The one part of my makeup routine that I still cannot seem to get right is my eyebrows. Naturally I have very bushy, very big and unruly eyebrows. This makes them very hard to fill in... To add to this I am also very picky with my brow products. They have to be the correct texture...Hard and slightly waxy but still with good pigmentation also they have to be the right colour... Not too grey or too orange. It's a nightmare!
That is until I found the Eyelure Brow pencil in 'No.10 Dark Brown'. The Only Brow pencil I have found that I really like so far is the Soap and Glory archery brow pencil, but as I am sure many of you know finding the shade 'Hot Chocolate' in store is very very difficult.
In my on going hunt I came across the Eyelure Shape & Shade Brow pencil. So far, as goldilocks would say 'it's just right!'. It's not too hard or too soft, and it is just the right amount of waxy. The pigmentation is good but not to strong. The colour for me anyway is perfect not too red or orange and blends seemlessly with my natural brow colouring. And lastly, but certainly not least it stays all day long!
If you are someone who likes their brows to look drawn on then this is not for you as it gives you very natural looking fuller brows. This makes it perfect if like me you have odd brows and need to slightly alter the shape of one of them. Another added bonus of this product is the spoolie brush on the other end of the pencil. I love it when everything I need is in one product and I don't need other products or brushes and that is exactly what this gives me.
I love this product and can only see myself having one issue with it. Unfortunately, this is a sharpenable pencil instead of a wind up crayon like I normally prefer. This is me being really picky now... and to be quite honest this doesn't bother me too much!
For someone who does not normally like Blushes ( I am much more of a bronzer or contour kinda girl) I am really jumping on the bandwagon with the new blush releases. Brands are really bringing it, with regard to cheek products recently and Max Factor are no exception.
As I stated in my MUA whipped velvet blush review, In spring and summer I like something with a bit of a sheen. I also stated I normally reach for my cream blushes, in these months. But sometimes, specfically on those long hot days, cream blush just does not hold up.
Cue the entrance of these max factor beauties. These are a relatively new realse from Max Factor and really have my vote. What I think sets these apart from all other blushers on the highstreet is the baked formula. The formula is absolutely to die for, in fact many other bloggers have compared them to the incredibly hyped Hourglass Ambient lighting Blushes, however having not thried those I can't do a proper comparison...
What I can say is that they are very soft and velvety allowing them to blend seamlessly into the skin. They can be used in two different ways, as with first application these look very sheer, which I like as I am a bit of a blush Nube. But These are definitely buildable.
I would describe these as a highlighting blush as they give such an amazing sheen without looking shiny. This means that you can wear these alone without the need for an added highlighter. Even Better there is none of that horrible chunky glitter, in fact there is no glitter in sight at all. This means that they also look very 'skin like' and natural.
There is a total of 6 shades to choose from, as I said I am a bit of a blush nube, so I chose the lightest most sudtle of the lot - Lovely Pink. But after falling in love with the fomrula I think a few more might be on my wish list. Lovely Pink is perfect for a very sudtle hint of colour, which is perfect and versatile as it can be used with very natural makeup for a simple light flush of colour, but can also be paired with a bold lip, without looking like Coco the Clown...
You can purchase these Here, for £8.99. I would definitely recommend picking one, or more of these up, when you see them....
I don't think I am alone when I say that I love a good bargain... and a makeup bargain, when the product is actually good... you just cannot beat it. For this reason every time I go into Superdrug, I have to have a nose around the MUA stand. Can you imagine my delight when I saw they had brung out new products for Spring!!
In Spring and Summer I love everything glowy, with a bit of a sheen and generally start reaching for my cream blushes all over again. So I was instantly drawn to the the five new whipper velvet blushes. After quite a bit of internal debate and picking up at least 3 of the shades, I decided upon the shade 'ChiChi'. They come in at an amazing £3 each, and are described as being an ultra-soft blush with a lightweight formulation.
As for the packaging, it is fairly basic, but then again what did I really expect for just £3. Having said that it isn't awful. The packaging is very sturdy and user-friendly, and well it does it's job. But nothing to write home about packaging wise...
The formulation is also great, it has a soft and creamy consistency,almost velvety, allowing for seamlessly smooth application with either a brush or fingertips. With first application these are quite sheer but the pigmentation can definitely be built up, if that is your desired look.
I think Spry is the next one on my list as it looks very wearable and more of a year round colour...
What do you think are you going to be picking any of these up??
Once upon a time, there was a girl, who decided to head to the magical city of London. Okay so it wasn't that long ago, in fact it was yesterday and the city of London isn't all that magical but it definitely is special to me.
So yeah, yesterday I jumped on a train and headed to London. This day had been planned for quite a while and was quite busy, if I do say so myself. We were lucky as the weather held out and it actually began to feel like spring for the first time this year in England, yey.
The first stop on our trip was the Cinderella exhibition in Leicester Square. If you know me, you will know I am absolutely obsessed with disney, so when an ad came up for this on Facebook, I logged straight onto Ticketmaster and booked my tickets. Let me tell you it did not disappoint. It's incredible! There were over 100 props from theh film and over 30 exquisite costumes. And the Crystal's oh my goodness... Over 1.76 million swarovski crystals were used on the costumes alone. A girls best friend? I think so...
And as for the infamous shoe, Swarovski also produced the iconic glass slipper. Created from 100% solid crystal, they are the shoe from any girls dreams. Although I can imagine they would be quite painful to wear.
Unfortunately, you can no longer buy tickets to see this exhibition as they have sold out, but here is a snippet of my day, hope you enjoy ....
Have you seen the New Cinderella film what did you think?
