2017
Updated MAC Lipstick Collection
Updated MAC Lipstick Collection
Saturday, 28 January 2017
(L-R: Brave, Mehr, Chatterbox, Speed Dial, Hot Gossip, D for Danger, Dark Side)
So in my original post, I bought myself Hot Gossip (top) and Speed Dial (bottom). Hot Gossip has had a bit more usage than Speed Dial but they are both lovely colours. Over the course of 1 and a half years, I have added 5 more.
One that I purchased quite early on is Brave. It's a really nice pinky, beige/nude colour, in a satin finish. It's a great subtle shade so that if you want to have a bit a nude/natural look, this is a good pick.
Going quite daring, I got myself Dark Side. When I switched this in the store, I really liked the colour, despite it being a dark shade. It comes out lighter than how it actually looks but it's a lovely burgundy/berry toned, amplified creme finish lipstick. Definitely one for the Autumn time.
This became a very quick favourite of mine and as you can see, it's the most used. This one is Mehr. In a matte finish, this is another pinky/nude shade which I really like. Again, nice and subtle and can be used for many looks. I love the feel of matte lipsticks, so it's probably a big reason why I liked this one the most.
One that was added most recently to my collection is D for Danger, one that I was gifted for Christmas. Similar to Dark Side, it's a berry/brick red toned lipstick, in a matte finish. This was one that I've seen and really liked but didn't buy it for myself but I was lucky and very kindly given it. It's one that I look forward to using a bit more in the months to come.
Another that I got for Christmas is Chatterbox. It's super similar to Speed Dial, being a bright pink lipstick but this is an amplified creme finish, rather than cremesheen, so it has a bit more colour, rather than looking glossy. Again, I'm very grateful that I was gifted this lipstick.
(L-R: Brave, Mehr, Chatterbox, Speed Dial, Hot Gossip, D for Danger, Dark Side)
When you see from the swatches, I seem to have a bit of a preference in shades, as they are all quite similar but I'm quite keen to expand my collection, maybe get some different shades in there but who knows. MAC can be seen as being pricey but I personally really like the brand. They have such a range of lipstick colours and products, so it can suit quite a lot of people.
Do you own any of these lipsticks? What do you think of them?
Look after yourself,
This blog post is not sponsored and all opinions are my own and honest!
beauty
Review: Eloise Beauty | Tear Drop Brush
Review: Eloise Beauty | Tear Drop Brush
Friday, 20 January 2017
I came across Eloise Beauty only a few weeks ago via Instagram and I was immediately drawn to their Tear Drop Brush. What is that you ask? It's a brush that is in the shape of a tear drop, that you hold in the palm of your hand. I was so drawn to it's unique shape and style, I had never seen anything like this before. I visited their site and it seems as though this is the only product they sell (maybe more is to come?) but in two colours; Gold and Rose Gold. I didn't buy it at first but I kept going back to it, admiring it over the course of a few days. Then one day I thought 'Bugger it, I'm gonna do it'. I went and bought the Rose Gold Tear Drop Brush. They had half price shipping the day I bought it and it only took 2 days to arrive, which is pretty good. I just couldn't wait to delve in and see this pretty brush.
The packaging is quite pleasing. I seem to be turning into a bit of a packaging nerd and love anything that comes in good packaging. It also comes with a drawstring bag, which is advised by them that you always keep the brush in this bag.
Now, lets get down to business and talk about the brush. First of all, IT'S SO SOFT! The bristles are so velvety, dense and amazing to touch, it's quite unreal. There happens to be over 1,000,000 bristles, which is mad but they are animal-free, synthetic fibre ultra-fine bristles. I literally just rubbed this on my face for a good five minutes when I first got it because it just felt so satisfying. When holding the brush itself, it does fit so well in the palm of my hand. The benefit of this design is that you have way more control than regular brushes. When I wrote about the Primark and Makeup Revolution brushes, my concern was that they were slightly fragile in thinner places and that you'd have to have your finger down the neck of the brush. With this, you have your whole hand for support, which is such a plus for me.
Another positive thing about the shape of this brush, is that it's quite dynamic and can be used pretty much anywhere on the face and even for different purposes. The tip is perfect to get into corners and angled areas, such as under the eyes and around nose, with foundation and/or concealer. The wider/bottom part is good for applying and spreading the foundation on your face, even powder too!
