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!

Makeup Revolution 144 Eyeshadow Palette Review

This was a highly appreciated Christmas gift which I couldn't wait to use as soon as I unwrapped it. I've used it a couple of times since then, though I'm yet to brave any of the blues/purples/pinks. I have been really enjoying using the darker, purple toned grey shades in the top right corner of the palette particularly. 

There is an excellent selection of colours in the palette, almost a whole rainbow, I think its great that whilst about 75% of the palette is made up of very wearable neutral shades in browns, blacks, coppers, silvers, golds and whites they've also included some interesting blues, pinks, purples and greens which I'm sure I'll get a little use out of next Halloween. They also have a great range of matte and shimmer/glitter shades too. The colours are very pigmented but do have a lot of fall out and tend to crumble a lot. They are also quite long lasting on their own, even without a primer they can last well from about 7.30-4 for my average college day.
The only complaint is that due to the size of the palette it can sometimes be a little hard to manoeuvre it and apply shadows. Obviously that isn't really a big problem at all and apart from that I love everything else about it. The palette is still available here on the Make-up Revolution website and I would definitely recommend.

What I got for Christmas 2015

I love reading posts like these in the new year so I thought I'd share some of my favourite gifts that I was so lucky to receive this year off my friends and family. My Secret Santa this year was my friend Sean again and as he did last year he went with a Game of Thrones theme which, of course, I loved! He got me the official GoT colouring book and an amazing art set full of colouring pencils and even watercolour paints, which I have already started using and love, I've always wanted to try this medium. My sister also got me an adult colouring book full of vintage patterns, plus the cute mermaid socks and some make-up brushes which haven arrived in the mail yet :(. 

My brother being the techy of the family brought me a portable charger (which will be great for V fest!) and a computer monitor for my desk so I can plug my laptop in when I go to uni and have a bigger screen. He's so thoughtful and generous and I'm so lucky to have him, he even fixed my phone for me when I smashed the screen the other day. His girlfriend brought me the amazing Make-up Revolution palette and lipstick which I can't wait to use, but what exactly does one do with 144 eye shadows?

My nan gave me some money and the Beyonce perfume which I've already had 2 bottles of and love. My mom's cousin came over from America for Christmas and brought us some awesome flavoured coffees which I can't wait to try, but our cafetiere broke a few months ago and we haven't replaced it so I could be waiting a while. And finally my parents brought me a bunch of practical stuff for uni such as stationary and a new laptop because my old one was dying a slow and painful death, some socks, a travel toiletry kit, a sports bra that I picked out and of course lots of chocolate and sweets. I may have already eaten the Chocolate Orange though.

I'd love to read your posts about what you got for Christmas so link them below!

PS I Love Eyeliner Review

I picked it up this £1.50 bargain eyeliner from primark After Siobhan (of The Beauty Baker) recommended it on her blog as my Loreal Superliner Slim was on it's way out and I really didn't want to fork out £7 for a replacement. However I wish I'd never bothered, as although it costs almost 5 times as much, my loreal Eyeliner is simply miles better. I found Primark's offering to be disappointing in every area except cost to be completely honest. Whilst it goes on pretty dark, it doesn't stay long and smudged over my eyelids throughout the day leaving me with grey panda eyes. I also found the tip of the pen to be not quite thin enough to do the perfect flick and it was far too hard on my eyes like an actual felt pen would be so it didn't have any give in it to make it easy to follow the curve of your eyes. 

Overall it's definitely not something I'd repurchase, but it did come in quite handy for my Halloween tutorials I did as I didn't want to use an expensive eyeliner for drawing all over my face.

What's your opinion on the PS Love... range? I see a lot of mixed feelings...

My 5 Minute Face

You know those mornings when you wake up 35 minutes late and have to get ready in literally 10 mins? No? Just me then. I really need to stop pressing snooze. Anyway these are my go to products for that I-woke-up-late-but-couldn't-go-bare-faced makeup look.

I start with La Roche Posay BB Creme  and a real techniques buffing brush to buff this light coverage, dewy foundation into my skin, then add a swipe of Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer under my eyes to hide how tired I am and why I hit the snooze button too many times. Then I add a blush from the Makeup Revolution Golden Sugar Contour Palette to the apples  of my cheeks to add some colour back into my face and apply Rimmel Stay Matte Powder to the rest of my face, focusing on my T-zone and chin. To finish the look I frame my face by filling in my brows with the MUA Pro-Brow Eyebrow Kit and adding a coat or two of Loreal Volume Million Excess Mascara, unfortunately when I'm this late I usually have to go without my signature cat eye liner.

