I purchased the Blending Eye Brush, the Eye Crease Brush and the Lip Defining Brush. I was bit disappointed that upon arrival the head had come off the Lip Defining Brush, but then again, for that price, you can't complain! I also bought the Eyeshadow "C" Brush from Elf's Studio collection. This brush was £3.75 (still amazing) and much better quality than the others. I have been using this brush as my main eyeshadow brush for a while now to test it out and I really like it. It picks up any eyeshadow so easily and you can really build up the colour with this brush. The blending and crease brushes are also good, but I don't think I'll ever been converted from my Mac 217 blending brush. :)

On my first order with Elf I ordered the Plumping Lip Glaze in Fuchsia Fanatic, I liked this product so much that on my second order I bought two more! One side is a very sheer white colour which when applied feels really tingly and minty on your lips, then you apply the colour which is super glossy. After application I really felt like the product does what it says on the tin; 'plumps' my lips! They looked fuller and these glosses come in really lovely colours! All in all, for £1.50, these lip glazes are great products!

Top to Bottom: Fire Coral, Wink Pink and Fuchsia Fanatic

I also ordered 3 of the Shimmer Eye Pencils, these were also £1.50 each. I am so surprised how soft and pigmented these pencils are. They glide on gorgeously! I've only swatched these so far, but the colours are lovely and I'm sure they're going to look great when creating a bright eye look. I seriously cannot wait to try these out.

Top to Bottom: Plum Passion, Twinkle Teal and Blissful Blush

R - L: Plum Passion, Twinkle Teal and Blissful Blush

I also thought I'd try Elf's Complete Coverage Concealer palette which was £3.75. I got the Medium coloured palette which contains four colours ranging from medium tones to darker tones. When i first opened it, I was worried that the two darker tones may be a little too dark even for me, but when applied then do actually look lighter and they'll be perfect for holidays when I have a tan.

I also bought a couple of misc items to try. One of the Soothing Lip Balms in Blackcurrant (smells amazing and glides and moisturises like a dream), a double pencil sharpener, and a lip liner in Natural Blush. 

I can honestly say, for a low budget cosmetic brand, Elf are top dog! I love the products I have from them so far, but they have so many products to choose from I cannot wait to try more! So check out Elf's Website for some great products, with low prices and quick shipping! 

Have you tried Elf, and are you a massive fan like me?