Boots 17 LE Spring Fling Eyeshadow Palettes!

One thing I look forward to about Spring time (apart from eating copious amounts of chocolates & going on Easter egg hunts) are the Limited Edition Spring/Summer makeup ranges that start hitting the shops.  I am an absolute sucker for seasonal limited edition products that beauty companies release that I can’t help but want them all!

A favourite brand of mine who do seasonal LE products very well is 17.  Do you remember the GORGEOUS palette I picked up from their Spring range last year (review here)?  Well, this year they are back with two new limited edition palettes for you to drool over! 

Read on for swatches and reviews!

 
 

Spring Fling palette in Hazy Days – I think this is a gorgeous palette with a lovely choice of colours.  It has a light, soft gold colour which is perfect for a base to the eyes, as well as two gorgeously pigmented browns and a green shadow for adding a pop of colour to the eyes.  All of these shadows are shimmery which is perfect for adding a little sparkle this Spring.



Spring Fling Palette in Spring Brights – Another beautiful palette to look at, but unfortunately these shadows are quite light which means they aren’t very pigmented.  The swatches above were heavily swatched on my arm and as you can see they are still quite fair.  This palette is gorgeous if you want a subtle sweep of gold or purple on the eyes but not if you want a lot of intense colour. 
The pink in this palette is the only matte shade which works beautifully as a blush if you try not to pick up any of the other colours on your blusher brush (haha!).  I can imagine this palette looking beautt-ii-full on darker skin tones, particularly the purple and gold!

What I think – These are gorgeous little palettes to have in your makeup bag this summer, but they aren’t so great if your looking for intensely pigmented eye shadows.  I think I prefer Hazy Days, solely for the fact that it’s a little more pigmented than Spring Brights and because the golden brown shades in it are just the types of colours I like to wear daily.  Each palette has a mirror in the lid and they come in cute compact cases so they’re perfect for travelling with.

Each palette will retail at £6.99 and will be available for a limited time only in Boots stores.  There are a few more products in the Spring range from 17 which I will also be reviewing very soon.

I have also created a ‘Face of the Day’ with the Spring 17 collection which I am posting on Thursday as part of a blogging competition – stay tuned to see how I wore these pallets!

What do you think of these LE 17 Spring palettes?  Which do you prefer?

xxxx

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Sleek LASH OUT Mascara Review

Sleek are known and loved for their incredible eyeshadow palettes and gorgeous pout paints and lippies, but they haven’t really stood out because of their mascaras in the past… but this is soon going to change!  Sleek have just released their new mascara ‘LASH OUT’, which I have been using religiously for the past two weeks and I’ve got to say, I’m really impressed.

Read on for swatches and to find out what I really think about it!

The mascara comes in a bright pink tube which looks very cute in my makeup bag.  The wand is thin and quite long and the nylon bristles wrap around the wand in a spiral shape which I really like as I feel like it reaches every lash.  The end of the wand is quite thin which allows you to reach into inner corners without lots of mess and smudges!

BARE LASHES
 
My bare, non existent lashes.  My lashes are quite dark at the base with are really blonde at the tips so they look shorter than they actually are when they are bare.

ONE COAT

One coat instantly lengthens my lashes from root to tip and combs them through gently so that they aren’t clumped.  I’ve been wearing one coat with a natural eye (no eyeshadow) out and about and it makes my lashes look subtly fluttery and feminine.

TWO COATS

Two coats is all you need to accompany a smokey eye – lashes are given more volume and become thicker and more striking.  A second coat also adds darkness to the lashes so they look smouldering.

THREE COATS
 
I haven’t yet had to pile on three coats of this but I thought I’d show you it on anyway – this is where it starts getting a little clumpy but lashes are still left looking intensely black and full of volume and length.  If you were wearing lots of dark eye shadows anyway then the slight clumpiness of this wouldn’t be too noticeable.

What I think 
Sleek have come up trumps again with this product and have once again confirmed why they are one of my favourite makeup brands on the high street.
I really, really love this mascara.  I love how black the formula is and how much colour it gives my lashes.  I also adore how much it volumizes and lengthens them.  I will normally wear two coats of this which gives the perfect amount of product to my lashes – there is really no need for three coats in my opinion. 
This is really easy to remove with some cleanser and a wet wipe and it doesn’t irritate my eyes.  I also haven’t had ANY transfer of the product on to my eyelids through out the days so far which I am extremely happy about – it doesn’t smudge at all on my eyes.

