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

Chi Chi lipstick review and swatches....

As you may or may not know, lip products are my 'thing'. As cheesy as that sounds, it's true. I'd much rather go for a plain eye and a bright lip colour, or wear black and experiment with an orange or purple lip to jazz the whole thing up. 

I recently found a new little gem of the lipstick world whilst over here in Australia, by a brand called Chi Chi. I'll admit, the thing that first drew me to the brand was the packaging. 

 

Black with a pink metallic flock print, and the colour of the lipstick on show underneath. What's not to love.

The second thing that made these my newly favorite lipstick brand was their names.... who wouldn't love a lipstick called 'Wrapped Around My Pinkie'???

I swatched and instantly fell in love with all the shades but I restricted myself to just four to start my collection with.

 

 

Left to right: Shake that Booty (cream), Wrapped Around My Pinkie (cream), Fashion Police (matte) and Bad Bad Girl (cream). 

These are super pigmented and hydrating, even that matte shade although I do prefer the finish and feel of the cream lipsticks on the lips.These are the first Chi Chi products I've tried but they also have a fab range of nail varnishes and lip glossesI want to get my hands on when I get chance.

Has anybody else tried any of the Chi Chi lipsticks or any of their other products? I'd love to get some recommendations on what else to try!

Loves

xxx

 

Weekly review... 17 Wild Metallics Eyes...

Now I'm not a huge eyeshadow fan, but I do sometimes go mad and treat my lids to a wash of a neutral colour across the lid. I've had this particular product sat in my draw for ages and not really reached for it until this past couple of weeks. It's a sort of mouse consistency, a lot softer than a Mac Paint Pot and really smooth to apply. It almost blends too easily so a little goes a long way! 

I've got the colour Wild Nude (predictable!) and swatched looks like this (the swatch on the left is the product thickly applied, the right swatch is it blended out for more of a sheer finish)

The one problem with this is it does crease despite having an eye primer on, so I like to layer some powder eyeshadow over the top. For this I use a shade from the Sleek Storm Palette:

I use the pink shade, top row second from the top. Not only does it stop the 17 eye colour from creasing, it also really intensifies the colour..

Left swatch is the Sleek eyeshadow on it's own, middle swatch is a thick layer of 17 Metallic Eyes with the shadow over the top, and right is how I wear it: blended out with the shadow over the top to set it in place. 

Has anyone else tried these eye shadows from 17? How else do you wear yours?

Loves

xxx

Top 10 Lipsticks....

You may have noticed my 'Top 5' posts recently, I've actually been enjoying doing these and re-discovering some old gems hidden in the depths of my makeup draw! I've got a Top 5 Foundations and Top 5 Eyeliners coming up soon so keep an eye out for them, but I thought the next obvious one....with me being a lipstick addict and all...would be top 5 lipsticks. Let me just pause here and say this was an IMPOSSIBLE task...out of my 100+ lipsticks (it was a LOT more but I've had a pre-Oz clear out and donated them to friends and family) I CANNOT pick 5. So I cheated and went for 10 (which was still hard and I felt mean leaving some of them out...must get a life...)

Anyway...in no particular order apart from saying Mac Saint Germain is my fave lipstick of ALL TIME, and as far as brands go, Mac and Topshop are joint favourites.  You may also notice that 3 out of 4 of my Mac lipsticks are melted into a smush. It's a sensitive subject so I don't want to dwell on it. Anyway here they are...

(l-r) Barry M 147, Barry M 155 (new formula = amazing) Vivo at Tesco Shade 5 Pink Pout, Rimmel Lasting Finish in Pink Blush, Topshop in Brighton Rock

(l-r) Topshop in Ohh La La, Mac in Creme Cup (melted) Mac in Saint Germain (decimated!) Mac in Up The Amp (melted) Mac in Impassioned (NOT MELTED...HURAH!!)

Top row l-r Barry M 147, Barry M 155, Vivo Pink Pout, Rimmel Pink Blush, Topshop Brighton Rock

Bottom Row l-r Topshop Up The Amp, Mac Creme Cup, Mac Saint Germain, Mac Up The Amp, Mac Impassioned

As you can tell I'm a big Mac fan apart from the fact that a £13.50 lipstick SHOULD NOT melt as easy as they do. It upsets me in a big way. My favourite finish is their Amplified finishes, although I do quite like a couple of their Cream Sheen's. Topshop lipsticks blow me away. For around £8 they are creamy, long lasting, pigmented, don't melt, smell nice and are just generally amazeballs. I only have one from Vivo but hoping to pop to a big Tesco soon to pick up more of these they are so good for the price. Also, depsite Barry M being renowned for being drying on the lips, it's nothing a little lip balm can't solve. Their new formula's aren't like that at all...so more of these please Barry!

Are any of these in your Top 10??

Loves

xxx

Mini elf haul...

I’m in a ridiculously good mood today for a number of reasons:

1)    only one more day left of work then it’s a long weekend (even though I’m working in Office on Sunday but that doesn’t count!)

2)    One of my besties is back from uni for good tomorrow and I can’t wait to have her back in my life!

