Beauty Blender Review ♥

Ive been raving about this in a few of my posts and this deffinitely deserves a review of its own.
See this little pink sponge below? it works mirricals.

Id seen alot of reviews of this hot pink sponge all over and i was intrigued. I was slightly dubious of its (...rather cheesey) claims, shich were to 'modernise the way you make up' and how 'you can look like a movie star without the pricey services of a major make up artist'.
I thaught it would just be one of those gimmicky things that, in reality do nothing.

I'm a sucker for gimmickey things, so i baught.

When i opened the envelope, i was quite suprised to see how small it was. I was expecting something alot more bigger
(...things always look bigger online, dont they? No pun intended).
After scanning the instructions, i did as it said and ran it under some water and squeezed out the excess. It expands by nearly double its size which then covers more surface area and also stops it soaking up your foundation.

Left - before. Right - after.

The texture of the sponge is quite weird, I was expecting quite a scratchy sponge - Think bath sponges - but this is the softest thing ive felt!
On the website they even say 'Its suede texture is sensual to the touch' and I agree.

Its very squishy and has a tapered end, which i assume is ment for concealer and getting around the nose and other hard to reach places that a brush couldnt get to.

I find this sponge really makes foundation appliction 2x faster and well, more 'enjoyable', as i dont really want to be buffing foundation into the skin for 5 minuites untill my arm aches at 6am in the morning haha. This sponge litterally had cut my foundation application down to literally a minite. yay!
It desperses the product fast and evenly on the face with no streaks what so ever.This is down to its 'patent-pending elliptical shape' which makes it special to the normal quare shaped sponges.

What i like best about the sponge is it can be used with cream products, liquid products,concealer, powder foundation and cream blush, Ive even used the tapered bit to apply benefit's high beam and it worked fab. So nect time i go on holiday, this will be coming with me as it does lots of jobs in one.

I got some cleanser with it, but ive found that using just warm water and just any mild shampoo works just as well.

I dont think these are avilable in the UK (grrr) but you can find them on eBay (...which is where i got mine...) for around £20 for 2 sponges + cleaner sachets and they last about 7 months a sponge, from experience.

So, overall, i REALLY recommend you try this!
Have you got a Beauty Blender? What do you think?

Mini Rave - LUSH Maple Taffy Lip Balm ♥

Lush Maple Taffy, A new LUSH christmas product.

Lush Says -
"The taste of this balm is unbelievably moreish. Mixed in with the syrup, we've added Japan and carnauba waxes with extra virgin coconut oil to form a moisturising layer on the lips and keep them safe from the nip of winter. "

I was on the search for good 'winter' lip balm and had read mostly positive reviews on lushes site for this product, so i popped into lush on my way back from work a few days ago and grabbed one.
A winter lip balm in my opinion needs to be thick, long lasting moisturising and also has to prevent my lips from cracking and peeling...this little tin was just what i was on the hunt for.

I have and love the Palmers Dark chocolate and peppermint lip balm that was in my previous monthly favourites post, but that has quite a thin consistency and i use that to just pop over lipsticks while on the go and I needed something to get me through the (...supposedly) harsh winter thats ahead!

My thaughts?
Just like all Lush lip balms the texture is very waxy, hard and thick, which i love as it really cotes the lips well and acts as a barrier against the icy wind, i find it works a treat under drying lipstick and fills in any lines in the lips, making lips look plumper and more healthy, almost acts as a good lip primer in a way!

This balm contains real Syrup, which makes it taste unusual...but i like it,
Ive never known a lip balm contain real syrup before!
It lasts a good 2 hours on my lips and even after its gone, my lips still feel soft a while after.

The smell is divine and is the thing that makes this lip balm so addicting to apply. Whenever i smell it, it makes me think of christmas!

The Scent is quite difficult to describe, i cant quite put my finger on it, its quite a spicy, sweet, sickly cakey scent, so being a major sweet lover, i adore it! Its not for everyone though, one of my friends said it made her feel nauseous, while another said it was yummy.
It really does remind me of butterscotch angels delight...
...Remember that stuff? yum.

The only downside to this balm is you really need to rub your fingers around for a minute to warm the product up as it is so thick and is almost a solid product. The texture is very similar to Lushes solid perfumes if youve ever tried any of them.

Ingrediends?
all good ofcourse!

Maple Syrup Extra Virgin
Coconut Oil Illipe Butter Japan Wax Extra Virgin Coconut oil (Cocos nucifera), Maple Syrup, Japan Wax (Rhus succedanea), Shea Butter (Butyrospermum parkii), Illipe Butter (Shorea stenoptera), Carnauba Wax, Flavour, Glycerine.

Price?
A teeny tiny £2.50!
Its so cheap, ive stocked up on them to see me through winter (:

Will you be buying a tin?

Mac Lipstick Collection & Review ♥

Lipsticks, along with blush are my favourite makeup product. A lipstick can change your look all together and i cant seem to leave the house without *some* sort of lip product on my lips, i just feel 'naked' without it.