This retails for £7 on the Sleek stand in Superdrug stores.  I find that mascaras are getting quite expensive at the moment, for examples L’Oreal’s retail at around £10-14 in stores, so I find Sleek’s Lash Out really affordable in comparison.  I will definitely be repurchasing this!

Have you tried Sleek’s LASH OUT mascara?  Which is your favourite lengthening mascara?

xxxx

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MUA Love Hearts Nail Varnish Swatches!

 
I <3 U


I’ve got to say now, ‘I <3 U’ must just be my new favourite nude nail varnish!  When I saw it I knew that I was going to love it and the colour has not disappointed me – it almost looks like a pale baby pink on my nails and it really suits my pale skin. 
One thing I did not love about this polish was the formula.  I nearly gave up after the second coat when it still looked horrendous and streaky on, but after the third coat then this actually looked okay.  You can tell in the photographs above that it is still a little streaky in some places, but it isn’t that noticeable.  This would be incredible if the formula and texture was better, but for £2 it is a bargain.

U & I

This is actually my first ever yellow nail varnish!  Its a gorgeous shade, almost like a bright pastel yellow and it is very striking when worn.  I’m going to save this for the summer because I suspect it’ll look gorgeous with a tan.  The formula of this polish is a little better but still needed three coats to be perfect. 

What I think – I’ve never tried MUA nail polishes before so I can’t compare the Love Hearts collection to any of their previous polishes, but I think these are gorgeous colours.  I love pastel shades and these are perfect for spring and summer.  At only £2 then these really are a bargain and a great little addiction to any nail varnish addict, but I do wish the formula of I <3 U was a little better!

Have you picked up any of the Love Hearts collection so far?  Have you tried any of MUAs nail polishes – if so, what do you think?

xxx

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February Glossy Box!

I had forgot that it was that time of the month again when the postman came a knockin’ on my door with the Feb GlossyBox.  As usual, I saw down with a cup of tea, my camera and eagerly opened the box and spent time playing and trying all of the products (I do love this little Glossy Box routine I have going on!).

Dr. Bronner’s Magic Liquid Soap – I had heard a lot about Dr. Bronner’s magic soaps before (mainly from The Gloss Goss) but I had yet to try it so I was pleasantly pleased when I spotted it in my box.  As you all know, I love multi purpose products and this is another great one.  You can use it as a bath soap, cleanser, shower gel, shampoo, etc; On the bottle it states that there are 18 different uses for this.  I got the ‘Rose’ scent which is lovely, it smells like rose water.

Paul Mitchell Round Tip Liquid Curl Definer – I’m very excited about this product except for the fact that it had leaked in transit, so I was left with a very sticky, wet, (albeit lovely smelling) box.  I’m looking forward to using this when I next curl my hair.

Como Shambhala Invigorate Lotion – I have way too many body lotions so I was not too bothered when I saw this, but I must say it does smell lovely on the skin.  It smells a lot like my Mother’s flower garden - geranium, lavender, but also has the added extra of peppermint and eucalyptus which makes it feel really refreshing on the skin.  I wouldn’t like to wear this smell out as it is quite ‘olde’ smelling, but its perfect for after a bath and is definitely invigorating.

DuWop Venom Gloss – I know that a lot of people will be happy when they spot this in their box.  Duwop is a really big name in the lip plumping world.  The colour is lovely, I received the shade ‘Buttercup’ which looks natural and sheer on the lips. 

BM Beauty Pure Mineral Eyeshadow – Last product and another makeup piece!  This is a mineral, loose pigment eyeshadow and I received the shade ‘Noir’ which is a pitch black with a hint of shimmer.  This is very, very pigmented so its perfect for smokey eyes.  I have been using it to ‘set’ my black gel eyeliner and it works a treat.  This is very messy though so beware!

