Bourjois Shine Edition: Mauve tabloid

Well after 3 weeks I finally have a new laptop. Had such difficulty in actually getting the thing delivered I started to doubt it was ever going to happen! It's finally here though so finally I can get back to blogging.

I had a night out a couple of weeks ago and since it was just before payday, rather than treating myself to a whole new outfit, I just grabbed a new lipstick. This is something I always do, I don't know why but if I can't afford something new to wear I just feel like I need something I haven't worn before. I think it kinda makes sense haha. Anyway enough with the blabbering. The new lipstick I picked up this time was Bourjois Shine Edition.

It was something a bit different for me as I don't usually go for shiny/glossy lipsticks for a night out but for some reason this one caught my eye. I picked up Mauve tabloid shade number 25. This is a deep purple/pink with small glitter particles. It looks a lot more brown in the packaging rather than when its applied.

First of all I have a little problem with the packaging, I'm not sure if it's the mirror of the lid or the large blue/green writing but something about this I really don't like. It just looks a little bit cheap. That said, it's a decent enough size to fit in your handbag so for a "drugstore" product I can't really complain too much.

The product is slightly slimmer than my usual lipstick choices but there is a decent amount of product and it actually applies much better than I thought it would.

 

 

 

The colour of this isn't quite as pigmented as I was expecting but I was really happy with the result. Being the dedicated blogger that I am I had a few cocktails whilst wearing this, just to see what the wear was like obviously not for my own enjoyment, and I only had to top it up twice throughout the night. Here's pictures of the product compared to my bare lips. Excuse my dry lips, today was a cold day haha.

 

 

 

Here's the product on the lips without flash:

 

 

 

And then with flash:

 

 

 

Overall I would definitely recommend this product, I'm thinking of trying out a few other colours in this. It's very moisturising yet it still has very good staying power. It applies easily and doesn't bleed at all even without liner. Has anyone tried the other colours in this range?







 

 



Barry M: Crystal Glaze review

...And we're back in business!

Here goes my first post in a little while. So happy to have the time to blog again and what better way yo start than to talk about one of my favourite brands; Barry M.

Now I bought pretty much all of the new Autumn collection as soon as they were released and have used a lot of them other the last week or so but for now we're focusing on the Crystal Glaze top coat as I've been wearing this a lot and getting lots of compliments on it. It's so pretty even in the bottle it draws attention.

Like pretty much all of us beauty bloggers I first tried this over the new Barry M shade Berry Cosmo. This looked so beautiful and gives an almost oil slick effect however there won't be any pictures as we've all seen that before by now.

First off I want to talk about the application, the crystal flakes in this spread easily and evenly on one coat, there's no pesky little flakes left sticking up they lay beautifully flat and dries very quickly. When I first tried it I was amazed at how easy it was, I've tried similar products before and had pieces sticking up and hated it but this is so simple to apply and dries pretty quickly especially as you only need a single thin coat for the desired finish.

Once I'd tried this over Berry Cosmo I started to wonder which of my hundreds of other shades this would work with and so I grabbed a nail wheel and got painting. Some of the colours I picked because they were my favourites and others because I was just curious as to how it would look.

Some of them I'm not even going to show a detailed picture with as it just didn't work. As you can see above this top coat really only works well with darker colour. With pale and pastel colours it does add a somewhat pretty accent but if I'm being honest I probably wouldn't waste the product or my time by applying this over such shades.

That said I did find a couple of amazing combinations. First up is Crystal Glaze over my absolute favourite shade from Autumn last year, Barry M's Watermelon from their Gelly collection. I'd been waiting for the cooler weather to start wearing this again and once I'd seen it with Crystal Glaze over the top I was even more excited. I don't have the best camera in the world so the pictures don't quite do it justice but you can see just how beautiful all the different colours are.

You can also see in the above pictures what I was talking about over the lighter/pastel shades. Above Watermelon I tried it with Barry M's Blueberry Ice Cream which I think was from the 2011 Spring release if I remember correctly. It does look pretty but it just doesn't allow the beautiful colours of this top coat to show as much as the darker shades do.

So that's Crystal Glaze making one of my favourite shades even better, so imagine how excited I was when I tried it over another favourite shade and it look amazing! This time was another Gelly but this time from this years Summer release, Blue Grape. I was always planning on bringing this shade through Autumn with me and now it'll be on those tips even more with this Crystal Glaze adding to it's amazing-ness.

Blue Grape is juuuuust dark enough to allow the multiple colours in this coat to really be shown off. Again, not the best picture quality but sadly until I win the lottery or marry rich this is the best I can do haha.

I hope this gives you an idea of how to best use this top coat and if you've found any other good combinations for this please leave it in the comments so I can try it out :)

Sleek 'Face Form' Contouring Kit review

You know when you read about a product and you think 'I kinda want that'. Well that;s what I thought when I kept seeing reviews for Sleeks contouring kit. I wanted to attempt contouring for a while but buying everything separately just seemed like it would take so long and I was always 'which blush will compliment which bronzer, which highlighter isn't gonna make me look like the tin man...'. Anyway all those problems were solved when I saw Sleeks kit sold in the Superdrug right next door to my work.

The packaging on this is lovely as is most of Sleeks stuff, before this purchase I only had a few lipsticks from them but their packaging is lovely and simple and I do love a matte black finish.

The Light Face Form kit contains a matt bronzer, a creme/pink highlighter with gold flecks and a pinky peach blush with a gold shimmer.

The second I opened this the blush drew me in, if I'd have opened the palette and it had contained nothing  but the blush I'd have been happy thats how good this blush looked. It's obviously not a blush for everyday wear but who contours for the daytime unless you're a Kardashian. 

