Recent Purchases

With my birthday approaching and it being half term I decided to pop into town with my Mom and Sister, as I rarely get the chance now that I work Saturdays and Sundays. I was after a new pair of heels and bag for my birthday outing. I wanted a pair of heels that were slightly lower and had a chunkier heel so I'd be a bit safer and also a clutch as I don't really have any except my prom one which is rather tiny. Thankfully Primark delivered on both fronts with a big black leather clutch for only £5 and a pair of heels for £14.

I was also after a heavier coverage foundation as though I have been wearing BB cream daily I don't have any 'nigh time' foundations. On the recommendation of  a friend I popped into the indoor market to have a look at the make-up and was simply amazed at the prices. They sell a huge range of branded make-up at about half the price of Boots or Superdrug.  I picked up all of the make-up pictured for only £22!  I brought Rimmel stay matte powder for £3 and the new Maybelline falsies push up drama for £3, the Rimmel Match perfection foundation for £4, Bourjois 123 foundation for £4, a Covergirl lipstick for £1, Rimmel lash accelerator for £4 and Maybelline lasting drama gel eye-liner for £3. Reviews will come soon for most of these products I'm sure except for the Rimmel Mascara which I've already reviewed here and the Rimmel Foundation which I've already reviewed here too.

Real Techniques Bold Metals Dupe Review

Whilst looking for a Christmas present for someone, I found these Real Techniques Bold Metals copy-cat brushes on Amazon and since I wanted some new brushes, I decided to order 2 sets, one for a gift and one for me. In the end my sister bought my set for me for Christmas! You get 7 brushes in the set, 3 silver, 2 gold and 2 rose gold. I've been using one silver for my brows and the other two for eye-shadow, the big gold fluffy brush for powder, the smaller pink fluffy brush for blusher/highlighter and the wide rose gold for one to apply foundation or highlighter. The only one I'm yet to find particularly useful is the gold, triangular type brush. I used it to contour with but didn't find it to be particularly adept at that, though I'm not rally sure what it's designed for. 

The first time I washed them, they stood up very well with no shedding and came out looking like new. Obviously they feel a lot cheaper than the real ones because they aren't made of metal but instead much lighter plastic but that's to be expected at the huge discount. At first that's slightly off putting but once you start using them you don't really notice because they feel much like normal brushes.

The set is available to purchase here for just over a fiver including delivery!

Bourjois Liner Feutre Review

After my L'oreal superliner ran out I was in the market for a new felt pen liner, enter Bourjois Liner Feutre. It seemed very similar to  the l'oreal one and since Bourjois was on 3 for 2 I picked it up. The first thing I'm going to say though, is that I prefer the L'oreal one. For only one reason, which is that the actual nib of the pen is so much thinner. The formula is good and dries fast on the eye so it doesn't smudge and once it's on it stays on too, my eyeliner will be exactly the same after I get home at the end of the day as it was when I left the house in the morning. It's a true black formula and glides on smoothly, the nib, whilst a nice size isnt quite thin enough to do wings, I often use a gel liner and brush for the wings and do the rest of my eye in this. As it's starting to run out now I've also realised that if I store it upside down it makes it so much easier to use as it's much wetter, so it glides on smoother.

Have you tried this eyeliner or a similar one? What liner would you recommend? 

W7 Absolute Lashes Mascara Review

You know when you buy a new product but still keep reaching for the old empty one because its just better? Well that is this mascara, the Rimmel Lash Accelerator was a hard act to follow if I'm honest but still my opinion on this mascara isn't great. I'd been looking at W7's Naked dupe palettes on their website after I saw one in peacocks and was rather intrigued to see such an obvious benefit dupe on their homepage, so when I next saw it in store I knew I had to pick it up, at £4.50 I thought it was worth a try.

I had high hopes for it being a good dupe of Benefit's They're Real (which I am still yet to try) however this mascara has let me down.  The brush, whilst thin and perfect at separating the lashes so that each one is coated, I find it to be a little hard and scratchy if that makes sense? However it does well  It does add length and volume, however nothing special, its very average in this department. However it's main downfall is that as it dries, rather than smudging it has a tendency to sort of flake off. Which is very annoying as you can imagine. 

Overall this isn't one that I would recommend, so now I'm not sure whether to try the palettes, have you tried any products form W7? What do you think?

Bourjois Effect Smoky Eyeliner Review

I've never really been a fan of pencil liner, I've used liquid since I first started wearing makeup and have never really been interested in it. However lately I've decided I wanted to go for a softer look on the eyes so decided to pick up a pencil liner. I got this on one of Boots trusty old 3 for 2 offers and am amazed at the quality of it. It is the softest pencil I have ever used, it glides on so smoothly and easily and is a really dark, true black. It's smudgeable so that it can be softened but once it 'sets' so to speak it doesn't budge and stays in place all day, It even comes with a handy brush to smudge with, though it's not amazing. At £5.49 I think it really is great value for money and would definitely recommend it to anyone.

What's your opinion on liquid vs. pencil?

Real Techniques Eye Brush Starter Set Review

Dont you just love shiny new makeup packaging delivered straight to your doorstep?

I brought these over the easter when they were £13.50 at Amazon. I'm not sure if they are still this cheap but check back regularly as the price tends to fluctuate online. I'd also check allbeauty.com as they are usually cheap on there.

From L-R Deluxe Crease Brush, Base Shadow Brush, Pixel Point Eyeliner Brush, Accent Brush, Brow brush.