What I think – I think this is a really nice well rounded box, with two pieces of makeup and a little bit of body, skin and hair care, there’s a little bit for each inch of your body.  It might not be the most exciting box, but it is one which I will get a lot of use out of!

What did you get in your Glossy Box?  Would you be happy with two items of makeup?

P.S – Next month something extra exciting (but secret for the time being!) is happening with Glossy Box.  I’m not sure what it is yet, but keep your eyes peeled!

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MAC Haul!

Firstly, thank you to everyone who commented on my ‘HELP!’ post with a recommendation!  I jotted everything mentioned down and trotted on down to the MAC stall in the Selfridges beauty hall and had a lovely time swatching everything on the back of my hand and deciding exactly what I wanted.

My sister also had a MAC gift card from her boyfriend that she wanted to spend, so I dragged her along and helped her choose a few bits also.  She loves makeup but is a little clueless, so it was also fun to take charge and show her a few bits and let her choose her favourite. 

Below is a photograph of all the bits we bought that day – both mine and my sisters!

My bits -

Creme Cup Lipstick – This was a little risky because I didn’t try it on my lips in store, I just swatched it on my hand, fell in love and decided I wanted it for sure.  Many of you said that this is a little light so it might wash my pale skin out, but its actually not too bad.  It’s a gorgeous pale pink and I’m looking forward to wearing this out!

Ravishing Lipstick – I returned 6 of my empty MAC products and got this with free with the back-to-mac scheme.  I wanted an orange based lippie because I’m obsessed with that colour and was originally going to go for Vegas Volt but I remembered that I had wanted Ravishing in the past, and ended up going for this.  It’s quite similar to Jazzed and Ever Hip which I already have, but I still love this shade!

Kinda Sexy Lipstick – Lots of you recommended this, but once I saw it in store I was a little hesitant.  I didn’t realise it was a matte shade and it looked a lot darker than I thought it’d be.  I asked the mua to try this on me and I decided that it really brightens my skin up and suited me perfectly.  It’s not completely natural because its darker than my bare lip shade, but it’s very beautiful.

Nylon Eye Shadow – My favourite golden eyeshadow, I will continue loving this forever!

Espresso Eye Shadow – I picked out a few dark brown eye shadows (including Brun) and asked the mua to match one up to my brows.  He said Espresso would be the best (as did many of you!) and tried it on me and its almost perfect.  I’ve yet to try this out properly, but it fills in my brows nicely and also looks gorgeous in the crease of my eye!

Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Dark – Right, now this is something I would NEVER have looked at and I can’t actually believe I bought this.  I told the mua that I wanted a contour shade for my face and I pointed out ‘harmony’ blush as an example and he shook his head and said ‘no, a mineralise skin finish will be better’.  He said that it would look more natural and would give more definition than a blusher would.  I uhmed and ahhed and he tried it on me and I realised he was actually right.  This gives a really, nice, natural contour to my face because it’s a matte face powder. 

Ladyblush Blush Creme – I was originally planning to buy Britwit Blush Creme because it looked incredible on swatches online but in actual fact it looked way too dark and plum-like on my pale skin.  Ladyblush, on the other hand, is pretty amazing.  It’s a stunning pink shade with a hint of brown and I adore this.

Melba Blusher – The mua tried Gingerly on my cheeks and it looked STUNNING (I think I need it!) but I went with Melba instead because it is just a little lighter and easier to wear daily.  Plus, I have wanted this for ages, so it seems appropriate!

My sister bought – Lipstick in Fanfare, Lip Liner in Dervish, Eyeshadow in Kelly, Studio Finish Concealer in NC15 and Blush Creme in Something Special.

That’s everything!  I am of course going to review each of these items fully, with swatches, very soon.  I’m really happy with all that I bought and have really been enjoying applying makeup recently because of these bits! 

What would you like to see reviewed first and what would you have bought?

Thanks again for all of your help!

xxxx

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The House of Rush – Hair Transformation!

On the 1st February I made my way to Piccadilly to undergo a hair transformation at The House of Rush.  THOR is the flagship store for Rush salons, but it’s also more than that; THOR is a little escape from the rush (ha) of London where you can go to fix up all of your beauty needs.  As well as being a hair salon, they also cater for almost every type of beauty treatment, from manicures, to massages, laser hair removal treatments, eyelash extensions, waxing, the lot!

