MAC Blacktrack Fluidline Eyeliner Gel Review & Swatches

Ever since trying Sleek’s gel eyeliner a year ago (review here), and having great results from it, I’ve been looking for another one that is preferably a little more higher end so that it doesn’t dry out so quickly.  I decided on MAC’s Fluid line gel liner in Blacktrack after reading loads of great reviews on it.  I’ve been wearing it for the past two weeks now and here is my verdict.

I’ll be upfront and honest – I’m disappointed. 

The formula is quite different to Sleek’s £5 one, MAC’s is a lot creamier and softer which is good because I think it will last longer before drying out in the pot, but because of this it just doesn’t last on my eyelids.  I have never before had a problem with an eyeliner fading so fast on my lids and this has really shocked me.  I’ll put it on in the morning, and two hours later it’ll just be a slight blur of a black liner and the flick would be half disappeared for sure.

I also can’t get a nice flick with it, probably because of the consistency/formula, where as I used to achieve the most lovely flicks with Sleek’s.  Maybe I’m just using it wrong but to be honest I have the right to be fussy because it is £13.50 which I think is quite expensive for an eyeliner.  I wouldn’t repurchase this, instead I’d prefer to try another brand – I’m already eyeing up New Cid Cosmetics gel liner which I’ve tried on the back of my hand and it stayed on for a whole day.

Swatches -

  These photographs were taken twenty minutes are first applying the gel liner to my top lip, and as you can see the flick is already fading.  It also isn’t as black as the pencil kohl liner on my bottom lash line.

The weird thing is, on my hand it looks great but on the eye it just doesn’t!

Do you like this gel eyeliner?  Which is your favourite? Recommend me some!

XXX

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Giveaway Winner!

I finally have the results from my giveaway!  Thank you to every one who entered and told me your favourite beauty products; I had a great time reading them and now a list as long as my arm of things I want to now try!

To find the winner of the competition I typed all of your names up into a Word document, typing your name twice if you added a link to your blog.  All together I had an amazing 132 entries.  I then used Random Generator to randomly chose a number between 1 and 132 and then winner was number 68!

which was Claire (The Fashion Freak)!

CONGRATUALTIONS CLAIRE!  Her favourite product was Urban Decay’s Naked Palette which I am definitely going to put on my birthday list!  I’ve sent you an email Claire, and will ship the prizes off shortly!

Thank you again to every one that entered.  I already have another giveaway lined up so stay tuned for another chance to win soon!

XX

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Graze Nibble Box

Graze is an online company that send out ‘nibble boxes’ weekly so that you can snack on healthy treats instead of biscuits, chocolate and crisps which I’m addicted to.  I’d stumbled across Graze’s website quite a few times before but never really paid attention until I found a code online (XR53H7N) which gave me my first box free and my second half price.  So every Tuesday I get a box (that fits through your letter box) full of four cute treats which I’m always SO excited to get in the post.

In my first box I got apple and cinnamon flapjacks (ABSOLUTLEY INCREDIBLE!), a cheese, onion and chutney focaccia bread (looks gross but was actually alright!), yin & yang – almonds, cherries, raisins and dark choc buttons (so delicious, espec the dark choc, ha!) and seaweed peanut crackers (one of my fav snacks). 

In my second box I got ‘cheeky monkey’ – banana, cranberries and walnuts (quite tasty but boring after a while), pitted olives with herbs (haven’t tried these yet, I love olives but I’m slightly scared to try these!), ‘funky gibbon' – milk chocolate, puffed rice, cashews and banana, and vanilla roasted seeds (I scoffed these before I even took a picture, they were lovely!)

My third box was my absolute favourite so far!  Honeycomb flapjack, honey nut cashews (absolutely delicious), jaffa cake (hazelnuts, orange raisins and choc buttons) and lightly toasted pistachios! 

The boxes are so cute and I really look forward to Tuesdays now to get my week’s worth of snacks.  Each box is £3.50 (inc p&p), but you can actually use my code and get your first box free and your second half price too – you just need to type XR53H7N into the offer box when you sign up. 

