Highstreet & Cult Beauty Makeup Haul - Ft. Essence, Rimmel&Anastasia Beverly Hills

Hey  guys, just a quick little post for you guys, I went on a little make up shopping spree/frenzy and I thought I would show you what I got! (oh and just so you know I've also placed a Make-up Revolution order which I will be hauling for you soon!).

The first thing I bought was the Maya Mia for Anastasia Beverley Hills Palette, I already have the Amrezy Palette and I ordered this one the day it was released. I haven't used it yet, but I am really excited to try it out because I have a feeling it's going to be just as amazing as the Amrezy palette, which I love.

Kiko Life in Rio Double Ended Brush - Review

Hey guys. today I'll be reviewing the Kiko Life in Rio Double Ended Brush. When I first saw this brush on the Kiko website I was really intrigued by it as I thought it would be a great brush to contour with as the slight curve to it would really fit into the contours of the face and help give a more chiseled and defined contour. 

The Bodyshop Vitamin E Face Mist - Review

This is the first face mist I have ever used and at first I wasn't too impressed by it because it was too 'wet' and because of this I felt as if it was moving my makeup when I sprayed it on my face and I honestly wasn't too happy about that so I shoved it towards the back of a drawer and forgot all about it. But during a little clear-up session I had, I rediscovered this little bottle and decided to give it another go and I've decided that I do actually quite like it, now that I've figured out the best way to use it, and another great thing is that it has many uses! Read on to find out what I use it for!

July Birchbox 2014 - Sun Sea and Sand - What's in my Box and First Impressions

Hey lovely readers!! So Today's post is on the contents of my July 2014 Birchbox. This is my second box from them and before ordering from Birchbox I have never had a subscription box before, so this is definitely a new experience for me. I'm not going to say that I love everything that I received in my box because I didn't, as there are somethings that I doubt I'll ever use. But what I do like about this kind of service is that we get to try things from many different brands, these could be brands that we are familiar with or brands that we've either never heard of or never thought of trying and I thinks it's a great way to discover new products.

Now onto what I got in mine!

Benefit Porefessional - This was one product I was happy about, I already had a mini sample of this primer but I was running low and even though I'm not usually a primer person I quite like it and I'm glad I now have a backup

Essence Cosmetics UK Launch

So as some of may have heard Essence Cosmetics has recently launched in the UK. I was invited to the launch event but unfortunately I wasn't able to attend, however, the lovely people over at Flipside PR were kind enough to send me a few products to try out. I am super excited to try all of these things out especially the lipstick and the eyeliner.

The anti-spot foundation was too light for me so I gave it to my younger sister since it matched her better, but I've kept all the other products for myself and will be reviewing them for you all soon. I think I might to a Brand focus type tutorial so that you can see the products in action, I'll have to use a different foundation obviously, but I'm sure everything else will work great! I'm super excited to see how these products apply!

Eylure Lashfix Adhesive for False Lashes - Review

So a few weeks back I was browsing the ASOS website for some jeans and after choosing a couple of pairs and adding them to my basket I decided to check out the beauty section which is where I came across the Eylure Lashfix Adhesive for False Lashes and since it was only £2.00 I decided to add it to my basket to test it out. Now I never used to wear false lashes because I just couldn't get them hang of putting them on (I'm getting better at it now) but recently I've been wearing them more often and I don't really like the glue that comes with them so I was glad to have found this

The adhesive comes in a little plastic bottle and you get 6ml of product. the applicator is a little strange and I can't really think of a good way to describe it, but it just looks like a small plastic nib. I apply the adhesive to the band of my false lashes and leave it for about 30 seconds so that it can get tacky. I then I apply it to my eyes using a pair of tweezers.