The interior of the salon is absolutely stunning; it’s like the inside of a palace, complete with chandeliers and humongous gold framed mirrors.  There is also a waiter (all suited and booted) who is on hand if you want any snacks or drinks, which I thought was a really nice touch!

I decided to book in for a complete hair transformation – highlights, lowlights and a hair cut, to spruce up my dull looking hair.  I hadn’t had my hair cut or dyed since October and it was looking a little boring and in need of a makeover.

BEFORE – As you can see my hair was SO long that it was looking a little flat and lank.  The colour was also a little dull since last having highlights.

I showed Bradley, my hairdresser for the day, a few photographs of the kind of blonde I wanted my hair to match and he said that the best way to achieve it was to do half a head of highlights (to add blonde) and lowlights (to match my roots) and then darken up the ends of my hair a bit with a neutralising toner.  He also said that I’d benefit from a hair cut to encourage hair growth  Now, I have been admiring shoulder length, shaggy hair, a la Caggie Dunlop (MIC) for a while now, so I said hell yea, lets chop it off!

DURING -


AFTER – Gorgeous, healthy, natural blonde locks!  Bradley gently curled my hair with GHDs after trimming it, so that it looked more dishevelled and messy, which is how I normally wear my hair.
 

A week later – More toned down and a little lighter.

As you can see the colour is a lot more natural and has more depth – the highlights throughout are beautiful and blend in with my natural colour really well. 
My hair for the first day or two after the transformation did look reverse ombre-d (darker at the bottom and lighter on top) but after two washes then the colour shifted and the ends now match perfectly (this is great compared to my last salon dye where my ends were a lot lighter than my roots, you can see this here).
It was difficult at first to get used to the length as I’m so used to having mermaid hair, but I love it now and am even considering going shorter, shoulder length.  My hair is now much more manageable and doesn’t annoy me as much as it used to.

What I think – I had a lovely day in the salon and I love my new hair now, although it did take a few shampoos and washes to get my hair to fade and lighten up a bit.  The atmosphere in the salon is lovely, all the staff seem helpful and welcoming and the interior is beautiful.

Highlights –
- One of the best bits of the day was having the dye washed out of my hair because of the incredible reclining massage chairs that you can sit on whilst having your hair washed.  This was literally heaven.  The chair massaged my back, bottom and legs whilst I drifted off into a dream world.
- Pretzels!  I ordered a bottle of water from the waiter & he also brought me over some pretzels, I was a VERY happy girl.
- My hairdresser Bradley was lovely, I felt like I had known him for years.  We covered subjects such as Towie, Geordie Shore, boyfriends, weekends away and hair care, of course!
- The beautiful salon and its chandeliers
- The fact that you can have everything done in one salon is so good.  If you are in a rush but want a haircut and a manicure, then just tell the salon and they can do them at the same time, which is fab.  I love that you can have a massage, then a hair cut, a wax and your eyebrows threaded, all in one place.

Lowlights -
- The only lowlight I can find is probably the price, and its not just THOR that I find expensive, I think all salons are too much money.  A cut and blow-dry at THOR starts at £49 and half a head of highlights/lowlights start at £89, so that’s £138 all together.  This is something that I would definitely only have done as a treat or before a special occasion.

Have you ever visited The House of Rush?  What treatments would you get?

xxx

Please note that I received the treatments free of charge, but this does not change or alter my opinion on the salon or the service! As always my reviews are honest and trustworthy.

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HELP! MAC Recommendations please!

This is a bit of a different post for me, but will be quite similar to my Boots wish list here. Basically, I was recently a very lucky girl and was given a Selfridges voucher as a gift. I had a look online to see what I could buy with the voucher but I’ve come to the conclusion that I’d be most happy with some makeup from the beauty hall, and wheres better to go than MAC!

I am in the midst of writing a shopping list of bits that I want, but I am useless and I need your help and recommendations with what to get! I am planning to do this shopping trip on Tuesday!

