31.5.14 Deals and Offers

1. House of Fraser still have 40% off! Beauty up to 10%

2. Boohoo free delivery ends tomorrow

3. Superdrug 3 for 2 on all cosmetics still on, with 10 points per £1, as well as half price fragrances

4. Nordstrom also have 40% off

5.  Kiko cosmetics have released "sport proof "makeup, more details on their website

6. La Roche Posay - save 1/3 at Boots on their suncare range



That's it for today, thanks x

My Luminous Summer Makeup

Products:

• Hourglass Ambient Lighting palette (now back in stock at Space NK!)
• YSL Le Teint Touche Eclat foundation (Shade: BD50)
• Naked 3 palette from Urban Decay
• Guerlain Meteorites in shade: 3 medium and Meteorites Perles Light Diffusing Primer

All expensive but LOVELY products, especially the Guerlain meteorites collection, whose products smell like the Fizzers sweets! I managed to get most of these will a little money off with Feel Unique codes and so on, but they would be worth the investment again if (and when!) they run out. Highlighters are a new area for me, and for first impressions, the ambient lighting powders don't seem so great- but maybe when the sun comes out in England again it'll be easier to notice the difference!

Individual product reviews and swatches to come, so stay posted x

Urban Decay Naked Skin Beauty Balm

With Summer fast approaching, if not already here for some of us in the UK, I sought to try and find the perfect BB cream. In the past I was happy with the Garnier BB cream in Light, but have since tanned and so it looks far too pale on me!
Anyway, I was ordering a few of the Too Faced palettes from Feel Unique and thought I'd sneak in the Urban Decay Beauty Balm, as there was around 15% off.
I love the Urban Decay naked palettes, so I thought I'd try the rest of the Naked range.

When I first applied it I thought it was very very sheer, so much so that the redness wasn't really covered up. However, with a second coat (using my fingers), the coverage was lovely! I like a natural look, and believe that I was blessed with skin that usually doesn't have too many problems (my eyes being the worst), so the sheerness of this was just about right and I can see myself using this from day to day or when my skin isn't too bad. It comes with SPF20 and is oil-free.

It's a universal shade, but I'm a medium shade anyway, so I'm not sure how this would look on darker or lighter skin-tones x

Lord and Berry lip crayons

Lord and Berry Lip Crayons in Fire & Fuschia

Unfortunately, one of the nibs broke off, which really upset me (currently try to fix it by leaving it in the fridge).

Anyway, only a short review for today but hope it's useful!

I'll begin with saying that these crayons are so pigmented! Does exactly what it says on the box: "long lasting", "comfortable", hydrating and "smooth texture". Seriously would recommend these!

The shade range is good, but having not found them in-store, I was subjected to searching Google images for swatches!
They have matte and "Twisticks" crayons available too.
Price is quite expensive, but had 20% off at Lookfantastic.
(Range £8 -£13)
Dupes for the Nars lip pencils? Probably - will compare the two when my next order arrives x

24.5.14 deals and offers

1. Boohoo 10% off first order with code: NEWKID
 2. Fragrance direct gave 50 makeup marvels under £5 plus some clearance items
 3.House of fraser have up to 40% off Therapy
 4. E.l.f. have 70%off, free shipping and a free mystery gift for orders over £20.
 5. Look fantastic have discount codes depending on number of items purchased (see image)
 6. 30% off Photo-skin ready (Dr Manuka)

That's all for today, thanks x

Superdrug haul - Part III

So in my first Superdrug 3 for 2 haul I mentioned the postman had delivered a package which was opened and had 2 items missing. Well superdrug kindly sent out those items again and I received them on Thursday.

The items are:

Makeup Revolution The One Foundation (dupe for Mac's face and body) in shade 9

Makeup Revolution Salvation Velvet lacquer in You Took My Love.

Not a huge fan of the lacquer- it seriously dried my lips and looked awful. The foundation on the other hand, is a contender for the MAC face and body foundation, being of a similar consistency. This dupe is a lot more watery, but has a the light coverage that I look for in the MAC foundation. As you can see from the picture, a small squeeze of product started dripping away, showing how runny the foundation is, but when applied, it smoothed out (using fingers) and gave a nice clean finish. Another point to make is the fact that the bottle is tiny! I know this could be a cheaper dupe for the MAC F&B but if scaled up, would it actually work out?