Beauty Haul - Feel Unique and Some more Bits from Kiko

So you my have read my post on an amazing Feel Unique Deal where you can either get £5 off your order when you spend £20 or more OR you could get 15% off your first order (if you haven't read it, you can do so here). I decided to take advantage of this offer and I picked up the Real Techniques Sam's Picks set which I'd had my eye on for a while! The set contains 6 brushes two of which I already own but I needed a backup of my much loved buffing brush anyway :) the Set normally retails at £29.99 but I got it for £24.99 with free delivery. I know it's not a massive saving but hey I still saved something!

I also picked up a few more things from the Kiko website, that I am super excited to try. And what's even more amazing is that they threw in a free 30ml tube of their self tanning rapid drops. From Kiko I got three of their Glow and Touch for lips and cheeks in the shades 101 Venus Pink, 102 Wave Hibiscus and 104 Magnetic Mauve. The final item I purchased was the Velvet Mat Satin Lipstick in the shade 604 Bright Orange.

I'm super excited about all of my purchases and I can't wait to start using them! Have you bought anything new recently? Let me know in the comments below ~)

Zoeva Gel Liner in Black Lace - Review

I'm a huge fan of gel liners and I'm always looking for new brands to try, so when I saw the Cream Eye Liner in Black Lace on the Zoeva website a few weeks ago I decided to buy it and give it a try. 

 On the website it states that this shade is “ Black as the night, a must for purists. Deep, matte black with a hint of blue ” and that it is dramatically intense, long-lasting and water resistant. I was excited to try this as none of the eyeliners I previously owned were actually waterproof and honestly that doesn't really bother me, but I wanted to see if this liner lived up to its claim of being water resistant. And whether it was as intense as it claimed to be.

The product is housed in a glass jar that has a frosted, matte finish and a screw top black lid. The packaging seems really sturdy and doesn't feel like it would break easily. 

Mini Paris Beauty Haul - Kiko, Sephora & Bioderma

So I may have mentioned that I was going to be going on holiday to Paris, but due to some problems with my passport I had to cancel my trip. However, my friends still went and they were kind enough to bring back a few beauty items that I asked for, so I decided to haul them for you guys! Enjoy :) !

First up were a few makeup items from Kiko and Sephora, both were brands that I'd never tried before so I didn't go all crazy and tell them to buy the whole store (very proud of myself for showing some restraint, be warned though, it's not a regular occurrence). 

Natural Collection Lipstick - Raspberry

I purchased my first tube of the Natural Collection Lipstick in the shade Raspberry when I was 16 years old and I instantly fell in love. Since then I have gone through three tubes of this lipstick and I recently purchased my fourth, so I decided I would review this shade for you and let you know why I used to love it so much and also why I've recently fallen back in love with it.

Ebay #217 Brush

You may have read my previous post about the Ebay #239 brush here and today I want to talk to you about the #217 brush that I bought around the same time, and I will be comparing both of the brushes.

The brushes are very similar in that they have the same type of long matte black handle and they also have the same soft white bristles. However, where the #239 brush has short dense bristles, the bristles on the #217 are longer and more 'fluffy' which makes it great for seamlessly blending in crease colours and smoothing out any harsh lines. It has been said that this brush bares some similarities to the MAC #217 brush, but since I do not own the MAC version I really can't say whether this is a dupe for that or not.

Revlon Photoready Skinlights Face Illuminator - Pink Light - Review

I've really been getting into highlighting this year and I've bought quite a few powder highlighters but this is the first liquid highlighter I have purchased. The main reason I wanted to try this was because I saw it in one of Kaushal's videos and I was really intrigued by this product and wanted to try it out. I picked mine up from Boots alongside a couple of other items since they had a 3for2 offer on and I've been trialing it since then, and thought I'd give you my thoughts on it.

Primark - P.S. Beauty Haul

So I finally managed to pick up some pieces from the new Primark P.S. beauty Range and I thought I would show you what I bought! 

Top 5 under £5

Today I want to talk to you about a few of my favourite drugstore products, and the best part is they're all under £5. So you can shop away without feeling too guilty ;)!

