Milani blush review….

When in New York…do what the crazy makeup crazy makeup artist/beauty blogger's do and collect all the makeup not available in the UK. First stop…drugstores and the coveted Milani stand. 

First up, the packaging is cute and compact, with a handy clear lid to see the colours at a glance making makeup decisions in the mornings a lot easier. 

The blushes are baked which means the colour's are quite sheer but don't appear powdery on the skin even when they're built up to achieve a stronger colour. 

I picked up shade 01 Dolce Pink which is a rose gold blush with a LOT of glitter. This is a blush that needs absolutely no highlighter added into the mix - it's a one stop glowing cheek shop. I also picked up (shock horror) 05 Luminoso which is seriously hyped in the blog and youtube community as being a glowy, peachy blush that is really subtle really tricky to get wrong. A quick swipe of this on the apples of the cheeks and up onto the cheekbones leaves a really healthy 'glowing from within' type finish. This is very rapidly becoming a holy grail product in my collection.

I wish I'd picked up more of these but I'll definitely be adding them to my next American drugstore haul list. I highly recommend these if you're heading overseas.

Loves

xxx

Soap & Glory Archery brow tint and pencil…

I've recently fallen completely out of love with my eyebrows, and all my eyebrow products I have in my stash. I just can't seem to get them even, nothing is the right colour, and I can't get an arch to save my life. So when I needed a few bits in Boots the other day I took advantage of the 3 for 2 on (as you do) and picked up the much talked about Soap & Glory Archery brow tint and precision shaping pencil. I got mine in the shade Brownie Points, which is a really natural taupe brown shade that actually matched my brow colour perfectly, although I usually like to darken my brows up to match my hair. 

left - felt tip, right - crayon

I'm not too in love with the felt pen end as I don't get anywhere near enough colour out of it, but if you prefer a more natural brow then I think you'll love that part. The pencil, however, is an absolute dream. Just the right amount of waxiness, the perfect thickness to get a nice tapered end to the brows, and just generally really easy to use. 

This was the only shade on the shelves in Boots and I don't know if they do another, darker shade? If they do I think this would be beyond perfect for me, but for now I'm using this in conduction with a brow shaping gel with a tint and I've got the brows I've been looking for!

What other brow products does everyone recommend?

Loves

xxx

NYX natural palette...

So far, everything I've tried from NYX I've fallen in love with, most of the products making their way into my everyday makeup routine. This palette kept popping up on Pinterest (come follow me if you don't already!) and I'd never tried any of their shadows before so thought, for such great value for money I'd give it a go. My initial thoughts were, what a great range of shades! I thought this would be perfect to create light, shimmery day looks, and then the darker shades in the crease smoked out for a more dramatic night look. It's got two matte shades so great for subtle highlights, and the rest all have varying amounts of shimmer throughout them. 

My first thought on these was they were really hard to blend. I used the glitter champagne shade (second in from left) all over the lid, with the taupe satin shadow through the crease, and they just kid of sat there. I also really didn't think much to the consistency of them. Very powdery and chalky...when I wiped a clean finger over my lid the shadow just came away. Slightly better with a lid primer but still nothing to write home about. 

Pigmentation was pretty poor, the swatches above were done without a primer which, as I said, did help matters along a bit but they were no Urban Decay! The last thing was the glitter....the champaign shade was so glittery it took me back to my 15 year old self when I was glitter obsessed!

All in all, not great from NYX in my opinion; there are definitely better budget eyeshadow brands on the market (Rimmel and L'Oreal etc). I still love NYX for their cheek, base and lip products but I don't think I'll be reaching for the eye section any time soon!

Am I on my own with this?

Loves

xxx

Bio Oil alternative....

If I could pick one thing that I couldn't do without at the moment in my everyday beauty routine I'd cast aside my lipsticks and my trusty Benefit mascara and pick this little beauty. 

I've got a lot of scarring from insect and mosquito bites from doing my farm work in Australia (one downside to living in paradise....bugs!) so I popped into the pharmacy to pick up some bio-oil with I swear by. The helpful sales assistant pointed out that they had a promotion on Dr Lewinns and it worked out cheaper than Bio-oil, and with it being made of all natural products I though 'hey, why not?'. This stuff is a miracle in a bottle. Although not completely gone (yet) I've been using this for around 2 months now and some of the scarring on my thighs has faded considerably. Still a long way to go but if you're looking for a Bio-Oil alternative then definitely pick this up. New holy grail product alert!

Loves

xxx