From left to right I have been using the brushes for-concealer, eyeshadow, gel eyeliner, eyeshadow under my eyes and finally brows. I really like how dense these brushes are, particularly the deluxe crease brush and I really like how hard the brow brush is too and I know some people say that it is too big but I think it's a great size. People also say the same about the eyeliner brush however I again disagree, I believe you can get a very sharp point with it if your careful, as with any other eyeliner.

I added this image in for size referencing because when I was looking at them online and thinking that they looked huge and to be fair the deluxe crease brush is rather large, but I just use it for concealer so it's a great size. But anyway yea...size comparisons...

I know that you all love Real Techniques brushes already but I thought I'd review them for you guys anyway...

FOTN #02

I really love this makeup look, it's quite a simple one really but works well, especially with the 60's style dress I was wearing.

Products used-

Bare minerals prime time primer

Max Factor Facefinity foundation

Collection Lasting Per

Rimmel London Clear Complexion Transparent Powder

Bourjois Delice de Poudre Bronzing Powder

Bare Minerals Blusher in Pink Petal

MUA Pro-Brow Palette

Collection 2000 Lasting Colour Gel Eyeliner in black
Maybelline falsies mascara
Miss Sporty pump it up mascara
Rimmel Kate Moss lipstick

Katy Perry Oh Honey False Lashes (Review soon!)

Nail Polish Stand & Lipstick Holder

Both are these gems were received for my birthday after I asked my parents for them, since my makeup collection is rather overflowing at the moment, but I have to say these really do seem to have solved the problem.

This has been really useful to keep my lipsticks together and ensure that I can see what all the colours are without having to root around in my drawer. I have also taken to keeping my everyday things like concealer, eyeliner and mascara in the front row so that I can grab them easily in the morning.

I recently had a big clear out of all my nail varnishes so I had about 14 left I think. Then lucky for me I received another 7 for my birthday too as you may know if you read my birthday post! Therefore the top tier is currently looking rather empty and I may have to be investing in some more I think!

I got the lipstick holder from here and this is where I got the nail varnish stand from. The price of both of these was absolutely amazing but particularly the lipstick stand yet both are excellent quality.

As a side note, how do we feel about white nail varnish? I can't decide if I like it, please tell me in the comments!

Mini Makeup Haul and Review

All the cosmetics were on 3 for 2 at boots before Christmas, so I took the opportunity to stock up! :D

From left to right I brought Bourjois Delice de Poudre Bronzing Powder, Barry M Matte nail Varnish in crush, Rimmel London apocalips in Stellar and Maybelline the Falsies mascara.

Now for some mini little reviews...

This is how the matte nail varnish looks, personally I was a little disappointed as it didn't really seem all that matte to me. I prefer to wear it with a layer of clear nail varnish over it to make it normal and glossy because the colour is still absolutely gorgeous and the perfect wintery shade!

This is the first bronzer I have ever used and  to be honest I was a bit scared that it would make me look totally orange because I'm so pale thats why I picked up the lighter shade, though you can't really see much difference between  the two. I proceeded with caution and indeed ended up loving it! Its perfect to add a golden glow to my face especially during the winter and just generally stop me from looking so pale all the time.

This mascara has to be one of the best mascaras I have ever used. Before using this my favourite was probably l'oreal telescopic but after using this for a couple of weeks I believe I may have found my new favourite. It lengthens my eyelashes brilliantly and genuinely does make it look like I'm wearing false lashes if I curl my lashes and put on 2-3 coats.

This lip lacquer is absolutely brilliant! Its basically like a really pigmented lip gloss which stains your lips so even after the lipgloss wears off you are still left with a colour on your lips, thats not to say that the lip gloss isnt long lasting though. As a result I really do like it. It's also very  pigmented and they offer a great range of colours which made it rather hard to pick, I also really wanted Big Bang (The dark red) and phenomenon (The shimmerless nude). Although it looks quite orangey in this photo its more of a red-ish colour with a hint of pink I'd say.

I have also now brought Eclipse (plum colour) and Nude Eclipse (Nude Colour) because they are so brilliant! I'll post about them later too!

So what are your opinions on these products?

Biscuit tins to Makeup/Pencil Pots

I was looking at some gorgeous glittery mason jars on pinterst and really wanted to make them but I don't have any glitter at the moment so rather than glitterizing (is that a word?  I don't think so) them I used some of my fave wrapping paper to cover them instead. Now I have the place to store my make up brushes or pencils. 
As a side note, Crabtree and Evelyn biscuits are delicious! Especially the strawberries and cream ones :)

 Before-

 After-

You will need-

Biscuit tin/tube

Wrapping Paper

Double Sided sticky tape

Sticky back plastic

Scissors

Tape measure (optional)

1. Cut out wrapping paper to wrap round tin.

*Note* If you're clever (not like me)you can use a tape measure to measure the size of the wrapping paper you are going to need to cover the tin, otherwise it might not fit.

2.Stick double sided around the top, middle and bottom of the tin.

3.Very carefully wrap the paper around as straight as you can, it is near impossible! After many attempts I still failed...

4.Next, cut and measure sticky back plastic that is a little bigger than your tin.

5. Wrap the sticky back plastic carefully around the tube as straight as you can. The bit that is left sticking up at the top, cut into a fringe and then bend each flap down into the tube to seal the top.

6. Insert make up brushes, pencils or whatever else you desire and you're finished :)