Let It Glow

 So today I'm talking all things that glow. Ok, so maybe not all things that glow, just two things really which are the Topshop Glow Highlighters. If you're already fed up of me saying the word glow this is going to be one long post for you. Sorry!
Now I am a big fan of highlighters and I've tried a fair few in my time. The only trouble I have is finding something that is some what natural without looking either too shiny (example: Benefit High Beam) or glittery (example: Sleek Contour Palette Highlighter). After hearing such good things about the Topshop makeup range I decided for my first venture into their line I would try their cream highlighters in a pot called Glow and picked up both shades in Gleam and Polished.
My first impression of the product was good. I mean for the price the packaging feels of a high quality. (I'm not sure if it is glass but I'm going to say that it is) the glass packaging is sturdy and doesn't feel like something that is going to break easily which is great for clutzes like me. The product itself is just- I don't actually know where to begin. Both Gleam and Polished are creamy textures which are so easy to work with. I simply dab my finger into the pot and then blend it onto the tops of my cheekbones to add a subtle, sheer, non glittery glow. It is so easy to see why Topshop have called this product Glow because that is exactly what it does to your skin. You glow after applying this.
The main thing that I like about this product is that it is not glittery for one and can still be seen after you have set your makeup with a powder. Another reason I can't get enough of this is that I don't feel like it needs touching up half way through the day (which is perfect if you too are lazy and hate touch ups). And if you need yet another reason to convince you of the wonderfulness of this product a little goes a long way; it is so pigmented that a small dab on each side of the face is enough to add that subtle glow. Both shades are beautiful but I have to say I have been dipping into Gleam a little more this month as it is a more golden tone which I prefer for Autumn/Winter as it pairs really well with that darker makeup look. I think that both of these highlighters are great for all skin tones and I couldn't recommend them enough. If you are looking for a highlighter that isn't going to break the bank, give this a try as it is only £9.00 and by far my favourite highlighter I've tried.
So my question to you now is what else is worth trying from the Topshop beauty range?

Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of the Real Techniques brushes: when there's a new brush or set out, I have to have it. They're so wonderfully soft, they apply makeup beautifully and wash like a dream. However, the one product that I never really paid much interest to was the Miracle Complexion Sponge. Having never used a sponge to apply my makeup before I wasn't really interested. But then everything went wrong: my base just wasn't sitting on may face right and by that I mean every foundation and concealer I tried just looked cakey. Enter the Miracle Complexion Sponge.

This orange beauty has caused some what of a debate amongst the beauty community. It seems you either love it or you hate it. After hearing some say that it has helped make their foundations look more natural looking on the skin I had to try it. Now, let me just say this sponge has saved my face from the curse of cake. There's something about it that just helps foundation sit on the skin and look like, well, skin! Typically I will apply my foundation as usual with a buffing brush or something similar, then I will pat the sponge (dry) on top. Personally I find that this step helps create a flawless looking base where nothing is sitting on top of the skin awkwardly.
Also, after complaining about never finding a concealer that covers my dark blue circles, this product has helped to make even the worst concealers I've tried cover those pesky panda eyes a little more; rather than wiping the product away like a brush would do, the sponge doesn't move the product away from the area where it has been applied.
The shape of the sponge is perfect for all areas of the face, if we can get past the chubbiness of my hands in the photo you can see that there's there's a flat side which I use to pat my base into my face (such rhyming poetic charm in this post today) and a pointed end which I use to get right into the creases such as around my nose and under my eyes. I think the only down side to this product is how long it lives, I mean I've had mine a good few months and it's starting to tear and lose it's shape slightly. BUT for a few bobbins I don't mind replacing it.

All in all I think this is a wonderful product as it is so versatile; it can be used damp to apply your foundation without a brush or dry. Although it can be time consuming to have to sit and pat on your foundation rather than just buff it in with a brush or your fingers, I definitely think that the result is worth it.

What's your view, do you prefer to use a sponge/beauty blender or not?