List so far:

I know for a fact that I want to purchase Nylon Eyeshadow – because it is my favourite highlighter and I wear it most days (this will be the fourth time that I have purchased it!).
I also know that I want a brown eyeshadow to use to fill in my brows, but I have NO idea which colour, there seems to be so many browns! What do you use?

Lipstick wise, I am pretty certain that I want ‘Vegas Volt’ – because I’ve admired it for years now but have never actually purchased it AND I also want a natural pink lipstick. I am mainly drawn to ‘Crème Cup’ because apparently everyone loves it, but I think it looks quite light so it might clash with my pale skin. ‘Kinda Sexy’ looks gorgeous as does ‘Faux’.

Click here to see a previous post of mine, with swatches & reviews of my current MAC lippies!


L-R Kinda Sexy, Creme Cup, Faux, Vegas Volt

Finally, I want two blushers, but I’m leaning more towards a crème blush. I want a cream blusher to contour with – so I’m guessing like a brown. And I’d like a pink or peach one to use on the apple of my cheeks – either a crème or powder!


L-R Top – Cremeblend Something Special, Cremeblend BritWit, Blush Gingerly,
Bottom – Fleur Power, Melba, Harmony

Can you help me girls??

What is your favourite MAC - Natural pink lipstick
- Creme blushers
- Contour shade blushers
- Eyebrow shadow shade?

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. I will of course do a post showing you what I get as well!

Also – NARS Penny Lane Cream Blush looks gorgeous – if you have a recommendation from another brand in the Selfridges Beauty Hall, that’d be good too!

Links to the images above -
creme cup - http://www.makeupneversleeps.com/2011/01/mac-creme-cup-lipstick.html
faux - http://www.naovivosemcurvex.com/2009/12/batom-mac-faux.html
kinda sexy - http://www.bloggang.com/mainblog.php?id=jannilicious&month=22-02-2011&group=12&gblog=25
creme blushes - http://www.temptalia.com/mac-cremeblend-blush-swatches-photos-reviews-part-1
melba - http://www.makeupalley.com/product/showreview.asp/ItemId=7247/Melba/MAC/Blush
fleur power - http://sgflea.livejournal.com/133365715.html
gingerly - http://www.necessarium.com.br/blush/mac-blushes-powder/attachment/gingerly-recorte-3/
harmony – http://www.beautyliciouslove.com/2010/01/mac-harmony-blush.html

xxxx

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MUA Love Hearts Launch!

I love sweets and I love makeup, so what could possibly be more perfect than a sweets inspired makeup range!  On Wednesday night I attended the MUA Love Hearts & new products press launch.  We were greeted with sweets, mocktails in jam jars and macaroons and I can honestly say I was in sugar heaven.  I had a drumstick lolly in one hand, a raspberry mocktail in another, swatches all up my arm and a cheeky grin on my face all night (until a dreaded headache took over and forced me to go home that is). 

On to the products -

The Lily’s and their jam jars – blue nails = Lily Pebbles, coral nails = Lily Melrose

Firstly we have lip products.  Probably my favourite part of the Love Heart collection are the new Tinted Lip Balms.  They are incredibly cute and come in an adorable selection of shades, each with a vanilla scent.  My favs are the the peach, pink and nude.

Another new product hitting MUA stands soon are the ‘Out There Plumping Lip Glosses’.  For only £2 these are incredible.  Beautifully pigmented and in a stunning range of shades.  After a few minutes of wearing these I noticed a slight, miniscule, tingling sensation on the lips but the plumping wasn’t too drastic (which is good in my opinion) as I would wear these for the colour instead of its plumping properties.  I can’t wait to get my hands on a few of these!

Next in the Love Hearts range are six new nail polishes, all in creamy, pastel shades.  These are absolutely perfect for spring/summer in my opinion and I can’t wait to try these out.  I swatched the yellow and it seems quite pigmented and of high quality which is fab.  These will retail at £2 MUA are also bringing out six glitter crackle polishes this month.  I’m personally not a huge fun of crackle varnishes but the fact that these are glitter have intrigued me.  The purple and blue look absolutely gorgeous and would be my pick out of the lot. These will retail at £2.99

Not a part of the Love Hearts collection, but MUA are also expanding their permanent line.  As well as the plumping glosses above, there will also be False Lashes and ‘Contour Pens’.  The falsies look great – there are four designs to choose from, ranging from subtle to dramatic.  They will retail at £2 which is an absolute bargain!