Mac lipsticks are quite well known, some people love them and some people dont seem to see understand why they are so well loved.
I, myself think they are good. Not phenominal but just good, and quite average.
They 'do the job' in other words.
So why do i have so many? Mac have the most outstanding range of colours and finnishes that blow any brand out of the water!
(for reference, my favourite brand is YSL and Benefit for lippies, but their colour range and finishes are a bit, blah.)


So here are the Pinks:

Left to right - Girl About Town, Gladiola, Snob, Pervette, Pretty Please, Pure Rose.

I love my pink lipsticks. Especially bright pinks for nights out and special occasions. Mac do a fabulous range of pinks. Apologies for the swatches here, the sheer lipsticks dont really show up on my skin but do look gorgeous on the lips.

Next the Nude shades.




Left to right - Creme d' Nude, Myth, Vanitys Child.

Nude lips are really hard for me to pull off, somtimes if i pick the wrong shade of nude, it compleatly makes me look so ill. So i try and pick a brown/peach colouled nude. They are quite hard to find, hence why i only have 3 lonely nudes. Mac does some other great nude shades also, such as fleshpot and blankety.

And, finally the Corals:

Left to right - Shy Girl, Jazzed, Colour Me Coral, Lollipop Loving.

Ah, Corals are my favourite colour to wear, since i have fair skin. Its really hard to find a good coral shade that dosnt look ridiculous and clown like...Mac does every shade of coral you could think of!

Finishes?

These are all the finishses they come in (Barry M take note!):
Satin
Lustre
Glaze
Matte
Frost
Cremesheen
(i think ive named them all?)
My favourite finnish by far is a CremeSheen. They suit my lips best, Not too pigmented or too sheer, Too dry or too glossy and they last a good while on my lips. keep them out out of the heat though, or they wil bcome a sticky, melted mess.
Frost finnish is my least favourite finnish, hence why i only have 1 frost, Colour me coral, which i rarley use. Far too drying and...well, frosty i suppose.

Price?

Price wise? They are £12.50, Not bad i dont think. A YSL lipstick will set you back around £20 and considering some drugstore lipsicks are around £8, They are quite cheap for a 'high end' brand.

So my favourite out of the lot, are *drum roll please*

Snob, Creme d' Nude and Jazzed.

Here the swatches on my Lips:

Left to right - Snob, Creme d' Nude and Jazzed.

Now all i really want is a good RED Mac lipstick, I'm thinking Mac's Ladybug?
Whats your favourite Mac lipstick?

The Perfect Bronzer? Check! ♥

For quite a while i was on a huge brozer-buying-spree! Reaserching well loved and raved about bronzers, hoping to fall head over heels for one, which i have done!

I looked through my drawres this morning and gathered up all the bronzers i own to compare to the one i now love and sware by :

Swatches:

Left to right...

Nars Laguna - Nice colour, but too sparkly.
Barry M Natural dazzle - Far too plum toned.
ELF Warm Bronzer - Too light and orange toned.
Mac Solar Riche - Far too red toned.
Cargo Medium Matte Bronzer -Ok, but a bit too warm.
Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel- Perfect colour, But too hard to work with.
Smashbox Colour Boosting Powder - Too sheer and messy to apply.

*sigh*
None of these met my picky bronzer standards!
I wanted a matte, brown...but not too brown, smooth, fool proof bronzer to give me a believable just back from hoilday colour.
I think ive found it!

'Hoola' Bronzer by Benefit.

My lovely mother came home with this a few of weeks ago, as she knew that i was wanting to try it out.
I was a bit doubting at fist as id practically given up hope on finding 'the one'.

I applied it one morning with my Gosh stippling brush (...Great brush i must add!) and it looked so natural i was amazed. and have used it everyday since.
With all the my other bronzers, i was unable to apply them all over my face and down my neck, But with this one, i can! I also use this to contour...I even used this as an eyeshadow the other week.
The colour is perfect...It gives a nice 'tanned' look, It dosnt have red or orange undertones whatsoever and is quite cool toned, so it matches my fair skin nicely.

As you can see, the colour is alot 'browner' then the other ones...

I wish i'd tried this sooner as i wouldnt have wasted so much money on other bronzers.
Its rather pricey at £23.50 a box, but so worth it if your looking for an amazing quality bronzer. Ive already baught myself a backup!


Whats your HG bronzer?

Lush Dream Cream ♥

Most Lush products dont really appeal to me and i find them to be slightly overhyped. But i was on the market for a good bodycream, so i succumbed to the hype and picked this up, hoping for utter miracles!

My skin type is extremley sensitive, flares up and becomes incredibly itchy and inflamed so easily if it dosnt agree with a poduct, So i was slightly apprehensive about giving this a go...

Its made from mostly natural ingredients, its vegan and contains a blend of these essential ingredients to help soothe, calm and moisturise the skin:
Cammomile
Oat Milk
Rose oil
Lavender oil.

Impressive!