Soap & Glory Supercat Liner

For the past few months I have worn eyeliner practically every day. At first I started out with the Maybelline gel pot which my sister uses everyday and it looks flawless on her (I am a very jealous older sibling when it comes to these matters, let me tell you). But for me, the gel pot just didn't cut it. By the end of the day it was always sliding half way down my face and I resembled some what of a panda. Yeah. Not a good look.
Since the panda looking days I have been on the hunt for an eyeliner that can offer smudge proof, long lasting, pigmented flicks that are easy to apply because let's face it, like everything else I suck at eyeliner and need all the help I can get. I'd heard raving reviews about the Soap & Glory Supercat eyeliner so along I went to Boots with the intention to buy just that. That I did. And super this liner is. Every single good review that has raved about this liner, is down right true to every word. It is amazing. The formula of the Supercat liner is the blackest liquid eyeliner I have ever used and is not only pigmented but also really long lasting. And I mean long lasting. I have worn this from eight o'clock in the morning, right the way through work, come home and finally dragged myself to the bathroom at nine o'clock to take it all off and it still looks perfect.
As if that wasn't enough the packaging and design of the eyeliner itself allows for ridiculously easy application. Firstly, it looks like a pen. If this did not have any writing on it you could easily mistake this for your ordinary marker (or at least I would, but I'm not the smartest person you'll ever meet). The shap of the nib is wonderful as you can create such thin lines across your lid or bold and dramatic lines. Also, because this eyeliner is in pen form it makes creating a winged eyeliner look so, so, so, so (do you get the point yet?) easy.
I am now trying to justify spending money on the Tom Ford pen looking eyeliner (you know the one) now that I'm getting to grips with using this type of liner but I don't think my bank balance is quite ready for that. Nor is my explanation to my boyfriend when he sees how much I've spent on a "pen for my eyes". So for now I think I'll stick with this little beauty for only £6.00 from Boots.
Have you tried the Supercat liner yet?

DEAL OF THE WEEK YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO MISS

So many of you will not know but Debenhams are the mother of sales, I don't think there is a time that they are never not in sale, if it isn't a mid season sale, it's the blue cross sale or so much off of coats and boots. Anyway, every year they have a "mega week" where there are deals across the store. For us beauty lovers we can enjoy 10% off of health and beauty for the whole week. Did someone shout hallelujah?
Now, for all you Benefit junkies out there you'll be pleased to know that the smokin' eyes palette has been reduced to half price. Oh yes, you heard me right, the usually £28.50 palette has been reduced to £14.25. Now that, is what I like to call a bargain. Looking at the palette I wouldn't have even considered paying £28.50 for three eye shadows and "add ons" that I probably will never use, but at £14.25 I snapped one up for myself faster than you can believe. The palette itself seems handy for those of you who travel, it has almost everything you would need if you were on the go; sturdy case with a magnet closing, reasonably sized mirror, tweezers, small eyeliner and a brush that all slot in nicely within the palette. Although I wouldn't particularly use the eyeliner, brush and tweezers, it's always nice to have that option. Right?
Now, down to business. As I briefly mentioned the palette comes with three eye shadows: a shimmery pink which can be used on its own for a hint of colour on your lids on lazy days, or as a highlight shade, a shimmery grey/silver and a matte grey which you can see in my badly photographed images above. (Thumbs up for bad photography skills and moody faces.) Now, I am some what of a neutral girl (unless we're talking purple toned eye shadows, dear Lord they are my weakness) through and through and this is way out of my comfort zone but honestly? I love it. The shades blend beautifully together and can be used to create the most simple of looks or the most dramatic and bold looks. 

The only downfall to the palette for me is the two bottom products; brow zings wax and eye bright. Firstly let me just say that brow zings is a Benefit product I have never liked using (did I really just say I didn't like a Benefit product? Shock horror, somebody call an ambulance I think something's wrong!) but if you do and you use the shade light, you're in luck! Secondly, I LOVE eye bright. Having such small eyes means anything I can use in my waterline to make my eyes a little brighter is a must. But I don't like the way it is placed in the palette. I don't understand how I am supposed to use it on my waterline like I usually would when it is in this form. Instead, I've settled using it under my brow as a highlight (not all is lost).
With all this in mind I still think that this is well worth £14.25. So, will you be rushing out to Debenhams this weekend to grab your own smokin' eyes palette?

P.S the Benefit Peek-A-Bright Eyes palette (not one I own so can't personally recommend) is also on half price this week up until Sunday. Happy shopping!

Mascara's For Your Eyebrows?

Ok, so there has been a recent increase in the amount of brow gels or "mascaras for your eyebrows" as I like to call them hitting the shelves. The three main ones that have stuck out to me are the Benefit Gimmie Brow, Maybelline Brow Drama and of course the newest release being Rimmel's Brows This Way. Now, let's get personal for a moment. Ever since my dear old mother allowed my Auntie to hack away at my eyebrows with way, way, way too much wax I have had trouble with thin, sparse eyebrows. Three years later and they're starting to look much fuller and even (thank you to the girl at the Benefit Brow Bar who did such a good job getting them even again. You are my hero).