And there we go, I'm just about ready to face the world at this point, after a large cup of coffee that is. Except I've given up coffee now, so it's a large green tea for me nowadays, that much caffeine just isn't good for a gal.

Let me know what products you'd put on your '5 minute face' in the comments...

Billy the Puppet/ Jigsaw Makeup How-to

I know I said the Zombie Makeup Tutorial would be my last Halloween tutorial but my Cousin asked me to help her do this look, so I thought I'd have a go and share it on here too. It's probably the easiest of the tutorials I've done this year, and all you need is a white shirt, black jeans, black blazer and red bow tie to complete the look.

1// Cover the face in white face paint or a very pale foundation.

2// Stick circular stickers on your cheeks and blend black eyeshadow around the edges.

3// Peel of the stickers and you'll be left with a clean black edge on the inside making it look like the swirls stick out.

4// Draw swirls in the circles using red lipstick or facepaint and a thin brush.

5// Fill in your brows with black shadow or a dark pencil.

6// Ring your eyes with a black pencil and blend out.

7// Add black eyeshadow to intensify the eyes.

8// Using a thin brush drag the shadow down from your brows to your nose, to contour slightly.

9// Add red Lipstick to your lips, dragging it out slightly at the edges.

10// Use a black pencil to draw lines vertically down from the edges of your lips, to give you a puppet mouth.

If any of you give this look a go, send me a pic on twitter @KatieCorbett98

Easy Simple Zombie DIY Makeup

The third and most likely final of my Halloween tutorials this year is this super easy zombie makeup. If you don't wanna go all out with the zombie look and do bloody cuts and bites, than this is a great option. I wore this to work last Halloween (I work behind a bar), because it was a last minute kinda thing and it actually worked out rather well. I think Halloween is the only time of the year where having a naturally zombie-like  pallor is a good thing.

Step 1// Start with a fresh, makeup free face. Any redness or imperfections kinda helps with the look tbh. Being as ghostly pale as I am does too.

Step 2// Add dark purple eyeshadow all around the eyes, particularly underneath.

Step 3// Use the same purple eyeshadow at the sides of the nose.

Step 4// Add an intense contour using a grey tinged brown eyeshadow.

Step 5// Apply black eyeliner or eyeshadow just under the waterline.

Step 6// and Step 7// Add 'bruises' to your face by sponging layers of yellow, green, purple and red face paints. I added one on my forehead, one on my chin and one on the top of my left cheekbone.

Step 8// Apply concealer all over the lips.

Step 9// Add a dark red lipstick at the sides of the mouth, I'd recommend MUA lipstick in shade one.

Step 10// Perfect that dead eyed stare.

If any of you try out any of my halloween tutorials please send me a pic on twitter @KatieCorbett98.

Dia De Los Muertos Skull Makeup Tutorial

So last year for Halloween I did this(^) to my face and received quite a few compliments on it so thought maybe this year I'd show ya'll how to recreate this look super easily, with almost entirely makeup you'll already have. Ain't nobody got the dollah for that.

All you'll need is white face paint, black eyeliner(pencil or gel are best), coloured eyeshadow/facepaint (I used a blue Barry M dazzle dust), and a dark preferably black eyeshadow. Optionally you can also use false lashes and rhinestones around the eyes like I did.

1// Cover face in white face paint.

2// Add black rings around the eyes and fill in with colour of your choice. Cover nose in black eyeliner and add a v over the bridge of your nose.

3// Draw 7-8 lines from between your eyebrows out to your hair line. Try and make them as straight as possible, I sucked at this.

4// Add curved lines between each of those lines to create a spider's web effect on your forehead.

5// Run black/dark eyeshadow through the crease of your eyelids and then add eyeliner if you choose to. I just did a small flick.

6// Draw swirling vines through the hollows of your cheeks, where you would usually contour.

7// Add petals to the ends of the vines and fill in with colour of your choice.

8// Draw a line horizontally through the lips and then some shorter ones vertically over your lips, to make them look like teeth.

Optional

9// Glue rhinestones around the eye sockets either with eyelash glue or use ready glued ones like I did from The Works.

10// Add false eyelashes for a more dramatic eye look.