 First, we have the MUA single eyeshadows, these are a complete bargain at only £1.00 each. They're really pigmented and fairly easy to blend, you can find a full review on them here.

Bourjois Bronzing Primer - Review

When I first heard about this product the first thought that came to mind was that it sounds a lot like the Soleil Tan De Chanel Bronzing Make up Base and I have been lusting after that product since forever. I don't know why it's taken me so long to actually buy the Bourjois bronzer but for some reason I kept overlooking it whenever I went shopping (I tend to do that a lot with Bourjois products), but now I have it and I've been using it for the past week so I thought I would do a little review for you guys to let you know what I think about it.

When I first swatched this bronzer I felt like it would be too light for me but I bought it any way just to try out and after using it for a few days I have to say that it's a great product for adding some warmth to your face.

Ebay 239 Eyeshadow Brush - Review

When I first came across this brush on Ebay my initial thought was that it looks a lot like the MAC 239 brush, but I've never actually owned/used the MAC brush before so I cant say if they're similar or not. The main reason I bought these was because I'm on the lookout for some affordable everyday eye brushes because sometimes I just can't be bothered to wash mine when they get dirty (I know, I'm lazy, don't judge me!), so I like to keep backups and these were under £1.00 each which is crazy!

Now onto the actual brush itself: 

Q Beauty Brushes Review

I popped into Bodycare last week since I needed to pick up a few essentials and I decided to have a look at their make-up section which is where I saw these brushes. I regularly visit Bodycare and I had never seen these brushes before so I quickly grabbed up two of the eye brushes to test out and see if they were any good.

BirminghamBloggersMeet14

This was the first meetup that I've attended and to say I was nervous is a big understatement. I'm not the most social person mostly because I'm really shy and have trouble talking to new people, so I was definitely super nervous about attending but I'm really glad I went because I had the chance to meet some very lovely people and the whole experience was amazing. So I want to say thank you to Jess and Charlotte for organising the whole thing because without them it wouldn't have happened!

(A little warning: this post is very picture heavy!)

We all met up outside Bullring near the Bull and I was confused for a minute because there were two large groups of girls waiting around - turns out one group was there for The Vamps Meetup! After that we all split up into small groups and headed off to do some shopping and have a little chat. We grabbed some drinks from Starbucks and sat on the steps outside near the Church to enjoy the pretty decent weather and have a nice chat. We then headed to Boots where I picked up a couple of make-up bits that I'd had my eye on for a while. After that we made our way to the Lush store in the City Centre where we met up with the rest of the girls. The lovely ladies at Lush gave us a demonstration on making our very own face mask and then we got to walk around the store and take pictures of all the amazing products, the staff were always on hand and ready to help if we had any questions. We even received goody bags with two full size face washes (Angels on Bare Skin and Ocean Salt), a bubble bar (Sunny Side), and a tub of the face mask that we made at the start (Catastrophe Cosmetic). I also purchased a couple of other items which I will show you in a separate Haul post.

They even had a sign to welcome us!

My Everyday Face

Today I thought I'd share with you the products I tend to reach for on an almost daily basis. Sometimes when I'm feeling super inspired I like to change up my eye look but my base usually stays the same (I may switch my foundation to my M.A.C. studio sculpt or Maybelline Fit Me if I feel like I need a change).

These are all the products That I use on an everyday basis, I do try to switch my routine up a bit whenever I can, but most days I'll finding myself reaching for these products. The Revlon foundation is a fairly recent purchase and I have to say that I'm loving it. 