I have never contoured my face before, ever! So bear in mind that this is a beginner using this product. As we all know though, the matt bronzer is used below the cheekbones (I'd also say around the hairline but maybe that's just me), the highlighter on the upper cheekbone and down the centre of the nose and the blush on the apples of the cheeks and temples.

The quality of each of these is perfect. The bronzer is matte, as any bronzer used for contouring should be. It's silky to the touch and applies evenly and thanks to how well it blends it avoids looking "muddy" has some matte bronzers tend to.

The highlighter is decent enough, I have nothing to rave about but it applies well and does it's job without looking too glittery or anything. Then we come to the blush, oh my! Anything thats pink with a gold shimmer is good in my books so I'm so glad that this lived up to my expectations, it looks beautiful!!!! As I said above I wouldn't ever wear this in the daytime but it makes your skin GLOW! Not in an over the top kind of way but just in a beautiful "why yes I do have perfect and healthy skin" kind of way. I actually cannot wait to go on a night out just to wear this! Here's a few pictures of my results, again beginner to contouring and I'm far from a make-up artist so imagine what someone with talent could do with this beaut of a palette!

Sorry for the two posts in one night but this just had me super excited!

Red Lipstick, all on the paper: Kate Moss Rimmel review

In the words of Gwyneth Paltrow "Beauty, to me, is about being comfortable in your own skin. That or a kick-ass red lipstick". You will rarely see me on a night out without red lipstick, it's my go-to look and the one thing, to me, that can really bring a look together.

I have a LOT of reds but one I've really been loving lately is Lasting Finish Matte Lipstick by Kate Moss for Rimmel in 111 Kiss Of Life.  I hadn't read anything about this before I bought it, I was drawn in by the lovely simple packaging. I don't know why but the red cylindrical tube with the "Kate" signature on the side really caught my eye. When looking through the colours, being me, I went straight to the brightest red. Here's a look at the packaging:

Now that's out of the way we'll get to the product itself. The colour is a deep velvety red with a matte finish. Here's a look at the swatches with and without flash

You can't really get an idea of the matte finish in the swatches but it is most definitely matte. I'd stayed away from matte until this because, since I don't have the poutiest pout in the world, didn't think it wouldn't suit me. One try of this and I was proven wrong, I've had so many compliments when wearing this. Here's a quick look at the product on the lips

I've found it so hard to find the right light to capture the colour but I'd say the one in natural light is the closest but imagine it a tiny bit brighter. You can get a better idea of the finish from the above picture though.

Application on this is... tricky. Only because you really really need to make sure you take the time to prep and line your lips properly. Liner is essential for this lipstick because if not used it WILL bleed and it will bleed quite badly. That said as long as you get the prep right this lipstick is great; it's matte but not at all drying, it's super pigmented in one coat and it can last a good few hours and a good few cocktails before it needs a touch up.

This lipstick is available at Boots for £5.49 and if I'm not mistaken they currently have a buy one get one half price offer on.

That's me and one of my favourite reds, what's your go to red lipstick? 

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable: First Review

So here goes my first real post, the plan was to start with some nail art but a late finish at work stopped me having the time needed to do this. So instead I have a little review for you.

We're taking a look at Revlons Just Bitten Kissable lip balm/stain today. I know this product has been around for a while but I just wanted to share my opinion and spread the word a little.

First up is the packaging:

Nothing amazing with the packaging but they do look cute and colourful if you like to display your make-up a little bit like I do plus the size means they stand up easily but still aren't too big to carry around in your bag.

I have a slight problem with the design/shape of the balm stain itself though. It comes with a pointed crayon like tip, great for lining and then filling in the colour. The only problem is I've found it very hard for to keep this shape and my most used one has ended up completely flat:

That's just a small complaint for an otherwise great product though. The application is smooth and easy and for a balm texture the pigmentation in this product is great, for the brightest finish this does have to be built up with a couple of coats but that just makes it all the more versatile for those who don't want to be so out there with their lipstick.

Today we're looking at my three favourite colours. There's Romantic 045 which is a bright red with quite strong orange undertones. I love this colour, I'm a massive fan of red lips and this is perfect because its bright without being quite as in your face as some reds.

Then there's Lovesick 020 which is a bright almost shocking pink with slight blue-ish undertones. This is probably my favourite out of the three, very very pigmented after a couple coats and such a fun colour. I love this on a night out with a flick of eyeliner.

Finally we have Honey 001 which is a dusky pink but does come out almost lilac. The packaging on this one is a little deceiving as it looks like a very neutral pink which was what I was looking for when I bought it. Once applied though the colour is a lot darker and slightly more purple than you'd expect from the packaging. That said I do like this one but it is my least worn of the three, maybe because I think it looks best with some dark smokey eye make-up and I am a simple cat-eye kind of girl.

So you can get an idea of the colours here's swatches of the above three colours without flash:

And with flash (there looks to be a lot more shimmer/glitter here than there actually is once applied especially with Lovesick):

You can see from the above picture that these really are balms as well as stains but here's how they look on the lips (excuse the poor application there wasn't much time lol)

The application on this product is smooth and easy and they do look and smell great and feel super moisturising. They do last for a good few hours even with eating and drinking but you really do still need to top up even with the stain element to this product. I love the colours and the feel for the first few hours but if not reapplied when the balm first starts to wear off I do find it can leave my lips a little flaky and the stain doesn't wear off evenly.

So all in all this is a really great product especially for those who are new to lip colour as lipsticks with a lot of pigmentation can be quite difficult to apply for a first-timer but these are very quick and if you prepare your lips properly you won't need to fuss around with linking and priming your lips first.

And now here we are at the end of my very first review. I hope you enjoyed it and I'd love to hear your comments on this and also on what you'd like to see from me in the future.