I think this is such an adorable idea and a great way to get people trying different snacks and more healthy foods.  Also, the great thing is that you can cancel at any time or push a box back a few weeks if you can’t afford it for a while etc – which is an option for me at the moment because of my low funds!  They also have a list of all the snacks online and you can click ‘bin’ ‘try’ ‘like’ ‘love’ or ‘send soon’ on them so that they have an idea of your favourite tastes and you can tell them what you never want to receive, or what you want to try in your next box.  You can visit their website here!

Have you tried Graze before?  What are your favourite healthy snacks?

xxx

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Sleek True Colour Lipsticks!

This week Sleek have released a new lipstick range consisting of 20 lippies and I’m very excited to show you four of them today.  I’ll admit I have a few too many lipsticks, but I NEED these in my collection – they’re definitely up there on a par with the famous Barry M lippies!

L-R Amped (matte), Stiletto (matte), Peach & Cream (sheen), Barely There (sheen).

Amped - a vibrant, purple based pink – very bright and daring but perfect for nights out!

Stiletto - a stunning, dark, blue based red.  On my pale skin this lipstick looks incredible, but also drains any colour from my face as its such a pigmented, dark red.  I feel like a vamp when I wear this and I love it – although wouldn’t wear it every day, only on special occasions.

Peaches & Cream – As soon as I saw this I knew I’d love it and I do.  Its a gorgeous light, peach orange and I suspect this will be popular.  It is quite bright and pigmented though so I’ve been wearing this lightly dabbed on the lips.

Barely There – My ABSOLUTE favourite.  I adore this lippie, the colour is beautiful and like a pink nude with a tint of peach – I hardly look like I’m wearing anything on my lips.  Very comparable to Barry M’s #150, but a bit more moisturizing!

What I think – The colours in this new range are beautiful, very pigmented, really unique and eye catching, although some of the formula’s are quite drying (like Barry M lippies).  Barely There is definitely the most moisturizing which is probably one of the reasons it is my favourite.  Amped and Peaches & Cream do apply quite patchy and can be quite drying but this isn’t a problem as long as you apply lots of lip balm before use and take your time applying them evenly (you can even apply a clear balm or gloss on top to keep them looking soft).  These retail on Sleek’s website and in Superdrug stores for only £3.99 a lipstick – such a good price for a good quality, pigmented lippie! 

What’s your favourite high street lipstick?  Will you be trying any of the True Colour lipsticks?

xxx

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Purity Organic Skincare Cleanser & Exfoliator Review!

I am all for organic and natural skincare and I love that there are more and more natural skincare brands popping up in our high streets.  When I was asked if I would like to try any products from the Purity Organic range I was very excited and chose out the facial deep pore exfoliator and the conditioning cleansing lotion – both products which I get through loads of and am always looking for new ones to try out.

 

Exfoliator £5.99

This is a gorgeous, really gentle exfoliator which is perfect for everyday use.  The exfoliating granules are actually ground coconut shell, and the creamy, liquid formula is ‘a blend of coconut oil, sweet almond oil and aloe vera’ – so natural and great for sensitive skin.  This exfoliator isn’t harsh in this slightest and so it scrubs away dead, dry skin gently and feels like its doing a good job of cleansing as well as reviving the skin.  As my skin is bonkers at the moment I am still using my St.Ives scrub once a week for an intense scrub, but I still use this whenever in the shower for a deep pore cleanse.

Cleanser £4.99

So it did take me about ten minutes to work out how to actually open this cleanser to use (you have to press the top which makes another section on the top pop up – very smart) so I’ve included a picture on how it looks once it’s open.  This cleanser is in fact lovely!  Its definitely on a par with my ‘Simple gentle cleanser’ which I also love.  This cleanser has hardly no smell except maybe a hint of rose water and  the formula includes avocado oil, amino acids, flower water, aloe and more natural ingredients to cleanse the skin.  I have been using this nightly to take all my heavy eye makeup off – I put a blob of it onto a baby wipe and then use it to cleanse the skin and remove m/u and it does a good job of taking all the grime off.  Also this doesn’t sting the eyes at all which is a plus. 

What I think:  You would normally expect natural, organic skincare to be quite pricey but I am overly impressed with the price of these two products, they are very affordable which makes them even better in my opinion (prices based on the Purity website, found here).  All of the products in the Purity Organic range are free from parabens, GM or petroleum-derived ingredients which is also a massive bonus.  Every product in the range is also certified by EcoCert and the majority of ingredients are from natural origin or organic farming!  You can buy Purity Organic skin care online or in Superdrug stores.