As much as it may not feel very spring like outside, I say still being wrapped up in a blanket and my winter woolies, but alas it is still on it's way. So yes the sun is not out and the weather is still looking a bit grey outside, but does that mean we cannot bring the colour to our makeup, of course not. I thought I would take this oppertunity to run down some of the best beauty trends, found on the Spring 2015 catwalks.
1. Black Eyeliner-
Eyeliner was a must have on the runway, so if you have trouble getting the perfect flick, now is the time to start practising. I am one of those people as much as I try I still can't get the eyeliner perfect (just how do people get them matching on both sides???). One way I have found for this to become easier is to use a gel liner with a very precise brush. This is not a new concept by any means but there is something about using a brush that just makes the application process so much easier. Give it a Go! My favorite is 'Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel Liner'
For those of you out there that are already dab- hands at the old eyeliner, Rachel Zoe's models used the Butter London wink eye pencil on the catwalks and it looks great if I do say so myself.
2. Smokey eye-
Now, I don't know about you but to me a smokey eye is a winter staple, my go-to look. But it is not necessarily a look I would wear in the summer, but this year the likes of Tommy Hilfiger and Sonia Rykiel have converted me. They make the look very wearable and bronzy, I will definitely be sporting this, this spring/summer.
3. Red Lips/ Orangey Red Lips-
As with every spring look Lipbalm was a staple but when the designers wanted something a little more bold a strinking shade of orange or red was the most common option. I love Mac's Limited edition Lipstick in Mia Moretti, but if you can't get your hands on that one Maybelline's on fire red is also very similar.
For slightly warmer skintones an orangey red was also very popular and can look very flattering. I personally am loving Mac's Barbecue from the Isabel and Ruben Toledo collection, but a good alternative is Topshop Infrared.
4. Blue Eyeshadow/Eyeliner-
lastly, is for the real daredevil makeup artists out there, it is the blue eyeshadow. This year many brands used blue on the eyes and many looked really great but I just fell in love with the Elie Saab take on the colour.
I think this look just screams spring/summer and youth. But Alas i am not quite confident enough to wear this. I have however been experimenting with blue on my eyes and have come up with 2 slightly more subtle ways. 1 is to use a teal blue colour as my inner corner highlight. Now I will admit, this is not exactly an original idea, Ingrid created a video absolutely yonks ago when she did this exact trick and it looked wonderful.
To recreate this look I have been using No7 stay perfect eyeshadow in Pacific Green.
The second way of using this amazing colour is through eyeliner. I am in love with Urban decay 24/7 eyeliner in Ink. Granted this colour is not quite as bright but it still incorportes a bit of colour. This colour was again limited edition ( I know I'm so sorry), but it is very close to the colour LSD, and for something a bit brighter I am eyeing up deep end.
So what looks are you going to be rocking this spring, let me know??
Clarins in general is a brand that I feel does not get enough love. The products are lovely, and it is a brand that I personally have learnt to trust and love. One of my favorites from the Brand is the 'instant light natural lip perfectors' and I am not alone in their following with the likes of Lily Pebbles and Viviannadoesmakeup also being avid followers of the perfectors. So, it came as no suprise to me, for the internet to completely errupt when the release of the instant light lip balm perfectors came around.
The instant light lip balm perfector is the balm sister to the original, coming in a stick form rather than a tube and being slightly less glossy. They come in 6 shades of which I have 2, whilst still currently lusting after the other 4. The shades I decided upon where 01 Rose and 02 coral. Rose is a beautiful, medium peachy toned pink, and Coral is a bright pinky-toned orange.
As I have said these are a balm consistency which obviously means you do not get a tremendous amount of colour pay-off, they do however add a slight natural tint to the lips perfect for everyday. They have a very moisturising consistency probably due to the incredible ingredients Clarins have included such as Vitamin E, mango and shea butter, all known for their moisturising properties. This is probably why the 'up to 4 hours hydration' claim, I honestly do feel it lives up to. Having said that I would not say that the product itself stay's around that long on the lips as the color and glossiness do wear off within an hour. But is this not just a given with lip balm... I mean show me a lip balm that lasts as long as a lipstick and I am all ears??
The packaging of these, as with all Clarins is very chic, compact and cute. With the trademark gold caps and plastic tube colour co-ordinated to reflect the color of the product. Again there is ease of use within the packaging as they are small and compact and perfect for throwing into your handbag.
These come in at the amazing price of £18.00. You can get them from Here, and for a limited time recieve a free gift worth over £27 when you spend £60.
Eye-shadow is something that I hoard, I just can't help myself. When I see a new palette, specifically ones on the drugstore I just have to have it. So, when I saw the latest line-up from Collection, I jumped at the opportunity to try them out.
I can't say I had very high expectations for these palettes as, well I have tried a lot of the "dupes" of the naked basics/Naked palettes and well a lot of them are not so great. So needless to say I was a liiittle skeptical at how well these would perform. However, my skepticism was misplaced as these really are amazing.
The packaging although not 'uber' stylish is very light-weight and yet sturdy. Being black cardboard this does get dirty very quickly, but hey this is a minor defect. I can imagine these will also be great for travelling as they are very lightweight and compact, so easy enough to fit into your makeup bag.
Now I am not saying these are better than the infamous Naked Palettes as well for the £3.99 price tag it would be very difficult to match the very pigmented, buttery and blend-able formulation. But for the price these are very soft and creamy making them very easy to apply and ultra blend-able. Also the payoff is absolutely great.
There are a total of three different color selections in the range ( Nude, Nude grey and Nude bronze). I currently only have Nude but am seriously eyeing up the Nude Bronze. I can't deny myself a little shimmer. Nude is a great everyday palette with a selection of paler tone's which are almost full proof. I love the addition of a darker brown shade which I love to wear as a liner.
These are definitely worth a look. You can get these from Here.