Next up are the Contour pens which are basically eye liners that are available in 8 different colours.  These are designed so that they can be used in a couple of different ways, because of the shape of the nib.  This all sounds a bit confusing so I will save the actual explaining of these for a separate post with details and swatches.  For £1.50 though, these are pretty fab!

Finally – MUA are bringing out out a BB Cream which I tried on the back of my hand at the event and I am really surprised at.  The lightest shade matched my arm perfectly and blended in like a dream.  I want to get my hands on one of these for a full review soon.  These will retail at £4!

What I think – MUA is a brand that I hadn’t looked into too much before apart from their gorgeous Heaven & Earth palette, but now I am a fully fledged MUA fan!  The quality of all the products I tried at the event is so good and for such affordable prices you really can’t go wrong. 

The Love Hearts range will be hitting stores mid February!

Will you be picking up anything from the MUA Love Hearts range?  What do you think of the new products?

xxx

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Bourjois Boutique & Goodybag Giveaway!

I have been a fan of Bourjois makeup up for a very long time now, since I was a small teen I used to adore looking at their gorgeous makeup stands in stores.  I can now confirm that Bourjois are doing something quite different and special for 4 days in February!  To coincide with the start of London fashion Week, Bourjois are opening up their very own pop up ‘Bourjois Boutique’ in Shoreditch.

The Bourjois Boutique will be your one stop beauty shop.  You will be able to buy heavily discounted Bourjois products (up to 64% off), as well as complimentary treatments from one-to-one makeover sessions, hair styling and nail manicures available to all that visit! 
There will be goody bags available to the 50 first customers every day, prizes to be won daily, as well as scheduled visits from Beauty experts and Fashion Illustrators.  To feed your fashion appetite there will also be a TV screening the latest catwalk shows straight into the Boutique.  It sounds like the most incredible blogger event – but open to ALL! 

The address of the Pop up Shop is – Bourjois Boutique, The Gallery above Beach Blanket Babylon, Shoreditch, London E16LA

There are also two competitions that you can enter on Bourjois Facebook page – the first is ‘My Bourjois Look’ which you can enter HERE (running until 13th Feb) and the second is  ‘Bourjois Belle’ which you can enter HERE.

My giveaway – you can win one Goody bag of Bourjois products on my blog.  All you have to do is enter either of the competitions above, on Bourjois Facebook page and then leave a comment on this blog post letting me know that you have entered.  Leave your email address in the comment too and one of you will win the goody bag.  The winner will be chosen randomly!

Full details of the event, with opening times and schedules of services can be found at www.bourjois.co.uk and you can follow Bourjois on twitter @bourjois_uk for daily updates!

I, myself, will be attending the Boutique to satisfy my hunger for all things beauty, bourjois and fashion!  Will I see any of you there?

Will you be attending the Bourjois Boutique?  Have you entered either of the competitions?

xxx

Please note this is a sponsored post and giveaway complimentary of Bourjois!

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OCC Lip Tar Swatches!

I bought these two babies at IMATS (see previous post!) and I have already fallen deeply in love with both of them. 

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Lip Tars are an immensely pigmented liquid which are half way between a lipstick and a gloss.  They apply as a creamy liquid but dry on the lips leaving you with a stunning lip colour and a slight sheen.  They are not sticky in the slightest and they have a minty smell.  Because they are ridiculously pigmented, you only need a tiny blob to cover your whole lips.  It’s best to apply this with a lip brush, because they can get a little messy applying straight from the tube.

 

Divine

Grandma

Divine - Described as a ‘True Pink Flamingo’, both myself, Lily and Milly bought this Lip Tar because it is so beautiful.  It’s a very bright, creamy, milkshake type of pink.  Because it is so bright I find that it does accentuate any dry parts of my lips and it takes work to make it look perfect with a lip brush, but that’s forgivable because of how pretty it is.  This really brightens up my face and looks great with a smokey eye.