The cream itself is a quite unnatractive beigey/pale yellow colour and smells very...herby?
I cant really discribe the smell, but its definitely natural smelling, not totally umpleasent, makes me a bit drowsy though haha.
Its a very thick rich cream. Quite a weird thickness though, You could hold the pot upside down for as long as you like and it wouldnt fall out, but its not at all solid like a balm or anything.
Since its such a thick cream, it does take a good few minutes to sink in...So its best to apply this at night, also you dont want to walk around during the day smelling like a herb shop! lol.

Well then, did it work?
Dream Cream is said to 'calm irritations, reduce redness and banish blotches'...
It deffinitly did all this plus more!
Hurrah!

I absalutly love this body cream. I apply this all over my chest neck arms and legs before going to bed and in the morning my skin feels velvetty soft and has a nice natural, healthy sheen to it.
It didnt irritate my skin one bit, it actually calmed the redness down and felt so cooling and refreshing!
Ive used every night for 2 weeks so far, and ive hardly made a dent! So its going to last me a while, yay (:

Fairly good price also - £8.60 for 250ml!
Go grab yourself some!

Review: Mac Paint Pots ♥

Everyone has a 'holy grail' primer, right?
I was struggling to find a good primer for my eyelids, as they are quite troublesome to say the least.
Ive tried most of the highly coveted primers on the market, Urban decay primer potion, Too Faced Shadow Insurence, Elf Primer, even the new Nars primer...None of them really comes close to these. Most of them i found were too dry, too thin, too watery or greasy...


These, I must say are the perfect formulation.





Packaging?
Packaging is nice and simple, A clear, heavy, sturdy glass jar with a black screw top lid. You have to dip your fingers in the jar though, which is a slight hastle sometimes if you have long nails.
I love the look of the little pots though, So adorable and tiny!

The colours i own are:

Pinterly - Most universal one. Pink toned flesh colour. Best for every day use.
Bare Study - Shimmery white beige. Also good for every day use.
Coral Crepe - This is an LE Paint Pot. Bright vivid, extremely pigmented coral. Quite thick in consitency.
Rubenesque - Same finnish as Bare Study. Shimmery light golden peach.
Quite Natural - I use this as eyeliner. Dark warm matte brown.




What i like most about these are that you can wear them alone as a light eyeshadow or as a liner. Ive even heard of people wearing coral crepe and rubanesque on their cheeks. They dont budge or smudge either.
They make any eyeshadow colour go on smoothly and more vivida and my eyeshadow stays perfect right the way though till' when i take it off.

I find the best way to use these are to make sure your hands are warm and swirl your finger in the product for a minite to warm it up, Then apply straight onto lids with your fingers, a brush could also work, but wouldnt be as even.

They retail for £13 on the Mac website and in store. A reasonable price considering they contain 5g of primer, which will last a long time!

Sephora By OPI - Call Your Mother ♥

I got these in the post this week, all the way from America, Exciting!

I purchased The well known Metro Chic and took a gamble on Call your mother.
They are both gorgeous colours, I havnt tried Metro Chic yet, Because i'm currently sporting (...and LOVING!) Call Your Mother.


Its a Realy unique musky lilac with dirty grey undertones. Its a very sophisticated colour thats fun and quirky at the same time. Ive been searching for a colour like this for ages. I think it will be perfect for winter!
(Please excuse the nails, they are in recovery process from when I had Acrylic nails!)

The brush is not like the regular wide OPI brushes, It's just your average nail polish brush. I much prefer the wide brushes, but its not a problem since the colour is so fantastic.
It goes on smoothly and I only needed 2 coats for it to be opaque.
As for the wear, Ive had the polish on for 3 days now, and have only a slight chip on my thumb nail and thats all! So, its quite hard wearing considering most polishes only last a day or 2 on me!



10/10!

Dior Amber Diamond ♥

Ive wanted this for so so so long. Its been going around youtube for a while now and i needed it!
well i didnt really NEED it, I just wanted it (:

Its Dior Amber Diamond.
I had some birthday money left over in my bank, so i thaught, why not? Its only £31...eeek.
Definitely a one off buy.

It comes in a little velvet pouch, which is a very nice touch, The overall presentation is so lavish and screams 'expensive!' to me. Its very sturdy also, very good quality.
Look how beautiful the packaging is! Looks so pretty sat on my dressing table.

Enough raving about the packaging, Now onto the actual product itself...
Its a gradiant of 5 shades a pearly white, Light beige, dark tan, light tan and then a peach.

The powder is finely milled and has zero glitter in it.
The effect on the skin is a gorgeous peachy glow, I think it would compliment a tan perfectly.
It would look beautiful on all skintones as it goes from light to dark and you can build it up to however dark you want it.
On my NC20 skin, it shows a bit more tan because i'm fairly pale.

Ive found that you get the best effect from this highlighter by applying it with a small stippling brush like Mac's 188 and buffing it in lightly. This dispurses the product more evenly onto the skin.
I did try it wet but I found that this made it look far far far too intense and metalic looking!

I packed it on quite heavy for the purpose of this review and as you can see it packs quite a punch of sheen, i'd never wear it this heavy though!

I love it!