Models Own are well known for their vast selection of nail polishes, but whilst having a browse through the beauty section at Superdrug, I'd noticed that they'd expanded beyond nails and into the dangerous world of makeup. Their product line covers pretty much everything you could need ranging from highlighters through to lipsticks and eyeshadows, and it looks as though they've actually put quite a lot of effort in to it - they cater for the die hard nude lovers, as well as those with a love of colour.

Recently, they upped their game considerably with the launch of the Holochrome range, a range of products that includes their customary nail polishes, but also brings in their new-found appetite for makeup. You'll find holographic lipglosses and an eye-catching eyeshadow palette. The *Holochrome Eyeshadow palette is of most interest to me though, featuring 10 shadows in a range of colours, textures and finishes - here's what Models Own have to say about it:

"Go deep sea baby with this Holochrome Eyeshadow Palette. Intense iridescent cobalts, emerald greens and glimmering purples are swept over matte black shadow for an enchanting opaque finish. Enticing, pearly textures for eyes that are from another underworld."

The packaging for the palette is beautiful, sleek and shiny with an almost oil-slick purple and green finish. It looks expensive and clean. Inside that duotone chrome exterior, they've dropped the purple and gone all-out lime green chrome, with a nice mirror the length of the palette and a double ended brush - one end for packing on the colour, the other for blending it all out - useful!

 

Left to Right - 'Matte Brown', 'Matte Black', 'Nacreous', 'Luminous' & 'Prismatic' 

 

 

But whilst the packaging certainly does catch the eye, the shades within will keep you interested for a lot longer. There are two matte shades - 'Matte Black' and 'Matte Brown' (no fancy names required) - which can be used either as a base to intensify the other shades and make them pop, or just by themselves. The rest of the shadows are a mixture of foil type shadows that leave a chrome-like finish, sheer shimmery washes and metallics.

All of the shadows, bar the mattes, are iridescent and offer something a little different. The sheer washes make for a good inner corner highlight, in particular the baby blue shade 'Luminous' which some reason it makes me think of extra-terrestrial blood! The quality of the shadows is good, the pigmentation is strong, so there's no need to really pack it all on, the fallout is minimal and I have to say, with the exception of the mattes of course, I prefer applying with my fingers more than anything else!

 

'Deep Sea' wasn't quite deep enough for this look, so I layered it over 'Matte Black', and illuminated the inner corner with the luscious 'Luminous'

 

 

This palette has won me over, the quality of the shadows is impressive considering Models Own haven't been in the makeup game too long, and the versatility of the palette makes it attractive to a range of different makeup users - and it does this without sacrificing colour for the sake of a few extra nudes. The variety of different looks you can achieve with this simple 10 shadow palette is staggering. And just wait til you see how the shadows transfer from the pan onto your lids - the chrome effect is truly something to behold!

The Models Own Holochrome Eyeshadow palette retails at £19.99 which I find quite reasonable, given the quality of the shadows and the variety of shades you're getting. Although, in saying that, they currently have it on sale for £14.99 on their website HERE.

*PR Sample

My long time followers will all be acutely aware by now, that Winged Liner is my thing. I think I've been doing it since I was a teenager, and with time, I feel that I'm only getting better at it to the point where I'm starting to get pretty creative with my wings.

But then I saw a couple of girls go that one step further with their winged liner, and create an actual wing at the end of it. This, I had to try. I've had comments in the past like 'liner so sharp it could kill' and 'those wings could fly me away' and my favourite: 'that's not a wing, it's a fucking aeroplane!'- and this look would take it another bit closer to the literal. so why not?!

For my attempt, I used my Kat Von D Tattoo Liner in 'Trooper' to draw the lines around my eyes. I just drew them on from memory, picturing in my mind what wings look like, but in retrospect, I'd recommend doing a Google Image search for wings and going off your favourite design. Next, I used a glitter adhesive from Lit Cosmetics to fill the gaps with glitter, taking care to colour within the lines. Once that was complete, I went back over those lines with Trooper to get a sharper outline and give the look some extra pop and contrast.