Quick calculations:
MAC: £27 for 120ml  = £0.225 per ml
Makeup Rev.: £4 for 29ml = £0.137 per ml --> so for 120ml it would be £16.55

So from this, it definitely would be much cheaper to buy 120ml of Makeup Revolution's foundation, but how much of what you're paying is going toward the water content?

Ingredients (Makeup revolution The One foundation):
Aqua, Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethicone, Isododecane, Vinyl Dimethicone/Methicone Silsesquioxane Crosspolymer, Isododecane (and) Acrylates/Polytrimethylsiloxymethacrylate Copolymer, PEG-10 Dimethicone, Cyclopentasiloxane (and) Ethylhexyl Palmitate (and) Quaternium-90 Bentonite (and) Propylene Carbonate, Magnesium Sulfate, Phenoxyethanol (and) Ethylhexylglycerin, Tocopheryl Acetate, BHA

May Contain: Titanium Dioxide(CI 77891), Iron Oxides(CI 77491), Iron Oxides(CI 77492), Iron Oxides(CI 77499)

Aqua = water! Now I'm not saying that the MAC one doesn't have water, because it does (water-based foundation), but from looking at the viscosities of the two, it's likely that the Makeup Rev. foundation has more water in it than the MAC one. So, in my opinion, I would just save up and invest in the MAC F&B foundation, because you know you're getting a quality product for your money! Or if you want to bargain hunt, try looking on eBay? (I got mine for around £20 as an unwanted gift on eBay, so it is possible!)

23.5.14 Deals and Offers

Today's deals:

• The Body Shop: save £20 online and in-store with code: 14665 (min spend £40)
•  NEW All-In-One™ InstaBlur™ skin perfector £14
• Boohoo: 20% off dresses. Code: FROCKON
• House of fraser: 
• up to 40% off maxi-dresses
• up to 30% off Vera Moda
• up to 30% off swimwear
• up to 40% Dickins and Jones
• up to 40% off Mary Portas
• H&M - clubwear from £3.99 and free delivery on orders over £40 - Code: 1969
• Beauty bay - 10%, 15% and 20% off depending on total amount ordered (WANT10. NEED15, LOVE20)
• Lookfantastic - 15% with DELIGHT15
  
  
  That's it for today, thanks x

Superdrug haul- 3 for 2 heaven Part II

Items:
Vivid Baked Bronzer in Ready to Go
Vivid Baked Blush in Hard Day
L'oreal Wet Shine Stain in Romy

My second parcel arrived with 3 more Superdrug items!
(Tip: on 3 for 2 is to make multiple, separate transactions for many items where prices vary, so that it works out cheaper. In this case I had quite a few £1 items, which if left as a whole would have been free. Whereas if I separated my items out I could have larger amounts free - e.g. 3 for 2 on 3 lots of £1 items = £1 free + 3 for 2 on £2.50, £3 and £7 items= £2.50 free which in total leaves me with £3.50 saving vs. £2)

Again, loving the Makeup Revolution baked products - pigmented, smooth and nice packaging. Also, huge fan of the wet shine stains - smooth application, dry instantly, moisturising and smells so goooood ;)

3 for 2 currently on all cosmetics at Superdrug x

Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet Lip Lacquers

Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvets in shades:
03, 04 & 06

Love the consistency of these and the chic packaging - small and compact for travel. They have no particular smell, but are great shades for the summer (when the rain disappears!). A little expensive for fairly small sized products, but in my case I had bought them from eBay for around £5 each.

Overall, a nice lacquer, smooth and bright. They have excellent staying power too, the swatches wouldn't wash off my arm for days! I may look into purchasing a few more shades in the future, although I've heard that some of the shades are of a different consistency, so instore swatches are needed! Xx 

Feel Unique - New CID Cosmetics Natural Wardrobe Palette

Feel unique currently have their #uniquetreats month, where every day brings a lovely new offer! And so last week I bought the new CID Cosmetics Natural Wardrobe palette for around £12 - bargain!