Grandma – I have been wearing this every day since purchasing it.  I am absolutely in love with this product, the colour is stunning and looks incredible on pale skin.  It’s described as a ‘Classic Coral’, and it looks like an coral red with a hint of orange on my lips.  I can’t explain how much I love this colour and I received a lot of compliments on it at an event that I attended yesterday! 
Mother Snooks also complimented this yesterday, saying ‘that’s a really pretty colour, it looks like a lipstick that Grandma used to wear’ (my Grandma and I obviously have amazing taste in lipstick shades, she used to wear a lot of orange based reds), and then I was like ‘OMGZ it’s called Grandma!’.  Very weird. Anyway!

What I think – OCC Lip Tars have completely lived up to my expectations and I now want more!  I love the colour shades available and even more I love the fact that you can mix them to create custom shades.  I do like to wear a lip balm underneath the Lip Tars as they do feel slightly drying on and you definitely need to apply with a lip brush to get an even and perfect coverage.  I’d say they last 2 hours on the lips, which is probably the only con I can find with them, I feel like I need to reapply them quite often (maybe I just talk too much?) and you definitely need to reapply after eating. 
You can purchase them at this website here for £8.95,  I bought mine at IMATS for £7 each. 

Have you got any OCC Lip Tars?  Which colour would be your perfect lipstick?

xxxxx

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IMATS Haul!

It wasn’t until Saturday morning that I realised how much of a beauty addict I actually am.  I had the flu and still woke up at 6am to trudge along to Alexandra Palace to go to IMATS and gawk at and purchase beautiful makeup.  I’d never been to IMATS before so it was a very new experience to me and I’ve got to say I loved it – but probably mostly because of the amazing company I was with. 

Tickets to enter the event are £45 which I think is ridiculously extortionate and I wouldn’t have been able to attend at all, had it not been that I had applied for and received a press pass a few months earlier.  The show is intended for makeup artists and the like and is a great way to get some bargains on makeup for kits – but being a beauty blogger I was buying for myself only!
The hall was humongous and it was great to see a lot of makeup brands in one place – particularly Makeup Forever, Crown Brushes, NYX, Sleek, Illamasqua, etc.

I didn’t buy as much as other people because I have just quit my retail job which means I’m penniless, but I am very happy with what I purchased!

OCC Lip Tars in Grandma & Divine – I have ALWAYS wanted an OCC Lip Tar so when I found out they were going to be there I jumped for joy.  I picked up Grandma because I have literally been drooling over it for years, and also Divine, because once I swatched it on my hand it looked beautiful and was too pretty to ignore.

Illamasqua Cream Blusher in Sob & Light Liquid Foundation in 140 – I have to say, Illamasqua’s stand was the best out of the lot in my opinion.  Even though it was manic and had the biggest swarm of people around it, they did have the best offers of the day.  Everything was £5, apart from foundations which were £7.50 and pencils which were £2!  Massive savings, so I couldn’t help but purchase these!  Sob was one of the only cream blushers available and is a stunning pale pink.  I’ve always wanted to try Illamasqua’s foundation because they are famous for having pale shades - 104 was the second palest and swatched on my arm, it looked perfect.  I’m very excited to try them both out.  In hindsight, I wish I had also picked up a Cream Eye Shadow because they were stunning and so pigmented, regretting that slightly!

Crown Brushes – c404 SM. Duo Face & c158 Angled Liner/Spoole – I knew before I got to the event that I wanted to pick up a small stippling brush to apply cream blushers with; my cream Top Shop blushers do not get enough use because I don’t like applying them with my hand, so I’m happy to say that I came back with one from Crown Brushes.  The Crown Brushes stand was immense – there were SO many brushes to choose from, it was like a pick n’ mix stall, but for brushes!  The small stippling brush was £7 and I also spotted a cute angled liner brush with an eyebrow comb on the other end which I grabbed for £2, and I’ve been using it ever since to fill in my brows.

Royal & Langnickel Silk Pro Green Line Brush Set (not pictured) – All bloggers that visited the press/bloggers lounge at IMATS was gifted a gorgeous brush set in a cork case.  The brushes are literally out of this world, I have never felt anything so soft!  Expect a full review of it soon!

 
A few of the makeup demonstrations on the day!