Now, I am not one for filling in brows. The whole concept of having to use a brush to flick powder through my eyebrow to add shape and thickness is daunting. But (and there is a but thankfully) when I stumbled across Benefit's Gimmie Brow earlier this year I've never not left the house without some form of product being wacked onto my brows. Gimmie Brow is in one word, wonderful. I was skeptical at first but it was my sister who convinced me that it would be well worth the £17.50 after the benebabe in Manchester demonstrated how much filling in your eyebrows can transform your makeup look.

Out of the three gels I'll be talking about in this post, Gimmie Brow is most definitely my favourite. It's like nothing I have ever used before. It fills in your eyebrows and sets them in place without having that shiny/waxy finish. I think the main thing that makes this product so different from every other brow gel in the market is that it has tiny fibres in it that work a treat at filling in any pesky gaps without making your brows look drawn on. All in all, I can't say enough good things about this product: it's easy, simple, quick and just wonderful to use. This has worked amazingly for me and I would 100% recommend it to anyone who is looking for a quick fix for sparse and unruly eyebrows.

Benefit Gimmie Brow is available in two shades: Light/Medium and Medium/Deep. I currently use the Light/Medium shade which is too light for my eyebrows but I can still make it work by layering the product a couple of times.

The second brow gel I have tried is the Maybelline Brow Drama. After seeing it in action on Sam from Pixiwoo and hearing her say she liked the product I had to go out and immediately buy myself one. And that's what I did. And that's where it all went wrong. The brush that comes with brow drama has a sphere shaped nib (nib? Is that the right description?) which makes the application of the product much harder than when using Gimmie Brow. Not only does it get all over my forehead and underneath my eyebrow making me look like I have some sort of eyebrow stubble or that I'm well overdue a waxing appointment, it just doesn't fill in the sparse areas. Not only that but the finish has a rather waxy look which I found was a little too obvious that I'd tried to fill my brows in.

I think that brow drama is a very love hate product. You either like it or you don't. Although I won't personally be repurchasing this if you want to give it a go it's available for £4.99 at Boots and comes in four shades.

Now we're coming to the end of this post with our final review of the Rimmel Brow This Way. This is available in three shades for £3.99 at Boots. When I first saw this I thought it might be a dupe for the Gimmie Brow because of the size of the bottle but when I got home there were a few things which stood out that are very different between the two. Firstly, the size of the wand. It is massive in comparison to the Gimmie Brow wand and I found that I've not been able to have as much control when distributing the product on my brows. Also, the amount of product that the wand picks up is insane. I think I spent more time wiping off excess product that I didn't need back onto the bottle than I did actually applying it. If you want to see this in action I recommend you watch Vivianna Does Makeup's new beauty launches video where she explains a little more and you can get a bit more of a feel for the product. For me, its a no go and I'll be sticking to my Gimmie Brow until something, if anything, better comes along.

If you've made it to the end of this post (yes, it was a very long one, I do apologise) leave a comment letting me know what your must have brow product is.

Benefit Majorette: All You Need To Know

 

If you know me it is no secret that I love Benefit Cosmetics, I mean there's a reason that they're the UK's number 1 best selling makeup brand. Their products are wonderful and I'm yet to try one of their products and not fall in love with it. The formulations of their products is wonderful and the packaging is not only quirky but fun to look at 

and buy. Majorette is their newest product which launched on the 30th August and it ticks all the right boxes; the formulation's wonderful and the packaging is quirky and fun. I mean, just look at it, it's designed around a majorette drum. So cute!

My first impression when looking at the product was that it reminded me of the Bourjois cream to powder blushes as they are both shaped like a dome (granted you can't tell on this picture because I've already been using mine and worn down the pretty pattern that was engraved to start with). Majorette is the first of its kind in the Benefit family, aside from Fine One One (I confess I haven't tried it's three tone looking goodness) which is a cream lip and cheek colour, Majorette is a cream to powder blush. The colour is some what of a pale coral/peach and is supposed to be used underneath any blusher to enhance its colour. Honestly? That works pretty well but on it's own it is beautiful!

Now, I am not a big blush lover. I am very much ok with leaving the house with just bronzer and a bit of highlight on the tops of my cheekbones but this pomegranate and peach scented blush (to me it smells like apricot but I could be wrong, my sense of smell isn't a very strong one) has had me reaching for it every morning to add just a spot of colour to the apples of my cheeks. Not only is it incredibly easy to apply -swirl of the finger and circled onto the cheeks- it blends well and is long lasting even on my face which seems to eat up anything makeup wise within an hour.