I gave it a little test and applied foundation to my face to see how it covers. It has applied my foundation really well and I even used concealer in the difficult areas and it was such a breeze to do.
Before
During
After
There are some instructions on their website on how to clean the brush. It's suggested that you are to:
1. Apply a small amount of shampoo/soap to the hairs.
2. Supporting the whole brush gently massage the brush in circular motions on the palm of your hand.
3. Keep rinsing the bristles until the water runs clear.
4. Holding the bristle bundle press the excess water out of the hairs against a soft, absorbent towel.
5. Gently reshape the bristles using your fingers, if needed.
6. Allow the brush to dry over night.
It's basically the same method as you probably use with your other brushes but if you don't, I'd recommend you do as it would be awful if the brush starts to get ruined.
Both the Gold and Rose Gold currently retail at £34.99 from the Eloise Beauty website. Would I recommend this? Absolutely! Understandably, not everyone will see the justification in buying one because it is seen as being quite pricey but if you want to treat yourself and buy yourself something unique, then I would definitely go for this brush. It looks amazing, feels amazing and I'm pretty pleased with it.
Do you have this brush? What are your thoughts on it?
Look after yourself,
This blog post is not sponsored and all opinions are my own and honest!
1. Apply a small amount of shampoo/soap to the hairs.
2. Supporting the whole brush gently massage the brush in circular motions on the palm of your hand.
3. Keep rinsing the bristles until the water runs clear.
4. Holding the bristle bundle press the excess water out of the hairs against a soft, absorbent towel.
5. Gently reshape the bristles using your fingers, if needed.
6. Allow the brush to dry over night.
It's basically the same method as you probably use with your other brushes but if you don't, I'd recommend you do as it would be awful if the brush starts to get ruined.
Both the Gold and Rose Gold currently retail at £34.99 from the Eloise Beauty website. Would I recommend this? Absolutely! Understandably, not everyone will see the justification in buying one because it is seen as being quite pricey but if you want to treat yourself and buy yourself something unique, then I would definitely go for this brush. It looks amazing, feels amazing and I'm pretty pleased with it.
Do you have this brush? What are your thoughts on it?
Look after yourself,
battle
Battle Of The Budget Oval Brushes | Makeup Revolution vs. Primark
Battle Of The Budget Oval Brushes | Makeup Revolution vs. Primark
Wednesday, 18 January 2017
I've seen many people rave about the Artis oval brushes for a while, but I couldn't justify spending £60 + on one of their brushes. I longed for a drugstore brand to bring something out but when Primark had upped their game and added an oval brush to their collection, I was so pleased. I would often go to my local Primark store and they never had it in stock, whether it be because they didn't actually sell it or it was just sold out all the time, and I never saw it. I started to give up looking but only visited Primark once a month. Then I saw that Makeup Revolution had released a range of oval brushes, I jumped straight to the Superdrug website. I saw that they were all out of stock but managed to swoop some a few days later. I opted to go and collect from the nearest store, the next day. I literally couldn't wait to get home to open them up. I purchased the Precision Contour set and unknowingly, bought two of the Oval Face brush (there was already one in the set).
Not long after I bought these, my sister tells me that another Primark store has the brushes. Typical. I was going to suggest to not buy them but when I saw the price (as she took a picture of them), I asked her to get them for me, because I felt like doing a review on them, against the Makeup Revolution brushes. I wanted to do a 'vs' post so that I could give my opinions on both of them, a little battle you might call it. The brushes are slightly different in size but these were the biggest and closest in size (as Makeup Revolution do have a larger brush) from both brands, trying to make it as fair as possible. I just want to make it clear that these are just my opinions on each brush.
I'm going to review different elements of both brushes and provide a summary at the end. So to kick things off, lets do the review for the Primark PS...Pro Blending Brush.
Primark
Packaging:
The packaging for the Primark brush is a very simple, rectangular, see through box, with a clear view of the brush itself. It has the collection name on the front and small details about what the brush can be used for. On the back, it has more information regarding the brush, the brand and some safety advisories. Very simple indeed.
Price:
The brush retails at £4, which is pretty good value for a makeup brush. I didn't recall seeing any kind of set so I would assume this is sold as a single brush, like their others (two slightly smaller sizes).