PRODUCTS USED

Eyes

NYX Tint & Frame Brow Pomade - Espresso
Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion 
Sugarpill Pressed Eyeshadow - Tako (lid)
Lime Crime Venus 2 palette - Filter (lower lashline)
Sigma Individual Eyeshadow - Moonbeam (crease)  
Phee's Makeup Shop Luxe Highlighters -  Buzz & Glo Up (brow bone & inner corner)
Lit Cosmetics Clearly Liquid Glitter Base
Lime Crime Zodiac Glitters - Virgo & Gemini 
Kat Von D Tattoo Liner - Trooper
Dior Diorshow Mascara - Black
Daiso Lashes

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm just gonna fly off somewhere interesting. And warm.

Yes. Here's Lima, reviewing an eyeshadow she bought for just £2.50. Why? Because this is beauty blogging, folks.

I've got my fair share of red eyeshadows, coming in many different varieties, tucked away in various different corners, of various different makeup drawers and I love them, I love them all I really do. But the thing about being a beauty blogger is you always want more. My collection of reds was missing something, and I asked Twitter - or at least my carefully constructed corner of Twitter - to help me find what I've been looking for.

What did I want? Something shiny. Believe it or not, until just a few short weeks ago I did not possess any kind of shiny or metallic red eyeshadow. It's true, and tragic. A couple of you suggested Sugarpill's Asylum loose eyeshadow, which looked exactly like the missing red my mind had conjured up, so I was tempted. But no, Bex suggested Kiko - I'd forgotten we even had a Kiko in Manchester. Oh, the shame. 

And so it was, that I picked up Kiko's Smart Colour Eyeshadow in 16 - a shadow Kiko themselves describe as a metallic orchid violet. I don't even know what that means, but it sounded... interesting. In the pan, the colour does appear burgundy with metallic tinges running through it, but when you swatch it, the intensity softens a bit and it looks a little diluted. But, because the deep burgundy has faded away a little, you do start to see those violet hues.

Swatch!

I applied a layer of primer to the eyelids, before applying the eyeshadow. Surprisingly, it went on pretty well. The colour was still a little faint, but much less so than the swatch. It works best if you start to build it up for that colour intensity, and it won't chalk up either, but expect fall out whilst applying. My tip would be to do your eye makeup first, sweep away any excess and then make a start on your foundation and concealer. WIN.

PRODUCTS USED:

NYX Tint & Frame Brow Pomade - Espresso

Urban Decay Primer Potion

Kiko Smart Colour Eyeshadow - 16

Lime Crime Venus Grunge Palette - Muse (lower lashline)

Makeup Geek Eyeshadow Pan - Mango Tango (crease)

Lime Crime Superfoils - Tutu (inner corner highlight)

Phees Makeup Shop Luxe Holographic Highlighter - Gloaming (brow bone & reviewed HERE)

Bobbi Brown Long Wear Gel Eyeliner - Black Ink

Primark Lip Liner Pencil - Bombshell (waterline)

Dior Diorshow Mascara - Black

And there you have it. Subtle eyeshadow, not on the same level of pigmentation as the likes of Sugarpill, Lime Crime or Makeup Geek, but it does the job. It's a bit like shopping from Aldi, if you're a good enough cook, you can make ingredients from there taste shit hot, at a fraction of the price. That being said, I've only gone and ordered the Sugarpill's Asylum Eyeshadow! Sure, shopping at Aldi gets you by, but a girl deserves a bit of M&S every now and then, right? ;)

 Up here in the North, or specifically Manchester, we're fed up of casting our glance southwards to London, seeing all of these amazing halal burger joints cropping up all over the place. Manchester itself has seen a mini-explosion of burger joints itself in the past 5 years, but none of them have been fully halal. So if you're after a good burger you were restricted in choice to your local takeaway (#no), a chicken burger at GBK or Handmade Burger Co or the Veggie option elsewhere. Nowhere could you get a burger made from halal beef of the gourmet or dirty variety. Nowhere. Until now.

The New Yorker Diner on Portland Street, in the heart of the city finally delivers a fully halal American dining experience for the Muslim foodie in Manchester. It opened up just on the edges of China Town in October, after 6 months of getting the place and their menu ready. So how does Manchester's first (proper) halal American Diner stack up?