I hope those instructions were somewhat helpful to you, I paired this makeup look with a  black velvet skater skirt, black heels and a skeleton print t-shirt that I picked up in Primark the year previously. But you can get really nice skeleton dresses online like my friends Niamh did (See photo above [She's the one that makes me look like a dwarf])  

If you try it out please,please, please, pleaseeeeeee send me a pic on twitter, I would love to see it.

DIY Comic Book/Pop Art Makeup

All you need for this simple Halloween DIY look is 

• Black eyeliner (pencil and liquid preferably)
• White eyeliner
• Red lipstick
• Blue eyeshadow/face paint

1// Start by putting your usual face makeup on, such as foundation, concealer and a slight contour, but don't set it with powder.
2//  Use a black eyeliner (I used my NYX jumbo eye pencil in Black Bean) to fill in your eyebrows, frame your face and draw around the curves of your nose , as in the picture above.
2// Use black eyeliner (I used by Bourjois smoky effect eyeliner pencil) to draw around the lips and to draw tear drops on. Then fill in the tear drops with a blue eyeshadow or face paint (I used a Barry M dazzle dust).
4// Fill in the lips with the brightest red lipstick you own.
5// Use black pencil liner to line your water line and black liquid liner to do a cat eye (I used my L'oreal Super liner slim).
6// Take a white eyeliner and cover your face in white dots (I  used my NYX jumbo eyeliner in milk.)

Fin

How easy was that? It's the perfect last minute costume/makeup look!

Makeup Revolution Golden Sugar Palette Review

I have been lusting after this palette since I first saw it on I think Thirteen Thoughts and when I stumbled across it in the Superdrug store in Redditch I just couldn't say no. And at £6 I really didn't need to! The palette just looks so expensive and luxurious with it's sleek black and gold packaging, it's a very pretty edition to my makeup collection. The colours are really pigmented and the shimmer ones are so gorgeous and pick up the light just beautifully. I use the pink toned ones as blushers and the darker matte one to contour with, I haven't yet got a use for the lighter matte one though. And then the shimmery, white/nudes make great highlights on the cheekbones or brow bones. I also don't have any use for the copper one yet though, I think it would make a great eyeshadow though. I'm thinking about taking the palette on holiday actually because I can cover highlighting, contouring, blush, eyeshadows and eyebrows with this one palette in a squeeze. 

H&M Makeup Brush Review

So since losing me Real Techniques contouring brush I have been looking for a replacement for my blush, but found the Barry M blusher brush to be quite disappointing, So when I saw this brush in H&M I just knew I had to have it. At £5.99 it isn't the cheapest of brushes but for the quality I would expect it to be so much more! It's so similar to the Real Techniques buffing brush because it is so dense and soft on the skin. It's absolutely perfect for applying cream blushers which I use everyday, however it also makes a great brush for foundation because its so dense. If you're looking for an alternative to the Real Techniques brushes or perhaps only want the buffing brush from the set I would definitely recommend this brush. I've experienced no shedding with it, even when washed.

I might have to try some more brushes from H&M's range, I had my eye on a crease brush too, what do you think? 

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?

Make-Up Space Makeover

Before-

After-

So for my birthday I got a new mirror to do my makeup (and many mugs!) So I decided this was the perfect opportunity to makeover my make-up space, and I thought I'd give you all a peek. As you can see it was quite a mess before so I was really looking forward to cleaning it up. So on the left is my make-up remover and the lipstick holder which I got for my birthday last year, the mirror (which is from Ikea) in the middle and then a little tray on the right which I put all my face make-up in. Next to the mirror I have two mugs, one full of all my make-up brushes and one with all my eyemakeup in, I finally found a use for my surplus of mugs so yay! The rest of my makeup which is basically just eyeshadows are all in a little draw that's not pictured, except for my new Naked palette which my friends got me for my birthday which is also on the shelf. So yea, thats my makeup collection, hope you enjoyed ...

Topshop Blush in Head Over Heels Review

I brought this blush in a set in the Christmas sales with the lipstick Wicked (Review here) and am also giving a set away in my giveaway (check that out here). I've been meaning to review it since. It's a really lovely blush because it's well pigmented and easy to blend plus this colour looks really natural on the skin, It lasts all day and sits well on top of my foundation. However as I'm not a big blush fan I feel that £9 is rather excessive and probably wouldn't pay that much for it. However I'm really happy with it overall and its quickly become my everyday blush.