 
Lily Pebbles, Anna, Meg, Kate, Sabrina, Victoria, Me, Milly, Zoe, Lily and Emma

After IMATS, the ladies and I went to Muswell Hill for lunch which ended the day nicely.  I have to say a massive thank you to Lily for picking me up from the station in her wonder wagon & thank you to IMATS for the press pass!

I have full reviews with each of the products above (incl. swatches) coming up very soon too!

Did you attend IMATS this year?  What would you have picked up?

xxx

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Twilight Makeup Swatches & Reviews

I’ll admit to being a bit of a Twilight fanatic – it all started in 2009 when my bff, Alex, gave me Twilight to borrow and told me I must read it.  I accepted and then swiftly worked my way through each book, one by one.  Since, I have seen the films in the cinema and enjoyed them, although not half as much as I relished the books.

I recently acquired two pieces of Twilight makeup which I have swatches and reviews of below!

Volturi Twilight Labyrinth Loose eye shadow in Dawn 

 

I am a massive fan of loose pigments generally because they are always beautifully pigmented (duh!) and look beautiful in the pot.  This colour ‘Dawn’ is absolutely stunning; a deep, dark chocolate, mud brown, which has silver, gold and almost blue sparkles in it. 
Now as this is a loose pigment, it is quite messy and does have quite a lot of fall out when applied to the eyes, so I like to pick up some of the colour onto a dense eyeshadow brush, tap off the excess into the pot and apply onto the eyes by pressing the colour into the socket and blend afterwards.  Alternatively, just get a big, fat, fluffy brush and sweep of the excess from under your eyes afterwards.

DuWop Twilight Lip Venom in ‘Red’

 

I have never tried any of DuWop’s lip venoms, or any other lip plumping gloss for that matter so this was a whole new kind of product for me.  First things first; this smells incredible, almost identical to Big Red gum, it’s like a cinnamon mint smell which you can taste when you apply the product, which I adore.  It really does tingle when you apply this to your lips and you can feel your lips plumping straight away – perfect for thin lipped girls, but not so much for me who has gigantic lips.  Now I now why I have never used a lip plumper before – it hurts because my lips swell up so much, leaving me with a ridiculous trout pout. 
On to the colour and formula of this product.  This product in general is very very similar to The Body Shop’s ‘lip & cheek stain’.  They both have the same formula, consistency and almost the same colour.  This particular one is lovely because it really does leave you with ‘bitten’ lip look, perfect for vamps.  I like that you can build the colour up to create your desired shade of red (I applied two layers in the photograph above).  It takes a while to make the colour even on the lips because it is quite watery, but that adds even more to that ‘blood sucked’ look.

What I think – I’m always weary when looking at pieces of makeup or clothing which has been created off the back of a successful cult movie, such as Twilight, because usually the products are overpriced and of really crappy quality.  However, these makeup items have surprised me.  I think the products are of high quality and aren’t as tacky as I was expecting them to be.  The pigment especially is a product I would have bought even without the ‘Twilight’ name behind it.  I think these items are a little pricey – around £10 for the pigment and £15 for the lip venom, but are pretty little kitsch items to have sitting on my dressing table.

Do you have any Twilight makeup?  What do you think of makeup ranges being born from the back of the success of a film or book – thumbs up or down?

xxxx

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Beauty UK Lip Lust in Date Night!

I’m not a big fan of lip glosses as you all know, but recently I’ve been changing my ways!  You see, there I was, browsing Superdrug one day when this beauty caught my eye. 



 

Beauty UK’s Lip Lust in ‘Date Night’ is a beautiful creamy pink lip gloss.  It has a furry type of sponge applicator (instead of the usual doe foot stick) which disguises it as a gloss (to me anyway) so it is more wearable.  It has a beautiful colour pay-off from the applicator and it is hardly sticky – another reason why I adore it.

This retails for £2.99 in Superdrug so its really affordable and a lovely change to wearing a lipstick – the shade is absolutely perfect for my pigmented lips and it’s a very wearable colour.  I’m going to snoop around the Beauty UK stand again next time I go shopping to see if I can spot any more affordable gems like this one!

What’s your favourite lip gloss?  What’s your favourite piece of makeup from Beauty UK?

xxxx

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