New treats~

Hey! I thought I'd share a few things I've picked up recently, sort of as a sneak peak into what I'll be reviewing in the next few weeks! :) 

I treated myself to the Naked 3 palette when it came out (no regrets: prettiest palette ever <3), and got the Naked Basics palette as a Christmas present! I also got a Debenhams gift card for Christmas, and so I bought three things I've wanted for ever: Illamasqua's Raindrop and Jo'Mina nail polishes, and MACs Snob lipstick! Ahh I've not even taken them out of their packaging yet, I'm so excited to see them :D I'll be reviewing these (and maybe a few more things) in the coming weeks, so I hope you'll stay tuned :) 

<3

I'm Back!

Hello everyone! I'm sorry for the awfully long hiatus, but I'm back, and I'm gonna do my very best to stay back! I'll get some posts up in no time and hopefully you'll enjoy them! :)

<3

Haul and Reviews!

I swear, I only went in to boots to get cotton buds!! Of course, I couldn't help but notice that there is currently a 3-4-2 offer across all cosmetics, so of course, I had to indulge (twice over...)

I got two of Collections Cream Puffs in Cotton Candy (01) and Fairy Cakes (03). I'd wanted these for ages, as I wanted some more muted lip colours, but I rarely get along with Nude / muted lipsticks for some reason. On the tube, they are described as "Velvety soft, matt finish lip creme" (and also that they are a moisturising lip creme). I have since used both and can say that they are quite long lasting (3-4 hours), but not at all moisturising! The description of being velvety soft is accurate at the time of application, but after a few hours of wear, they become sort of sticky and horribly drying!  Another issue is that they are described as matte, but they have a slight shimmer or sheen to them, so they're a little off matte! 

Cotton Candy is a muted rose pink 

and Fairy Cakes is an orange-leaning coral.

Cremepuffs retail in Boots and Superdrug for about £2.99


Next in my haul was Barry M's Ultra Moisturising Lip Paint in Vicious Violet (156). Barry M's website claims that the Ultra Moisturising Lip Paint is "enriched with hydrating and lip nourishing Cocoa Butter for a soft and saturated finish" I have the Black Cherry (160) shade, and I definitely agree that the new lip paints are moisturising, but they also feel quite heavy after a few hours of wearing them. They are highly pigmented, definitely stain, and so last a very long time (over 6 hours at least!) They also have quite a shiny finish to them initially, but eventually dry to quite a matte finish (which is puzzling, as I would not associate matte finishes with moisturisation!) Overall, they are a nice addition to Barry M's already lovely selection of Lip Paints, and I'd definitely recommend checking them out! Vicious Violet is a deep, blue based berry shade, and feels a lot lighter than the Black Cherry shade, so if you don't have a colour like it, it's a definitely one to check out. (Barry M Lip Paints retail in Boots and Superdrug (and some Semi Chems) for £4.49!)

Next in my haul is a Natural Collection Blushed Cheeks blush in Pink Cloud. I never gave Natural Collection any attention until recently, when I discovered they held a modest collection of lovely pink based nude lipsticks (stay tuned for swatches and reviews!). I liked the look of this pinky-coral toned blush and thought I'd pick it up. The formula seems lovely, very smooth and not at all chalky.Natural Collections Blushed Cheeks range retails at £1.99 in Boots.

My final purchase from Boots was Barry M's Nail Paint in Cappuccino. In the bottle, Cappuccino looks like a browny-taupe colour, and it was one that I had my eye on for quite a while. On the nail, it looks different under different lights. Sometimes, it looks like a not-so-nice muddy brown colour, and in others, it looks like a gorgeous taupey-grey. Confusing! Barry M Nail Paints retail in Boots and Superdrug (and some Semi Chems) for £2.99 

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains

I thought I'd share my opinion on Revlon's most recent (but not really that recent at all ><) lip product, the drugstore answer to Cliniques Chubby Sticks; the Just Bitten Balm Stain.

I own three shades, Crush, Honey and Darling, and I think they're all fantastic. They are the only lip product labelled as 'moisturising' that I have tried that I would consider to be actually moisturising and not just a tagline to entice buyers. The pigmentation is predictably inconsistent throughout the range as the darker shades are a lot stronger than the lighter shades, which apply quite sheer. Another thing about the balm stains (that I have heard many people complain about) is that they have a lovely minty smell, which I think is lovely. They leave a shiny, but not glossy sheen to the lips. The stains are light, not sticky and they complement rather than cover your lips natural colour, and so I feel they're really quite versatile! They also come in a range of 7 colours (I think there are a few more in the US though), from dark red to bright pink to light lilac so there's definitely a shade to suit everyone.