I haven't heard of this brand before, but I couldn't miss the opportunity to try a new eyeshadow palette. For me, naturals are best, as my eyelids aren't great with cold, pigmented colours - even with primers! For everyday use, this palette (along with the Zoeva nude palette) might be what I am looking for.

When swatching the eyeshadows I found that the shimmery shades were pigmented, but the matte shades took quite a few swipes to get half the amount of colour. This was good for me, because I like subtle shadows for everyday wear.
The pencil is black and I haven't tried this out yet, but probably will keep it in the palette and never touch it again (my Rimmel waterproof exaggerate eyeliners do me just fine :) ).

Lastly, the powder was generally quite chalky, but actually not too bad once blended.

Overall, nice shade range for day to night wear, cute clean packaging and generally a nice addition to my make-up collection.

Swatches: (which I now released show my arm at a weird angle :S )

RRP £24 - Feel Unique

21.5.14 Deals and Offers

Good morning :)

Okay so today's offers that were sent to me via promo emails are:

1. 30% of 300+ tops at H&M - one day only!

2. British Beauty Blogger Dream Box has arrived at Latest in Beauty  - £19.95 + FREE delivery

3. Boohoo next day delivery for £1.99 (ends 8pm, Code: SPEEDY) and a new Stylefix issue is out

4. 3 for 2 still on at Superdrug across all cosmetics



And I think that's about it for today :) x

Zoeva Palettes

Palettes: Nude Palette & Metallic Stones palette


Nude palette: not very pigmented :( But I'm fine with that personally because I don't like a bold eyeshadow for everyday wear. It blended nicely, and plus this palette will get some good use if more product is needed - which is a problem for me :P (None of my palettes have dents in them despite being around for months now!)

Metallic stones palette:  Pigmented, quite blendable but very very glittery! I don't know if you can see, but my arm in the image below is very glittery despite using makeup remover to remove the swatches. Otherwise, great shade range and will be good for evening events.

Overall, a nice addition to my collection and probably will be used a lot for summer weddings - nude eyes during the day and metallic, bold eyes at night.
In terms of new purchases, the "story palettes kit" looks interesting, so I may save up and try those (https://www.zoeva-shop.de/en/story-palettes-kit/a-8000388/)

Superdrug Haul - 3 for 2 heaven!

I love it when the postman arrives in the afternoon! (He's probably sick and tired of carrying so many packages to my house by now :P)

3 for 2 at Superdrug meant that I could give Makeup Revolution another go - especially their lip products! I also wanted to try the L'oreal caresse wet shine stains, as I've heard good things about them.
I'm still waiting on a few more things, but here's what I've got so far:

Makeup Revolution lipstick swatches

Lipsticks:

L-R: Mystify, Enchant, Dusky, Bliss, Crime

Makeup Revolution and L'oreal gloss/ blush swatches

Lipgloss: L-R Touch, Baby Try, Hush Hush

Lip stains: Lolita, Eve, Princess

Baked Blush: Bang Bang you're dead
NB: it's so hot in the UK right now, that the lipsticks almost broke off when I was swatching them ><

Firstly, I did a lot of research and found girls with similar skintones to me and found some Make-up Rev. lipsticks to try - purple being a new shade for me - and they make them look lovely. The colours I chose  had to be suitable for summer too, but I always find certain shades of lighter orange and pink don't suit my face or lip shape- weird :S These colours are nice though and could be used with a lot of different outfits.

The lipglosses from Make-up Revolution look pretty standard. Not too sticky and decent enough pigmentation. However, the L'oreal shine stains are amazing! They smell SO sweet, and when you apply them they go on as a sheer colour, long-lasting and a very subtle shine. Cute gold packaging too. I would say that the sensation of applying that type of glossy stain is new to me - feels really wet when applied but dries instantly (I guess it's to do with the oil-water content).

More to come so keep posted!

18.5.14 Deals and Offers

1. The YOU beauty Discovery box has launched - visit: www.youbeautydiscovery.co.uk to find out more!

2.  The Body Shop's 40% off in-store and online (plus free delivery) end's tomorrow. CODE: 14664 (UK)

3. e.l.f. cosmetics have free shipping and 12 hours of offers today only.