The creamy formulation means that Majorette can be applied and blended all before it has set to a powder. But dry skinned girls don't be worried, despite this blush setting as a powder it still leaves the skin with a healthy glow and looks semi-dewy. Majorette is available at all Benefit counters (obviously) and online for £23.50. It may seem a little steep for a blusher but like the rest of Benefit's products I can see this lasting a long time and therefore, it is well worth the money.

Will you be picking up your drum of peachy goodness this weekend?

Who Can Resist A Boots Haul?

I don't think I've ever been able to go to a Boots and not buy at least one item. Or, if I haven't bought anything I've definitely left with an arm full of swatches. But that's ok right? There's no harm in that despite how my purse may feel after a "quick" visit to the local Boots.

Now let's set the scene, it's two days after pay day, I'm feeling a little low and have decided a quick trip to Boots to get some Autumn/Winter esque shades of nail varnish would be a good start to the weekend. Half an hour later and only one nail varnish to show for my time, my purse was feeling a little lighter but my spirits were much higher. Now, let's get on to what I bought shall we?

Rimmel Wonderful Mascara: Unlike everyone else I am not a big fan of most of the drugstore mascaras everyone else seems to love (I'm talking about you Maybelline falsies) but when I saw the advert for this after just thinking I needed to try more mascaras it seemed like destiny. Like a lot of products at the moment this mascara has argan oil in which is supposed to help condition your lashes. I am excited to see if fate has worked some magic and this mascara is my match made in heaven. Watch this space for a follow up review.
Rimmel Brows This Way: Being a big fan of the Benefit Gimmie Brow I decided that I would try the high street version, or what I am assuming is supposed to be a close match. My first impression of this product is that the wand is huge and I'm talking mascara wand huge (ok, it's not that big and I am exaggerating but it is pretty big) and I'm just not sure how that's going to work for my sparse little brows. Time will tell. Who knows, maybe I've just found a cheaper alternative for my well loved Gimmie Brow...
Soap & Glory Solar Powder: After religiously applying the Sleek Contour Palette bronzer to my face every day since Christmas Day (yes I have an exact day that I have been using that baby since) I have decided that it was time to try something new, extend my horizons so to speak. I've heard nothing but good reviews for this product so I am extremely excited to give it a whirl. There are two halves to the bronzer, one a more paler shade and the other much darker. I feel together they'd make the perfect all-over bronzer but the lighter shade might be better for those much paler/see through skin looking days I have from time to time (ok, you got me, I have one of those days every day).
Soap & Glory Kick Ass Concealer: I am still yet to find a concealer that can cover my dark circles under my eyes. Nothing seems to stop that tired, raging blue shade from shining through each day. So with a salmon shade corrector, a concealer and a translucent powder slotted into this small compact I am more than happy to give it a go. Initially when swatching the shades on the back of my hand I found that the textures were very creamy which made me worry that they'd crease under my eyes but then my not so bad short term memory reminded me that there is a setting powder with the compact and I should bite the bullet and give it  try.
Side note, if you have any recommendations for concealers that are great for covering dark under eyes and spots please throw them my way because I need all the help I can get with that matter!
Soap & Glory Clean On Me & Orangeasm Body Washes: Now that I'm writing up this post I'm noticing that I was having a bit of a moment with Soap & Glory. I've put these both in the same sub-section as they are virtually the same thing. Clean On Me is one of my favourite body washes of all time so it was inevitable that I would be picking this up. Usually I would have picked up Sugar Crush but coming out of the summer months I wanted something with less of a citrus scent. Ironically, I did pick up Orangeasm which completely contradicts my last statement. In my defense I have not been able to find this anywhere and have been keen to try it for months and I can honestly say that it was well worth the wait.

Soap & Glory The Breakfast Scrub: Soap & Glory know how to make some good shower/bath products and their exfoliaters are the top of my list whenever I go in Boots. The reason I've gone for this pot of oaty smelling goodness is purely because of smell. In short, it reminds me of Autumn/Winter mornings as porridge is something I'm much more likely to eat then. Not sure if that's weird or not, I'll let you decide.
MaxFactor Gel Shine Laquer: So, the thing that I went in for in the first place was actually the last thing that I picked up. I just couldn't find any darker shades that I saw as Autumn/Winter appropriate. And I looked all over that shop, I'm talking all the makeup stands, Essie, Models Own, Sally Hansen (although I've never tried any of these nail polish's and was very tempted to pick up a minty green colour but I resisted, 10 points to me) everywhere! But nothing caught my eye other than this. It's basically a dark teal and I know my sister has a similar shade which I love but this is so much nicer than that. It doesn't streak and with two coats its completely opaque. All in all, it's a good nail polish.