3)    The combination of 1) and 2) obviously lead to number three being a very big drunken re-union on Sunday night which I am gagging for I won’t lie. And this also means that…

4)    It’s not long until I can break my detox. OK I won’t break it completely, I’ll still eat healthily and not binge on sweets but it does mean that HELLO ROSE you’re back in my life. And oh, how I’ve missed you (yes I really am a bit of a wino)

5)    I finally got my nail appointment booked for Saturday thanks to a cancelation at the salon, so I’m going to have lovely gel nails for the outing on Sunday.

And finally 6) My second ever Elf order came in the post today and I’m really pleased with it. I want quite a lot of things off the site at the moment that aren’t available but I’m eagerly awaiting the email off them telling me they’ve got them and I can go purchase!!

I did, however, purchase a few lovely bit’s that I could not be happier with!

I firstly got a couple of brushes from their basic range and their studio line. I’ve always been a bit wary of makeup brushes, sceptical of what to use and how. I’ve always gone for the classic blusher brush and an eyeshadow brush but that’s usually been my limit, but with the affordable range that ELF do, I’ve felt the need to experiment a bit more with my tools of the trade.

First off I got (thank the lord) a smudging brush. This will save my poor mum having to buy cotton wool buds quite as often, as that’s what I’ve always used for my makeup in the past. I’m a big fan of the Smoulder eyeliner from Mac as it smudges easily but gives a lovely dark finish, so I can’t wait to try smudging it with my new brush tomorrow morning!

I also got a stipple brush from their studio range which I’m excited about. I’m a bit useless with foundation, after using a powder base with a sponge applicator for the past 4 years I’m now on to Mac studio fix which (of course) is a liquid. I’m terrible with my fingers because it just ends up going everywhere, and I was a bit disappointed when I purchased the Mac foundation brush for about £26 with this foundation, as it isn’t really that amazing. After reading a lot of peoples post talking about stipple brushes I thought I’d give this a go! Does any one else use one of these to apply their foundation??

As for the makeup, I went for two more eye products, the shimmer eyeliner in gunmetal, and the lifter and filler double ended eyebrow pencil in ivory/medium. 

(shimmer eyeliner in gunmetal) 

I love love love this eyebrow pencil, I think it’s fab being so thick so you get great coverage, and I might even buy it in the darker shade to get a more dramatic coverage for night time. This is one of my favourite elf products I’ve bought so far and I’d really recommend it!

Anyway until the lip pencil and the mineral eyeshadow in nude comes in, I’m pretty satisfied on my elf purchases for a while!

Is everyone looking forward to the bank holiday weekend yet?

Curly Sue....?

First of all I'd like to say a huge huge thank you to all my lovely comments on my first YouTube video, and I got like 6 subscribers within about half an hour which was lovely!

So anyway I popped into my local Superdrug today and it was having a makeover which was very exciting!! There's all new makeup stands and it looks like the perfume area is having an overhaul, but it was still a bit of a mess. Can't wait to see the finished article. The mess didn't stop me spending money though....

Even looking at this picture is upsetting me. I've heard so many good things about curling wands, and there's so so SO many pictures on people's blogs of their hair when they've said they've used one to create their look. So I popped down to Superdrug and bought the Remington Pearl Wand (heard so many good things about this one!) and let me tell you it has stressed the HELL out of me :(

I cannot get it to work, my hair just looks frizzy and afro-like (much like my natural hair actually!) I even sat and watched youtube tutorials for an hour and I still can't manage it. And as for trying it on my hair extensions....well that was a disaster. I resemble Curly Sue from the 90's film actually.

So anyway there were actually a couple of more successful items from today's trip....

I literally stood in the hair dye isle for about 15 minutes, with plum in one hand and black cherry in the other. Then I put down plum and picked up a lighter red colour. Then I just gave up and stuck with Black Cherry which I've used for the past 6 months. The way I see it....if it ain't broke, don't fix it! I'll probably dye it on Saturday before the big night out on Sunday!

I've finally done it, and spent £12 on a hair brush. The Tangle Teaser is an absolute godsend, I used it on my towel dried hair after my shower, and on dry (and very knotted) extensions, and when usually I'd have a brush full of hair, I didn't when I used this. I think it needs a few more tries to see if it really was worth the money but so far, I think this is an absolute beaut brush, it might even make my extensions last a bit longer!

Again, another thing I'm pretty excited about....volumizing powder. I haven't tried it yet but I went for a cheaper one just in case I hated it. I'll do a quick review on this when I've used it.

I've been on the look out for a bronzer like this for ages and have been toying with the idea of the Fake Bake bronzing block, until I spotted this. It's a dupe for the Fake Bake bronzer, but for a smidgin of the price. I can't remember exactly but it was around the £5 mark. It's from the Famous collection by Sue Moxley and they had about 5 variations of it. This one is Shade One in Golden Rose. The colour is so shimmery and even though the bronze strips are quite dark, the pinks in it lighten it up and make it really easy to wear. 