Crush is a dark red stain with a slight hint of brown. It has a tendency to apply relatively sheer, but can easily be built up to a strong base. Due to its colour, it stains very easily, and thus can last a good 4-5 hours.

Honey is a muted rose pink, which I think is a perfect everyday colour. It requires a few layers to get a good coverage, and it doesn't seem to last as long or stain as much as Crush (maybe 3-4 hours without eating)

Finally, my favourite (just because it's purple :3) is Darling. Darling is a blue based lilac-pink, which reminds me of Barry M's Palest Lavender and (from swatches alone) MACs Lavender Whip. Being the lightest of the three shades I own, it is predictably the least pigmented, leaves only the slightest stain, but still has a good life span of maybe 3-4 hours. 

Finally, swatches!

L-R

Darling, Honey and Crush

Revlon Balm Stains retail in Boots and Superdrug for £7.99

Have you tried the balm stains? What did you think of them? 

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick: Really Red & Pink Storm

Hi! :) I was in boots today, desperately searching for a perfect red lipstick, as I actually have none! (I have a formal to go to tomorrow and no other lipstick suits my dress than red.) I can't stand the colour red, and avoid it at all costs, but I was still surprised to find a lipstick hoarder like me to be lacking a red lipstick! Oh well. I found a perfect red in the form of Revlon's Really Red, and seeing as it was buy one get one half price, I couldn't resist buying a second lipstick hehe :3







Both Really Red and Pink Storm are Matte shades, and I find Revlon's matte shades to be a really lovely formula. Non drying, highly pigmented, long lasting and easy to apply! What more could you ask for? (Except maybe a wider range of shades...)
One niggle I have with this range of lipsticks, (one that is, admittey, completely benign) is that I really dislike the packaging. The black and gold/brass just don't mix well with me. As Revlon is quite a high end 'drugstore' brand, I feel they would look a lot nicer if they were silver or chrome instead of the brassy colour. (Though really, it doesn't matter at all. They're wonderful products)











Thanks for reading <3

Ps, sorry for the current low quality photos. I'm using a terrible camera at the moment :(

Purple lipsticks (part 1)

Hey! I thought I'd share my no.1 beauty vice: purple lipsticks. I've so many, I had to split up this into two sections! In part one, I will be sharing and swatching my 'light purple' lipsticks :)



(Ps. They are in no particular order)

No.1: Barry M lip paint in 127 (palest lavender

This is a milky lavender that has quite a sheer coverage, which is quite unlike the rest of Barry M's lip paints. Anyway, I have a review of this earlier on in my posts Here!




Mac: Viva Glam Nicki 2
This is an amplified finish mac lipstick, and as such has wonderful pigmentation, however, probably as it is such a light colour, it does not last as long as most amplified's would. It is a very pale blue toned lavender. It definitely needs reapplied ever few hours, as it is so pale (yet so striking) when it bleeds, it doesn't look so great!




Revlon Just Bitten Balmstain: Darling

I adore this! It actually transfers onto my lips quite pink, but it's just the perfect low maintenance lip product. I know a lot of people have been put off by the smell, but I adore it, it smells lovely and minty fresh. The stain element is not as noticable as other balm stains, but it still lasts a good few hours - Nearly all day!




Lime Crime: Airborne Unicorn

This is very similar to a Mac Amplified lipstick in duration and pigmentation (and smell?) and while I love it, and the name, and the packaging (unicorns 4 life <3 data-blogger-escaped-a="" data-blogger-escaped-and="" data-blogger-escaped-br="" data-blogger-escaped-colour="" data-blogger-escaped-different="" data-blogger-escaped-hand="" data-blogger-escaped-in="" data-blogger-escaped-is="" data-blogger-escaped-it="" data-blogger-escaped-lights="" data-blogger-escaped-lips="" data-blogger-escaped-looks="" data-blogger-escaped-my="" data-blogger-escaped-not="" data-blogger-escaped-onto="" data-blogger-escaped-or="" data-blogger-escaped-s="" data-blogger-escaped-strange="" data-blogger-escaped-the="" data-blogger-escaped-totally="" data-blogger-escaped-transfers="" data-blogger-escaped-tube="" data-blogger-escaped-under="" data-blogger-escaped-what="">


Mac Sheen Supreme: Asian Flower

This, along with Relvon's darling, is my perfect every day lip product. It is quite a pinky purple, and so it's not too striking yet it is really nicely pigmented. It lasts 3-4 hours of normal wear (without eating or drinking) and it has a lovely scent (typical Mac vanilla smell) what's not to love!