 

Well, at this stage, I'll say that it has promise. I ordered the Dirty Chicken and Waffle - their take on the increasingly popular Buttermilk Chicken and waffles combo - the OH got himself 'The American Boy' dirty burger, and we both got ourselves some New Yorker fries. I must confess at this point, that I am awfully particular when it comes to meat, so you won't catch me eating beef or lamb!

I wasn't too keen on my chicken actually. The coating was more salty and less buttermilky, and the actual meat itself didn't feel as tender and juicy as I'm accustomed to. If I was being harsh, I'd expect chicken of this quality from a local fried chicken takeaway, and as such, I'd never order it. I was also a little disappointed to overhear the serving staff say they only 'have two chicken and waffles left'. What exactly had they ran out of, and why couldn't more be made? It gave the impression that my food wasn't that fresh. I'll score it 4/10.

 

BUT, the OH is particularly hard to please when it comes to burgers. He's had more than his fair share of dirty burgers in the past, and hasn't been all that impressed with some of the beef offerings he's been served up. However, he loved their burger. The beef melted in the mouth, had just the right amount of sauce, cheese and salad - oh, and it was messy! He scored it a much more respectable 8.5/10.

I'm not going to give the fries a rating, but I will say they are pretty awesome. They come skin-on and with a nice seasoning too that complements the main dish.

 

Of course, any American Diner worth it's salt goes pretty hard at the dessert section of the menu too, so naturally we had to indulge. For this, I ordered the State Fair Waffle with Dark Belgian Chocolate Fudge and extra Whipped Cream and the OH went for a Milky Bun with Cookie Cream gelato.

The dessert waffle was a little similar to the packet stuff you can buy in Tesco which was really disappointing. It was certainly different in shape to the Chicken waffle and definitely did not taste freshly made in a waffle iron at all, and the Belgian chocolate was really weak and watery. Whipped cream and strawberries taste the same anywhere you go, so they failed on taste on the two biggest points. My biggest issue though is the actual portion size. The waffle is average size, isn't exactly crammed with toppings, and you only get one. There are now two (cue ridicule) other places to get fresh waffles in Manchester, and both offer much bigger servings for a similar kind of price. I'd rate this 2/10, as you can get quality and quantity elsewhere.

 

The Milky Bun promised so much, but was a little underwhelming when it arrived (as you can see), it literally is a plain donut, with toppings 'stuffed' inside. It actually tasted amazing, a true American style fried donut, the belgian chocolate and cookie cream gelato inside easing the dryness. But, it seems that much more could be done with this. Presentation wise, it looks really disappointing, like a Sainsbury's jam doughnut and the center was nowhere near as filled as expected. We both expected it to be oozing, but it didn't even spread itself out across the entire doughnut. OH rated this at 6/10, as it was an interesting idea, but lacked visual appeal and a full filling!

Would I return? I actually would, because it is early days and they are just finding their feet. The key for me, is they have the right ideas, it just seems they're not quite there yet. It will be interesting to see how they improve over time, as I feel they need to. There's nothing else quite like it in Manchester for Halal foodies at the moment, and I don't want it to be the last of it's kind either.

The New Yorker Diner can be found at 48 Portland Street, Manchester City Centre.

When I think of 2016, I can't help but think it's time to fast forward to the end of December, take a few weeks off and live 2017 like it's our last. This year hasn't been the greatest, for so many reasons: celebrity deaths, Brexit and Donald Trump winning the US election *shudders*.

Ugh. Well I've just taken a shower to cleanse myself of these thoughts, and return with something that has brightened up even the darkest, gloomiest of days and cold wintry nights. Yes. I'm talking Holographic Highlighters. The one great thing about this year is that Holo highlighters have come to the fore, and we've all went fucking nuts for them.

Anastasia Beverly Hills launched their hotly anticipated Moonchild palette, with no less than 6 iridescent shades. But then they went and spoiled it all by doing something stupid like not selling it in the UK. Even our trusty friend Cult Beauty struggled with it. Then Milk Makeup released their own Holographic stick highlighter, but again, not here in the UK.