Durability:
When I first had a little feel of this brush, I did notice a couple of things. It seemed as though the bristles didn't have much flexibility and felt quite restricted in terms of movement. Looking from a side view, the bristles formed into a dome shape, with quite straight edges around the outside. Another thing was when I added a little bit of force near the head of the brush, it appeared to bend easily (obviously don't go bending it with full force for the fun because it probably will snap). It bended a lot on the 'neck' of the brush, so that is quite a fragile area. It's going to need some support when you're applying foundation/powder, otherwise it might be difficult to glide along the face.
Effectiveness:
To test the effectiveness of it, I applied my normal foundation using the brush. Below is my before, during and after.
Before
During
After
Summary:
It's not a bad brush. It does have it's faults but it is good value for money. It's a shame that Primark don't do a slightly bigger one, as it'll probably apply foundation a little better than the current sizes, but if you're on a budget, I would say go for it. I would just advise that you be careful when using it, as it could possibly snap if you're too vigorous when applying foundation/powder. However, for it's size, price and general performance, it'll be a good contour brush.
Overall score:
7/10
Makeup Revolution
The packaging for the Makeup Revolution brush is noticeably different, appearing a lot more decorative and bulkier. On the front, it lists the brand and the type of brush it is and going with the theme, it's in rose gold letters. Same as the Primark brush, it just has a bit more detail on the brand and brush itself.
Price:
This brush is slightly more expensive, retailing at £9.99 from Superdrug. They also sell a set of three brushes (this and two smaller brushes) which retails at £19.99, so can be worth buying the set if you are looking to use different brushes for different things (foundation, blush, contour etc.)
Durability:
Just like I did with the Primark brush, I had to feel what the brush was like to hold. Differing from the Primark brush, the bristles (even though there are more due to its size) felt like they had more room to move, where you could lightly pull your finger through them with ease. Unlike the Primark one, it appeared that the bristles on the outside were more angled. When I applied pressure to it, there was a bit of give, and it began to bend slightly just under the head of the brush. Due to this brush only bending slightly when under pressure, application of foundation/powder sound be rather easy going on the brush itself.
Effectiveness:
Once again, I applied my regular foundation to test the the effectiveness of the brush.
Before
During
After
Summary:
If you want to spend a bit more money on brushes, then I would recommend these. It does work out at better value for you to get the set of the brushes, as you will get more for your money. Although they seem to have been built a little better, I would still recommend that you just place some support on the neck of the brush, as I would be gutted if it broke.
Overall score:
9/10
So out of the two brushes, I personally prefer the Makeup Revolution one. It did feel nicer, it applied my foundation better and seems to be a little stronger. As stated before, the Primark one is a good alternative and I'm sure it does work for other people. I will still keep it in my collection and I'm quite positive that I will be able to find another use for it, but should anything happen to the Makeup Revolution brush, then Primark will do the job just fine.
Do you own any of these brushes? What do you think?
Look after yourself,
beauty
Swatches + Review: Too Faced | Sweet Peach Eye Shadow Palette
Swatches + Review: Too Faced | Sweet Peach Eye Shadow Palette
Wednesday, 11 January 2017
I know I'm a little late to the party on this one, but I finally managed to get my hands on the 'Too Faced Sweet Peach Eye Shadow Palette'. It was re-released back in December and I was so eager to get my hands on one after so many people praised the product. It took a little while to get to me (due to popularity/high demand) but it finally arrived so I just wanted to do a quick review and swatches, even though you've probably seen a million posts on this. Ah, well.
First things first, the packaging is simply gorgeous. Coming in a cute cardboard box, the palette itself is in a tin case, with a magnetic closure, which can also easily be opened. It reminds me of the old tin pencil cases you'd have in school, obviously a lot prettier and less full of pens and pencils. The colour gradient is so satisfying to the eyes, with cute embossed peaches all over the lid. It comes with a fairly decent sized mirror so you should be able to take this with you if you were travelling. It's when you open it, is when it becomes magical.
Not only are you faced with a mixture of 18 shades, you're hit with the sweet smell of peach. They weren't lying when they said it smelt like peaches. I just want to sit and smell it all day! It's got a great combination of colours, from the peachy ones, to the bright, light ones, (great for the brow bone and inner corner) and the brown ones, which will give you a great smokey eye look. Although not really peachy related, you have got a deep purple and dark blue/purple as part of the colour range too but it's good to mix it up a little. They are all different finishes too so you can for sure make many makeup looks with this palette.