Have you tried Purity Organic Skincare before?  What’s your favourite natural/organic skincare range?

xx

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Nars Press Event!

On Thursday I attended the Nars press event to have a sneak peek at the collections being released throughout 2011.  I’ll be honest now – I am a Nars virgin!  I’ve heard so much great stuff about the brand over the years but had never owned a product before; I just rarely visit department stores with the brand in and also never have had the money to part with.  This event gave me a great introduction to the brand, the kind of makeup they produce and the quality of the products – which is great, by the way!

After being talked through certain looks we could create with their products (which were also used on the catwalks in the recent Fashion Weeks), we were let loose on a makeup station, complete with brushes, mirrors and lots of products that we were encouraged to play around with and try on.  Placed around the room were also plinths featuring the new collections (pictures below).  They featured beautiful, bright eyeshadow palettes, body shimmer glow (‘Laguna body’),  facial highlighters (I’m already in love with 'Super Orgasm’) and some beautiful matte lippies (which I neeeeeeed in my life!).

Jess and I then proceeded to munch on cheesecake canapés and play on iPads at the blogging station (from which we tweeted from!) and had a good giggle.  She wrote a great post about the event also which you can read here.

My must have wish list from the night is Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Bolero and Creme Blush in Penny Lane – both absolutely stunning products of great quality.  I’m impressed with the whole brand as a whole; there’s a wide variety of shades and colours for every skin tone, sleek, sexy packaging, pigmented textures.  I still think perhaps it is a bit expensive (for example the matte lip pencil I’m in love with is around £17.50), but if the quality of the product is amazing then I guess its worth it!

What are your favourite Nars products?  Or are you a Nars virgin like me?

xxx

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Sleek Mediterranean Collection

This is a sneak peak post on the new Mediterranean Limited Edition range coming out from Sleek in the next few months!

 

First up – the eyeshadow palette!  When I first saw this I truly admired the beautiful colours but was unsure of how I would wear them, but after swatching them I’ve completely fallen in love with the shades and have realised they are completely wearable.  My favourite four are Midnight Garden (dark matt navy blue), Sunset (sparkly warm orange/red/brown), Lotus Flower (shimmery lilac) and Humming Bird (shimmery baby blue/teal).  A brown smokey look is achievable with this palette, as is a smokey blue look.  I can imagine using the others shadows to add a touch of colour under the bottom lashes (stunning for summer, might do a tutorial!). 

Next up is the blusher and pout polish, both bright pinks (purple/blue based).  Below I have shown a little FOTD wearing both of them – even though they look ridiculously bright you can definitely make them wearable for everyday use with just a touch of colour, like I have (please note the blusher is very pigmented though – so you literally need only a dot on your brush!).  The lip balm is actually quite sheer which I like as I can wear it over other lipsticks.  Also love the fact that the blush has a mirror in the compact!

Price list - Monaco iDivine palette - £6.49, Monte Carlo Pout Polish - £4.29 and Santorini Blush - £4.29 and it should be released pretty soon I think (sorry I don’t know the exact date – I’ll try and find out!). 

How would you wear the eye shadows in the palette?  Will you be picking anything up from the collection?

XXXX

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Goody Simple Styles Spin Pin

Last month I attended an event hosted by Goody, a hair styling brand that I personally hadn’t heard of before, but I learnt its extremely popular in the USA.  Goody have recently bought out a range of ‘Simple Styling’ tools that are very affordable, and can be used numerous ways to achieve great hair styles.  We had top session stylist, Neil Moodie, teaching us how to use the tools and showing us what we can achieve with them.

One of my favourite tools from the four released is the Spin Pin – its actually amazing girls, you won’t believe how it works.  Below are two simple bun styles that are very easy to do with the spin pins, even I achieved them with my 23inch long, thick hair.

Neat Bun:

Messy Bun:

  

So they basically look like like little screws and that's exactly how you use them, by screwing them clockwise into an up do. I swear to you that they will hold your hair in place all day.  You will never need a hair band or a bunch of bobby pins again.  Its hard to explain cause it sounds like it would never work but they do!  So above in my photographs you can see two example of buns that you can do with the pins and once they’re in, they’re in and you can’t even see them sticking out provided you screw them in enough.  To remove them you literally just find them in the bun and screw them counter-clockwise. 

