The Bridesmaids Gifts and Goodies

Caitlin and Jayden were the only 2 girls left on my bridesmaids list, I had a couple more but for one reason or another they couldn't make it which was kind of expected due to the fact it was a destination wedding. My husband and I live in England but most of our family and friends live in either Mexico, Germany, and the USA.

Now Cailtin is my lil love bug baby girl, to my eyes she's the little sister I never had and I wish I was there in her life a lot longer to teach her all the things! She's 25 now and I'm 30, she had just began to start using makeup along with other girly things around the time I got engaged, so hair products, how to style your hair, eyeliner, all that fun stuff was new to her. She had done theater makeup before when she was in school but lets be fair, it is quite different to your everyday look or your going out tonight look.

Jayden my drama ridden half breed, British mum who is always looking for an excuse to not go to work and her very set in his ways American dad pushed her to mature a lot faster than most of her schoolmates. She just turned 21 this past weekend, she's a good kid with a good heart but is put into the position of having to be the grown-up a lot. She's familiar with makeup, getting her hair done, but as most youngins' makes a lot a mistakes along the way (heck, I still do!). My biggest beef with her is that she sometimes forgoes washing her face after a long night of partying and those ridiculously dramatic eyelashes she wore at my wedding.

I told the makeup artist I was going for a natural beauty look on my girls because they're both very youthful looking and there's nothing worse than a beautiful young girl with perfect skin caking their face up with unnecessary goop.

#bridesmaid gifts #tarte #Revlon #wedding #theknot

A photo posted by Laura Cain (@lau_is_gone_now) on Apr 11, 2015 at 1:07pm PDT

So what I got them was a lovely Tarte palette each including the mother of the bride and groom which contained very lovely and neutral colors that would enhance their natural beauty yet have a lil bit of glam, just enough for such a fabulous day and of course the most amazing mascara ever.

We all had matching earrings and bracelets and I got them each a set of makeup brushes in that lovely flowery pouch, they were about $12 a set, yes they are cheap and not the greatest brushes ever but these were their first makeup brushes so I figured it would be good for starters because even though Jayden is familiar with makeup she never really used makeup brushes, she used the applicators that come with your regular Covergirl makeup sets.

She looks so precious!

Think skinny!

Jayden (left) Caitlin (right)

We look precious! 

Empties Vol 1

Hi! Glad to be typing again :) I was going to start doing my empties on a monthly basis but I came to realize; I don't go through products fast enough to actually do that LOL. So I will be posting empties as soon as I have at least 5 of them and you'll be getting my opinion on them.

First empty: Mac's Fluidline Gel Liner in Blacktrack. Lives up to the hype, I can only think of one negative thing to say about it and that would be that it dries out a little tiny bit sooner than other gel liners I have used. In its defense; I used it almost every day for as long as I had it unlike the ones I've been using lately which I might use once a week. For some reason I've become this "ANTI MAKEUP" makeup junkie, how? I love makeup, I love playing with it, I love to use it, but I avoid it as much as possible. During the week (when I go to work) I'll put on a full face of makeup but I avoid eye makeup and on the weekends I don't even bother with BB Cream. And I'm going off on a tangent, sorry!

Fluidline in Blacktrack

Second Empty: Soap & Glory's One Heck of a Blot. I love this pressed translucent powder, I had been using Revlon's Photoready Translucent Pressed powder prior to this and it looked great in person but I had to run away from photography, no pics for me! It does that thing some finishing powders do that contain a lot of silica (not sure if I'm right on the ingredient) but with a camera flash it lookes like you're either a ghost or you've just done cocaine, and that's not good! I would buy this one again and again if they had it at my local Boots, but sadly they don't :(

Third empty: Estee Lauder Double Wear Stay In Place Pressed Powder. This has to be one of the first "high end" powders I ever bought along with MAC's Mineralize Pressed Powder Foundation, both really good, amazing finish. Estee Lauder was a bit on the cakey side if I wasn't careful with my application. I have repurchased this on several occasions but oh sadness... Since I decided to cut back on my office hours, my income has reduced in size quite considerably so higher end makeup is beginning to be out of my budget. Oh well, you win some and you loose some, I do have to admit I am way happier now that I work less hours and stress doesn't get to me as much anymore. Totally worth it. (And there goes me off on a tangent again)

Empty number four: Estee Lauder's Double Wear Stay-in-Place Foundation. I loved this foundation for the longest time but shortly after repurchasing I realized my face hates liquid foundations. For the longest time I thought I was just that acne prone skin kinda gal but OH SURPRISE! For some random reason I stopped using foundation and stuck to JUST my BB Cream for a month and TADAAAA! Acne gone. I still use liquid foundation on very rare occasions; the Air Force Ball was one, new year's eve, Halloween... that one doesn't count, I was a Mexican Sugar Skull.

Loved my makeup this night!

Fifth empty: Superdrug's Artificial Nail Remover (couldn't find a link). This lil guy is a life saver. On my spare time I do Shellacs, acrylic nails, makeup and hair for special occasions for girls that know me from work, friends, etc. I love this as a hobby and I enjoy myself when I do it (one more reason for me to cut back on my office hours). So I used to purchase the elegant touch nail remover at Boots for nearly £3 a bottle, one day I walked into Superdrug and stumbled upon a bottle that looked just like it and £3 for 2 bottles. I know it makes me sound cheap or stingy if you like but for someone who goes through at least a bottle every month and a half, it does save me a lot in the long run. 

Sixth empty! TheFaceShop's Green Tea Mild Body Wash. I loved this body wash, I got it as a free sample from A-Poly seller on Amazon.com. Great customer's service and always sending free samples, this was a part of a 3 piece luxury size kit. Love the smell, the texture, it doesn't dry out your skin horribly. All around lovely and perfect size for travelling around. 

Empty number seven: Laura Ashley's Shower Cream. I wish I could buy a huge tub of this all year around but it was a part of a Christmas box my mom got me at Boots. The smell is soooooooo mesmerizing.

(I forgot to take a picture of the mascara btw)

Honorary mention in the hall of shame: Pantene's Smooth Shampoo... says to fight and control frizz. 2 weeks after using this (I wash my hair twice a week) my hair was horrible!!! Frizzy, dry, dead. I needed a haircut ASAP. I know I've dyed my hair a lot, but I've always been very careful to not push my hair to those extremes EVER. I had blue hair quite a few years ago and my hair was horribly burnt and dead and dry, so I never want to put my hair through that again. 

Hope some of my comments help you in your moments of need when shopping, I know most are positive reviews but I honestly prefer to tell you about the good things in a product than to complain endlessly about the negative stuff.

:)