(L-R: 'White Peach', 'Luscious', 'Just Peachy', 'Bless Her Heart', 'Tempting', 'Charmed, I'm Sure', 'Nectar', 'Cobbler', 'Candied Peach')
(L-R: 'Bellini', 'Peach Pit', 'Delectable', 'Peaches 'N Cream', 'Georgia', 'Caramelised', 'Puree', 'Summer Yum', 'Talk Derby To Me')
The swatches came out so lovely. Such pigmented colours and although you can hardly see the light ones, these will be good to help highlight your eye or go for a really subtle makeup look. The texture has a slight creaminess feel, which allows for easy application, although some of the colours took a little more to get a good looking swatch but using this for a makeup look, you won't need much of it anyway. The only thing I would have liked is if it had more pink/peach shades, maybe on the darker side but regardless of that, I still love the palette.
At £39/$49, I can understand that people wouldn't want to spend this much on a palette, but to me, it was worth the money, as this such a gorgeous addition to my collection and can't wait to use it fully.
Look after yourself,
2017
Hello 2017
Hello 2017
Thursday, 5 January 2017
As you might have read, 2016 wasn't the most amazing year for me. Although I'm happy to see the back of it, I want to make January 1st a new day. Not only that, I want it to be the start of where things change, to better myself and FINALLY make myself a happier person. I wanted to share what my goals are for this year as I want to be open with my readers and hey, why not share them?
LEARN TO DRIVE
Something that I've wanted to do for ages but never had the confidence, is learn to drive. After being in a car accident when I was learning (I wasn't in a lesson, don't worry), it really put me off, to the point that I was scared of being in a car, even as a passenger. I'd constantly be looking out of the mirrors to see if someone was getting too close, worry that they were going to hit the car and there have been many points where I'd have a bit of a panic attack when a situation got too much for me. Since the accident, I tried to pick it up again, had a handful of lessons, but I just got overwhelmed with the fear and I just couldn't do it so I ended just stopping completely. That was almost 2 years ago now and my boyfriend is constantly pushing me to give it another go, because he believes in me. Deep down, I know I want to do it, it's just my mind just tells me that I still don't want to go with it. Getting sick and tired of having to rely on public transport or my boyfriend to get me places, it's going to be now or never. So I took quite a plunge and quit my job. Back in December I finished at my workplace but haven't actually got a new place to go yet, but that is because I want to allow myself a bit of time to get back into learning to drive. I am able to afford to do this for a bit so why not do it now when I can.
LOSE SOME WEIGHT
Although I did this a little bit in 2016, I didn't lose how much I wanted. I feel like I gained and have been stuck around the same weight for ages but it's not a number I like at all. So I really want to put some effort into exercising, eating healthily but also, ensure that my mind feels fit and healthy too, by allowing myself time to relax. Ideally, I'd like to loose around 2 stone so doing that in a year I think is pretty achievable. I'm quite an emotional eater, where if things are getting to me and I'm getting stressed, I'd just rather eat to chill myself out. That's not happening this year as I want to become less stressed which will then not make me comfort eat so it's a win win.
STRESS OUT LESS
I'm not overly sure how I'm do this one but the aim is that I just don't stress out as much as I used to. As said above, I have actually quit my job which did cause me a bit of stress so that is something off my mind but, I can stress out over small things. I just don't want to it to be a burden on me so I want to find ways to lower my stress levels. If you do have really good tips/tricks on how to stress out less, then head them my way.
PUT MORE INTO BLOGGING
I love blogging. Since I started doing it, it's allowed me to have this space where I can get writing and get creative. I don't really have many hobbies but blogging is something I really enjoy doing, even though I am doing it just to allow myself to bring out my creative side. The blogging community are such wonderful people, who feel like are some of my closest friends I've never met before. It makes me feel so welcome and that I can be me. It makes me so happy when doing it and seeing people reading my posts that I feel like I need do it way more often, as it'll be good for me. I would need to sit down and plan a little more but I'd like to start creating a schedule for my blog, invest small amount into the equipment but still being able to enjoy it at the same time, as I don't want to kill it for myself and no longer enjoy it.
It's only 4 goals but I want to be able to add more throughout the year, rather than thinking of a bunch at the beginning of the year and potentially not able to accomplish them. If I end up completing a goal early (only really likely to be driving and losing the weight) I can then add more if I want to or keep with the remainders. It's completely up to me.
2016 was pants so let's make 2017 a good one.
Look after yourself,