4. Boohoo have Playsuits and Jumpsuits from £10 - ends tomorrow

5. Look Fantastic have a flash sale - 15% off orders over £50 + Lord and Berry eyeliner wardrobe free (worth £29). Plus loads of other offers, with discounts on hair care items.

6. Boots have 3 for 2 on Maybelline

7. Superdrug have 3 for 2 on ALL cosmetics

Cheeky shopping trip

It's such a nice day!! Which meant talking a stroll to the local shops...which led to impulsive purchases!
Firstly, Batiste dry conditioner- LOVE the smell, and is a "step-two" to the Batiste dry shampoo, enriched with Argan oil for soft locks :D
Secondly, Boots Botanics all bright moisturiser for normal-dry skin. I like treating my skin well so I like to keep my skin-care as natural as possible. I'm almost out of my Lush Celestial moisturiser, which was great for my eczema-prone skin this past Winter, but now the sun is out I'm looking for something with an SPF (this is SPF 15 I believe).

Lastly: lip products!

Another Revlon matte lip balm to add to my collection. Reddy-orange tone and lovely minty smell. 240 - Striking
A Rimmel Kate lipstick in a pinky tone - first of these lipsticks for me so I'll see how it goes. 05
And last but not least, a Revlon Lip Butter in a orange colour - great for summer! 015 - Tutti Frutti

...Then I gave in to the £3.99 Wilkinsons pick-a-mix...oops!

NYX Butter Gloss - Vanilla Cream Pie & Creme Brulee

First Impression: small and cute! (Maybe a little too small for around £5?) 

Lovely smell, great consistency...and did I mention how good they smell?! It's a strawberry ice-cream sort of smell - not too sickly either.
Pigmentation could have been better, and they didn't last for that long after drinking or eating etc. but for a day out during summer, they're a lovely choice of gloss.

I decided to try a few pink shades to begin with, but I think i'll be buying some more in the near future just to see the shade range as the NYX stalls in my local NEXT store doesn't have testers :(

Makeup Revolution - first thoughts

Well firstly, the postman had delivered an open Superdrug envelope! Apparently the package came apart in transit, and I lost the foundation and lip lacquer I had ordered :(
What I do have though, is: 4 lipsticks, a bronzer, one eyeshadow palette and 2 blushers (one cream & one baked) to show you.
(NB: 3 for 2 at the moment in Superdrug!)

So apparently this brand is owned by the guy who started MUA, and I can see the similarities: budget price, plastic packaging etc. etc. But it's been hyped up as pretty decent quality for the price, so I had to jump on the bandwagon and find out for myself.

Available on their website or via Superdrug

Lipsticks:
Encore: pinky-purple (although their website shows a more purple lipstick)
Reckless:  Vampy red
Twist: red with a hint of orange
Dare: standard red

These come in plastic cases, with little (v. hard to open) pots of colour on the ends. They also seem to rattle when you shake them - weird!
Otherwise, quite pigmented! Mostly moisturising, and typically lasts as long as the MUA ones do - a few hours ish.

Redemption Palette Essential Shimmers:
I have the MUA dupes for Naked 1 & 2, plus I've just purchased the Naked 3, so I thought I'd try another palette they offered: the essential shimmers palette, especially with summer just around the corner.
Overall, good pigmentation and will need to test with and without UD primer potion to see how long they do last. Nice range of colours, and very blendable!

Vivid Bronzer in Golden Days:
Nice and chunky! Love the packaging. Good colour for my NC37 skin at the moment too. Peachy- gold tones. May purchase some of the other shades to test.

Vivid baked blush in Loved Me the Best:
Again, nice packaging, nice pinky tone and soft to the touch.
Cream blush in Rose Cream:
The plastic wrapping ruined the lid a little, but otherwise the packaging is a little less nice than the other two. Reasonably pigmented, soft and fairly blendable. I think my favourites are still the Californ.i.a palette from Sleek or the Bourjois cream blushes, but for pennies this is not bad.

Verdict: 
Definitely buying more bronzers and another baked blush at least, maybe the highlighters (when they come back into stock).
Lipsticks - probably won't purchase any more.
Eyeshadow palette: reasonable, and probably will stay in my collection for travelling use, however, probably won't be purchasing any more.