MUA Cream Blusher - Bittersweet - Review & Swatches

Today I have for you a review on the MUA Cream Blusher in Bittersweet. To be honest with you I've never been too keen on cream blushers because I always felt that they would make me look really oily/shiny,  but when I saw that MUA had come out with a range of cream blushers retailing at only £2 each I decided to take the plunge and try them out to see what all the hype was about cream blushes. And since they were only £2 I felt that I had nothing to lose if I didn't end up liking them. I bought two shades Bittersweet and Yummy, and today I will be reviewing the shade Bittersweet.

e.l.f. Studio Matte Lip Colours Review & Swatches

These two lip products are also items that I picked up in the e.l.f. sale and at 50% off who could resist? I think these two were the products that I was most excited about receiving because I am a huge fan of matte lips! I've made it my life's mission to collect as many  matte lipsticks as I can (seriously I'm not joking!). These lipsticks normally retail at £3.75 which means I got them for less than £2.00 each!

The two shades that I got are, Praline and Rich Red.

|| Maybelline Fit me Foundation - Review ||

I picked this foundation up when it was first released and I had not heard much about it. But I was curious and really wanted to try it since I had never used or heard of a gel foundation before. I picked up the shade 315 - Soft Honey and I have to say that it is a near perfect match and I can say that out of the drugstore foundations that I have tried this is the only one where I have been happy with the shade range. Now I know that Revlon and L'Oreal have a quite a good shade range for darker skin-tones but I've never tried any of their foundations so I can't say what they would be like.

|| e.l.f. Blush/Bronzer Duo Antigua - Review with Swatches ||

I've had my eye on this duo for a while and decided to pick it up a few months ago. The shade that I purchased was Antigua. A lot of people have said that these duos are similar to the Nars blush/bronzer duos but since I haven't tried the Nars duos I cant comment on that claim.

The shades are very pigmented and fairly easy to blend. I like using the bronzer shade to contour my cheekbones, it blends easily and isn't too orange, I have heard quite a few people say that it looks a bit muddy on their cheeks but I haven't experienced that problem, I think it looks great on my skin (maybe it's because I have a darker skintone). 

One thing that I really don't like about this duo is the amount of glitter it contains especially in the blusher. It's not noticeable in the bronzer once you've applied it to your face but the blusher is a different story...Way too much glitter. But I can live with it. Other that that I think this is a great product and is a really good value for money, it's only £3.75!

|| Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation - Review ||

Hey guys, first off I'd just like to say sorry for not posting anything this past week but I've been really busy with my coursework for Uni which I handed in yesterday (thank god) so I haven't really been able to write up any posts. But now I'm back and I'll try my best to post more regularly from now on :)

Onto the review, when I first saw this foundation in Boots I wasn't that keen on it for two main reasons; one because I'm not really big on the whole dewy finish look and two it looked like it had glitter in it. So I stayed away from it.

But after hearing Tanya Burr rave about how good this is in so many of her videos, I decided to pick it up and give it a go. I've had this for a couple of months now and I've been applying it with different tools to see which works best. My favourite way to apply this is to use my Real techniques Buffing brush or Expert face brush, as I feel that they really blend it and buff it into the skin.

The thing that I like most about this foundation is the coverage. I think that it gives a medium coverage that is build-able and it really helps cover up minor imperfections. However if you have any sort of redness then I suggest using a concealer in those areas for extra coverage.

Now the finish to this is slightly dewy and I don't hate it but I'm not in love with it either as I prefer a more matte finish since my skin is slightly oily. But I have to say that this is nice and not overly dewy and I would wear it on days where I know I won't be out for long because after a couple of hours it does start to look really oily around my t-zone.

The one thing that I really don't like about this foundation is the shade range, most of them are too light for me and I think that the shade that I bought (400 Natural beige) is the darkest shade available and it isn't a great match and it makes me look quite grey especially around my mouth and chin area. I can tone down the greyness by using a bronzer or mixing it with a darker foundation but it still doesn't look that great. Overall I think that this would be a great foundation for those who have less oily skin and have a lighter skin tone than me. I do like this foundation and I would repurchase it. but only if Rimmel expanded their shade range.

Thank you for reading and I hope this post has helped you :)