I decided I need to collect some more eyshadows as I'm a bit boring on that front. I got the Beauty UK number 4 pallet, and I have to say I'm a bit scared. I mean...it's got green in it...!!! I only EVER use gold or brown, and the occasional pink, so this is breaking me in gently. 

I'm really trying to get away from black or dark purple nail colours which I usually wear, especially with summer coming. As soon as I saw this colour from the limited edition Gosh range I decided this was the way for me to go. It's 001 in Lavender and the first Gosh nail varnish I've ever bought so can't wait to try it out!!

Another Beauty UK treat, their lipstick in Candy. Love this colour, but I'll leave it there for now on this as I'm going to do a post about my lipstick collection soon. 

And lastly, I took advantage of the two for £4.99 offer on Collection 2000 and got another two of my absolute favourite lip glosses I've ever used. I'm not usually a lipgloss fan, I tend to just use a balm alongside a lipstick, or just a clear lipgloss over the top of a lipstick to make it less obvious. These are from their Lock 'n' Hold collection which claim to last for up to 6 hours. I don't know about that, but they taste incredible, and stay on for ages, even when I'm sipping my vodka lemonade and lime on a night out. These two are in (l) break dance and (r) rock steady. Break dance is actually really surprising for a lipgloss, the colour is a REALLY strong coral even without wearing it with lipstick. Big big recommendation for these. 

Pretty little things.....

I've treated myself A LOT just recently I won't lie. First of all I did my first ever Elf order.

I know I'm a bit slow on the uptake for this one but I was always a bit unsure because it's so cheap, however I needed a couple of makeup brushes and I'd seen a lot of people say how good they are. I got a couple but I'll be honest I don't think much to them, and you're all fed up of hearing about them by now I'm sure. I did get two lovely treats in my delivery though.....

I apologise for all of the swatches on this post, I had to do them when I came in earlier in the bathroom with no natural light. This is the duo eye shadow cream in gorgeous brown tones. I'm never a huge fan of cream eyeshadows as I think they crease but this is amazing. Literally! The pale cream on itself is so nice right over the eyelid, and the dark one is quite nice to line the eye if I don't fancy a harsh black.

This is the new Pigment Eyeshadow in black, and it is amazing. I need to put a base on before I apply it (Benefit Lemonaid) but stays on all day, and the applicator is really tiny but great! I'll get some pictures of these on at some point but I've really not had time!

I also went on the hunt the other day for a lip scrub, after my love affair with the Bodyshop scrub died a slow painful death when I think I suddenly became allergic to it (well I think I did, it made my lips all flakey and red). I've heard this mentioned once or twice, and I may have to go and buy it in all three flavours. I went for chocolate and vanilla....

Lush Sweet Lips lip scrub is literally a miracle product, and the pot is so big it is going to last me ages!! 

Now to the fun part, I went to a charity pamper night for my mums friends charity walk in Cambodia, I don't know what the website is for it yet but I'm definitely going to find out what it is and get it on here, everyone needs to take a look because it's such a good cause!! The pamper night was great, I didn't have anything done but I got the number for a lady who does home visits to do coloured gel nail overlays which I am certainly going to get done asap!! Mainly because my nail varnish chips within minutes at the moment! So So annoying!

I did spend a fair bit though (and won some insanely amazing cupcakes which are nearly all gone!) mainly on benefit cosmetics, which were being sold pretty cheap! It was 2 items for £20, or £15 for the gift sets like the brow set and smokey eye pallet. I won't go through most of the things I bought from there because most of it was replenishing old things that were running out and if I decide to start on youtube videos I'll do a post on my makeup essentials that will have them in it. The one thing I did buy is this little beauty...

Again sorry about the swatches. This claims to cover pores and act as a base under foundation. It's actually great as a very pale foundation or concealer, except it's just a little tiny bit to pale for me. It stops my shiny forehead which is always a bonus, and isn't too heavy on my skin. It makes my foundation go on so smoothly but I'd definitely recommend putting a thin layer of moisturiser on and letting it dry before you slap the makeup on. As with all benefit makeup, you get a lovely set of instructions which always make me smile :)

Finally, I spotted a bargain tan while I was there, for only £2. I have to say, except St Tropez, it is the BEST tan of this sort I have ever used. No smell at all, doesn't come off on clothes or sheets, and even though it's colourless (it comes out like hair mouse which was confusing to start with) it doesn't streak at all. It's a very natural colour and does look good over a layer of garnier summer body. 

I don't know where else you can buy this from, if anyone has seen it in shops then PLEASE let me know. Also, I forgot to do a before and after but if anyone wants to see what the colours like then just let me know and I'll do a swatch.

Now for a quick outfit post from today....

The makeup picture is awful sorry. Anyway skirt, shoes, vest, all jewellery and belt are from Primark. Cardigan and blazer are H&M. 

Makeup isn't really worth it becuase the picture is rubbish but... 

Foundation is Mac full coverage

mascara is Collection 2000 false lash effect

Lipstick in Dreamy from 17

Blusher is W7 in bright pink

eyeliner is Mac and my favourite product I've ever used.

Anyway that was a bit or a mess sorry about that. I need to take a bit more care over my pictures and not rush things.....