It says online that using the pins are the equivalent of using 20 bobby pins, which is really impressive, I think!  In each Spin Pin set you get two screw pins and you can buy them in either ‘blonde’ (which I used), or brunette.  You can buy them from Boots, Asda or Morrissons and you get two for £4.98, which I think it pretty affordable if you think of how much money you spend on bobby pins throughout a year!  They’re also a great conversation starter – I’ve used these infront of friends and I always get a ‘woww, what on earth is that!’ reaction which is pretty funny.

Have you ever tried these or will you be trying them?  How do you wear your hair most?

XX

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Sleek ‘Destination S’ Event!

Last Friday I was lucky enough to attend the Sleek Makeup ‘Destination S’ event in Shoreditch.  I absolutely adore Sleek and their products and so I was very excited to see what they had in store for us!   We were greeted with a bag and a cheque book, full of pages that we could tear out to enter competitions and collect prizes.  I loved the interactive side of this event, it was great to get hands on with new products!  We had our lip ‘prints’ read by a fortune telling man (apparently I’m the Chinese element of wood - energetic, outgoing, don’t like people being late etc – all so true!), we had our skin matched up to one of Sleek’s 30 new foundation shades, we had to create and mix our own ideal lipstick colour, had to try our hand at guessing ten Caribbean maps AND we had a Zumba lesson and competition!

I’ll tell you first about a few new collections coming out and then more details about what we got up to!

^ Oh So Special palette < Nude palette and Pout Polish

So we got a sneak peak of a few new i-divine eyeshadow palettes that are set to make their debut this year, my favourite two being the Nude palette and the Oh So Special palette - both filled with wearable neutrals and browns that I could easily wear every day of the week – I can’t wait to get my mitts on these!  Along with the Nude palette, a nude blush and lip polish are also going to be released, both again super pretty and wearable, I suspect they’ll be very popular!

Another two LE ranges coming out is the Caribbean and Mediterranean collections, each with a palette, blush and lip polish.  Both of the ranges have stunningly bright colours which are beautiful and perfect for the summer and adding a bit of colour to you outfits.  I absolutely love the look of the orange blush and lip pout in the Caribbean range and the orange/coral will be playing a major colour role in my spring/summer makeup.  We were given the Mediterranean collection to play with so expect a full review of the range in the next few days.

^ Sleek Mediterranean range < Sleek Caribbean range

Another product that I absolutely can’t wait to launch is the Pout Paints – these are very very similar to the OCC Lip Tars but I suspect will be more affordable.  They are basically intense pigmented lip paints that you literally need a dab of to paint the lips – and the best bit is that you can mix them to create your very own signature shade.  One of the tasks in the event was to create your own shade with the ten pout paints available, and the best colour was to win a Marc Jacobs watch, and guess what… I WON!!!!  How incredible is that! 

So above is the area where we had to mix our own individual pout shades.  I chose to mix a pink, peach and white to create the perfect creamy peach shade which I will be sporting this summer and below is my creation and my swatches!

I must say, I’m pretty damned proud of my little concoction and its made me want to design my whole own lip colour range (that really would be my dream job – to make my own makeup line and create all colours and formulas myself!).  I got feedback on why my shade won, which was the colour is on trend, an instant ‘wow’ upon opening, stunning colour and good creative mix of colour palette.

The stunning little beauty I won was the Marc Jacobs ‘Mademoiselle Rivera’ watch and its absolutely beautiful – it has red diamante lips on the clock face (very apt for the competition!) and because its white it’ll virtually go with any outfit.  I’ve always wanted a designer watch and now I finally have one! AHHH SO HAPPY!!

I had an absolutely great day with some amazing company; Hannah – Baby Blonde, Sabrina – A Little Obsessed, Shirley – Meek N’ Mild, Fei – Peonies and Lillies, Zoe – The London Lipgloss, Fleur – Fleur De Force, Gemma – Gemsmaquillage, Zara – Mouldy Fruit and many more absolute babes! 

I’ve got lots of Sleek lipstick, blush and eyeshadow swatches coming up soon so keep an eye out!

Which collection are you eyeing up?  What's your favourite Sleek product?

XX

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