Swatches: (l-r) Barry M 127, Viva Glam Nicki 2, Revlon Darling, Lime Crime Airborne Unicorn, Mac Asian Flower.

I hope you enjoyed my post, stay tuned for my 'dark purple' post soon :)

Thanks for reading <3 data-blogger-escaped-br="">

GOSH x-ceptional wear foundation

I'm going to review what is, for me, the ultimate foundation for pale skin: GOSH x-ceptional wear in porcelain.




I'm sure anyone reading who has pale skin will sympathise with me that it's next to impossible to find a foundation that is suitable for pale skin that doesn't leave your skin with a orange tinge.
I've tried mixing white foundation to tone down normal foundations, I've tried expensive brands, I've tried cheap brands. It took me seven years to find something that suited my skin tone.
For reference, I'm about NW10 or maybe a little paler.

I came across GOSH's x-ceptional wear in porcelain whilst just browsing through superdrug, and was pleasantly surprised when I swatched it on my hand - it was almost a perfect match for my skin! Leaning a little on the pink side, I wasn't phased, anything was better than that dreadful orange tinge. So I picked up a bottle two years ago and haven't found a foundation that betters it yet.

It has a light to medium coverage, smoothing out skin tone and gives your face a lovely smooth and porcelain look to it. However, it won't cover blemishes or dark circles, so you'll definitely need a good concealer to team it with.




Although it looks quite orangey here,


It blends out into a lovely pale tone that matches and smooths out my skin tone lovely.

It is available in most superdrugs for a measly £8~ so it's definitely worth checking out :)

Thanks for reading <3

MAC NW10 Studio Fix Foundation Powder

Hi! :) so, as I promised, I've got a review and swatches of MACs nw10 studio fix powder.
The product is a foundation powder, which would be ideal for oily skin. Personally, I have combination (but mostly dry) skin, and I will use the powder to bus coverage over my primer/foundation, which only offer a light to medium coverage.
It comes in MACs standard packaging, which I think is lovely, very minimalist and distinctive. The compact has a mirror and a space underneath with a sponge.








The powder is really blendable, smooth and offers a really good coverage for a powder, I'm actually quite surprised at how good the coverage is (and I've tried powder foundations before!) so kudos to MAC for making a great product.
As for the shade, in indoor light, it looks like the perfect shade. I always wanted to try MAC but even NW15 was too dark for me. So hopefully going 5 points lighter will leave me with the perfect pale powder!
It really smoothed out my skin, and it seems to have light reflecting qualities as I look quite... Illuminated (sparkly? :p) while wearing the powder.
As for staying power, I would say it would last a good few hours, but it would definitely need reapplied a few times a day.




Thanks for reading <3

MUA haul

So! I'm a fan of MUA on facebook, and, as I'm sure everyone knows, they finally had their amazing 50% off everything offer, and I picked up a lovely selection of goodies :)

(I'm sorry the picture isn't the best quality, I took it last night when I got home) 

Anyway! I picked up the Fixing Mist, which I actually used last night, I must say I'm impressed! I'll definitely be doing a proper review of it soon

I got the undressed pallete, the eye-primer, two blushers, a powder blush in shade 4, and a cream blush in Blossom, a Kiss-Proof lipstain in Kissalicious, Sugar Lips lip balm (both of which are lovely products), eyebrow pencil in Blonde, and then three nail products; Gemini nail constelliations, Jellyfish mystical glitter and Rose Dust fairy dust polish. Finally, I got the F3 Concealer Brush, I was planning on getting pretty much the entire range of brushes, but unfortunately they sold out! 

After the 50% discount, ALL of this came to only £16, which is absolutely amazing. It was such a generous offer, and I'm so glad I was able to avail of it :) I've tried a few of these out already, and I'll definitely be reviewing quite a few, so stay tuned! and a big thank you to MUA ^_^

x

MUA Glamour Days Palette

I'm so sorry this is really late >< I've been crazy busy with college work and haven't had a chance to update my blog. I'm trying to fix that though!

Anywayy, back in Novemer, I won a competition with MUA and was sent their gorgeous Glamour Days eyeshadow palette. :)

The palette has twelve gorgeous colours which I found to be creamy and very easy to blend, all together really lovely.