Thankfully, in the UK, we've got some pretty forward thinking indie brands to feed our makeup addictions. Phee's Makeup Shop have taken it upon themselves to bring that holo highlighter to these post-brexit, post-common-sense isles.

Phee's Makeup Shop is ran by Phoebe Carr - an entrepreneur based in Sheffield who creates her own mineral makeup. Check out her ABOUT page to find out a little more, I personally find it insightful and fascinating!

Back to the post though, and Phee recently invoked the spirit of De La Soul and launched a trio of highlighters. But these are not just any old highlighters. Oh no. These are ultra shiny, unconventionally shaded, mega pigmented, colour shifting highlighters. These were made for me.

So, introducing the three *Luxe Holographic Highlighters:

Buzz: a light turquoise shade that shifts to blue

Glo Up: a gorgeous bright purple that shifts to an electric pink

Gloaming: a golden yellow that transforms to green

I received these highlighters about a month ago, and I can honestly say that I haven't cast glances towards any of the other highlighters I own. Not even once. They come in a typical little black compact with a mirror. The texture is unlike any other highlighter I've tried, it feels like a foiled texture, and this was a good sign from the outset - it promised shine.

These highlighters deliver on that promise, and then some. I've sat here for about 10 minutes trying to think of a way to describe just how shiny they are, and the best I've got is 'They're shiny AF.' That's all you need to know about that, really! As is the trend these days, they can be used either wet or dry - I personally prefer using them dry, either with my fingers or my Kiko Eyes 200 brush. If you used them wet, I think the International Space Station would spot you.

Another huge plus point is that a little goes a long way with these highlighters. It's not the case where you have to apply half the pan just to get a hint of highlight. Nope, a tiny amount packs one hell of a punch, the pigment is just unreal - and for that reason, I've used them on the inner corners, as eyeshadow and even a highlight for the brow bone.

 

Positively Glo'ing

 

I know I'm dishing out the superlatives here, and it's getting a bit gushy, but seriously, take a look at my own photos, and then check out Ashley's photo (HERE) comparing swatches of this vs ABH's Moonchild Palette. Phee's highlighters don't even look like they're in competition, it's like comparing soft pastels with bright, shiny metallics. Simply astonishing.

Glowing + Gleaming = Gloaming.

Phee's Makeup Shop Luxe Holographic Highlighters are priced at £12 each or can be purchased as a trio for £30, saving you £6. Oh, and they're cruelty free. Treat yourself, you know you want to.

*PR Sample

Ah yes. It's November already. There's that curious annual mist in the air, the cold is starting to set in, the trees are undressing a little quicker now and the long nights have just began to hit. The atmosphere at this time of year is always pretty special, like each and every molecule of oxygen carries with it anticipation.

The only problem with all this, is as a blogger, photo opportunities are drastically minimised. We've just been spoiled with 6 months of late sunsets and early sunrises, and let's be honest, we totally took it for granted. But now the sun's spending more time with her new friends down south, we've got to deal with our new friends - rain, ice, snow, cold and dark. 

But this year, I'm trying to see this is an opportunity. I've had my DSLR for 6 years, but the only time I've ever really enjoyed using it is whilst I'm on holiday, and maybe that's because I'm in unfamiliar surroundings where everything is new and fresh. When taking blog photos, there's rarely anything exciting or new going on - just photos of a new look or product, maybe in a slightly different location, or a different background. 

Recently I've collaborated with a photographer, who just so happens to be my brother (see his Instagram), and started to play around with a range of different lighting effects and scenarios. I'm learning a bit more about my cameras, their lenses and I've been experimenting a lot more - sure, some might turn out disastrous, but that's experimental photography for you! If you've been checking out my Instagram lately though, you'll see that a few of them have turned out to be pretty mind-blowing. More importantly, it's proving to be fun!

For the winter at least, this will be the direction my shots are going in. Who knows what the spring and summer of 2017 will hold though - maybe I'll go back to my old ways, or maybe I'll find even more new ways to experiment. One thing is for sure, there'll be no Chelsea doors appearing here. ;)