As you can see they aren't mega pigmented, but you can build them up to create a stronger finish. I feel the glittery / sparkly shadows have a stronger pigment to the mattes, but as I said, they are all easy to blend and build upon to create your preferred finish.

My favourites are: 1, which is perfect for highlighting, and the bottom/last four, as they're perfect for the autumn/winter time. 

Overall, Glamour Days is a lovely palette and the quality really impressive considering that it only costs £4

<3

Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette

I was given this last week from my friend, a very generous gift! I am so happy to have Naked 2, I've been wanting it ever since its release. 

I have the original Naked, but I feel that the shades in 2 are a lot more suited to cooler and paler skins than the original, and so I thought it would get along with me better. 

The actual case is definitely an upgrade from the original. A cool, taupe tin with a 'lock' closure, as opposed to the velvety (dust magnet) cover with magnetic lock (the magnet was very strong, and never opened on me, but i'm sure they've opened on someone and that's a horrible thought :( ).

~I just realised the colours of the cases of the two palettes sort of represent the tones/colours of the eyeshadows in them. Which is a pretty cool idea :)

The palette holds twelve shadows, 3 mattes; Foxy, Tease and Blackout, and 9 shimmer and glitter shades; Half Baked (which is also in the original Naked), Bootycall, Chopper, Snakebite, Suspect, Pistol, Verve, YDK, and Busted.

It also comes with a free double ended shading and crease brush and a mini Lipgloss Junkie in 'Naked'. I was really peeved that they decided to include a lipgloss instead of the usual mini Primer Potion, I love getting the free primers as they are my top eyeshadow primer, and I felt this was a bit mean of UD.  However, when I opened up the packaging, I could instantly smell a wonderful minty smell, the lipgloss! I adore lip glosses with a minty smell and it has a cooling effect too, which I also love. So it redeemed itself in my eyes. 

Foxy: is a very pale matte beige that practically matches my skin colour! I guess it could be used as a highlighter.
Half Baked: a light bronze shimmer. I tried it out against the original Half Baked and it feels much creamier, gives a lot better coverage and is wonderfully blendable.  

Bootycall: I think this is one of my favourites out of the palette. A delicate icy rose with a lovely shimmery transfer. So pretty!

  

Chopper: an intense silvery copper that is almost glittery. 

Tease: the second matte of the palette, a lovely pale taupe. 

Snakebite: a rather understated, but gorgeous, dark bronze. 

Suspect: a warm shimmery beige

Pistol: dark, grey with a touch of taupe. My no.1 from the collection. :)

Verve: shimmery, silvery white. Used sparingly, it would make a lovely highlighter. It would be gorgeous all over with a black liner as well though.

YDK; absolutely stunning! So so shimmery, a coppery gold. Looks as if it has little flecks of gold leaf in it. I prefer silver over gold, so I don't know how much use I'll get out of it, but it is the most eye catching out of the palette.

Busted: A cool, dark, shimmery brown. It is very similar to Dark Horse, just a tad lighter and the shimmer is a lot more prominent. 

Blackout: I was really pleased to see a matte black in Naked 2, as I really dislike the shimmery black from Naked. It has a very sparse amount of silvery glitter, but when you wear it the glitter is barely noticeable. 

L-R
Foxy (you can just about notice it!)
Half Baked

Booty Call

Chopper

Tease, Snakebite, Suspect, Pistol

Verve, YDK, Busted, Blackout

I feel that many of the colours, particularly the lighter ones, seem to be slightly less pigmented, and need to be built up to achieve a good coverage. Though they have a lovely formula that is so easy to blend, so I guess it doesn't matter so much.

The brush that came with the set is really lovely. On one side is a small, slightly stiff crease brush and on the other, a more relaxed and longer blending brush. Both sides are really soft and lovely to use. The brush that came with Naked was a little too stiff and I never really liked using it.

I personally prefer the shades in Naked 2 to Naked. The formula is creamier and easier to blend, but some of the lighter shades aren't as pigmented as I'd hoped they would be. Despite the Lip Gloss having a lovely smell, I would still have preferred a mini Primer Potion. However, the double ended brush is really, really lovely and I know I'll get a lot of use out of it, as opposed to the brush that came with the original Naked.
Although there are a few warm shades in it, I think Naked 2 would be more suitable than Naked for cooler skin tones, as it features a lot more taupey and silvery shades.

x