Monday 25 January 2016

January Favourites

I know its not quite the end of January yet, but I have been so excited to do this that I'm just going to post it early! So heres my January favourites;


Beauty:
  • Clarins Pure Melt Cleansing Gel
  • Mac 'Vanilla' Pigment
  • Mac Eyebrow Pencil in 'Fling'
  • Lash Sensational Mascara
  • Benefit 'Maybe Baby' Perfume
  • Body Shop Eyelash Curlers
Other:

  • Tangle Teezer
  • Word Brain App
  • Stress + Anxiety Relieving Colouring Books
  • New Ted Baker Bag

These are all my favourite things throughout January, I would love to hear what everyone else's are!

xxx


(Disclaimer - some of these photos have been taken from the internet, I am in no way trying to claim them as my own!)

Monday 18 January 2016

January Birchbox

Birchbox is a subscription service that allows you to receive 5 luxe beauty samples for the price of £10 + £2.95 postage a month (which is amazing!), you can order yours from;
birchbox.co.uk

I thought it would be fun to share what I got in my January box;


  • Benefit They're Real Tinted Primer (RRP £18.50)
  • Jelly Pong Pong Lighten Up Brightener + Waterliner (RRP £14.95)
  • Whish Three Whishes Almond Body Butter (RRP £14.50)
  • Beauty Protector Protect & Detangle (RRP £14)
  • Absolution L'Eau Soir et Matin Cleansing Water (RRP £27)
Beauty Bonus:

  • Birchbox Compact Mirror (RRP £4)
  • 5 exclusive, specially illustrated birchbox pinterest cards
I hope you all have a go and get yourself a box, its just a nice little treat each month.

xxx

Monday 11 January 2016

Review - Mac Retro Matte Liquid Lipcolour

So I really wanted to try this new product out from mac, its their new range of liquid lipcolours. There are 15 shades ranging from nudes to very dark vampy colours. They retail for £21 so a little pricier than the lipsticks that are £15.50. I thought as its a review I would pick the darkest colour they had to try out - 'High Drama', in the swatch on the website it looks like a dark vampy red, so I was very excited. When it arrived I was a bit nervous as it looked a little darker than expected in the bottle (I always knew the swatches online never quite matched the actual colours).


Anyway my first thoughts were that the product looked a little darker than expected and that the packaging looked a bit cheap. Don't get me wrong I love mac and there sleek packaging for most things but this packaging didn't live up to the expectations. When I opened it the applicator inside is quite big, especially for something so pigmented because you need such precision, although its rather big the shape is quite useful!


So coming to the actual product when applying it I found its very pigmented but as soon as your lips touch the product goes patchy, so you do need to wait for it to dry otherwise you get a very noticeable bare patch in the middle of your lips. Also I noticed especially with this colour you needed about 3 layers to really get an even finish, because even when it dried it was patchy. Also this particular colour when applied shows up more black than red, which wasn't what I was expecting, so if you get this colour be prepared its basically black!


I tested it for a whole day and found as soon as you eat or drink it starts to crumble off so the staying power isn't very good and it doesn't wear off evenly either, it just crumbles off and leaves a rim around your lips.

The only good thing I did find was even though it was a really dark colour it didn't stain your lips so you could remove it with a makeup wipe quite easily.

I know this is quite a negative review, but I always want to tell the truth, and these are my honest opinions of the product. 
I would love to hear other peoples thoughts on the other colours!

xxx


(Disclaimer - the swatch photo has been taken from the Mac website directly, I'm in no way trying to claim it as my own.)

Sunday 10 January 2016

Review - Origins Clear Improvement Facemask

So this has been my favourite facemask for a while now, so I thought I would share it with you guys as its honestly been amazing and really helped clear up my skin and make it feel plump, fresh and clean. Its the Origins Clear Improvement facemask;

It retails at £23 for a 100ml tube. I just use it on my T-zone area about twice a week, but you can use it all over. It spreads really well so you don't need to use a lot. It really does what it says;

When environmental pollutants, dirt and debris get under your skin, its waste-filtering system gets jammed, pores get clogged, skin looks cloudy. Nature's complexion clean-up crew in Origins Clear Improvement® gets to the bottom of skins overcast condition and clears the way for it to act its best. Activate Charcoal acts like a magnet to draw out pore-cloggers, White China Clay absorbs environmental pollutants, Lecithin dissolves impurities. Without all that "stuff" down there, skin "breathes a sigh of relief."

It really has cleared my pores but at the same time reduced the appearance of them, and has also helped control any oils I have on my face. It's just an all round amazing product and very fun to put because of the crazy colour due to the charcoal.
Even the reviews are amazing for it '96% of people would recommend it'.

How to use it;
Once a week or as often as needed, open pores with warm, moist towel and layer mask on. Allow to dry, rinse well. Watch your skin shake off the shroud of dullness and take on a new clarity.

I hope you enjoyed this post and let me know if anyone has also tried this product out!

xxx

(Disclaimer - the photos and facts used in this post were taken from the Origins website directly, I am in no way trying to claim them as my own.)

Tuesday 5 January 2016

Drugstore Highlighters VS Mac Mineralize Skinfinish

So I recently got the Mac Mineralize Skinfinish in 'Soft and Gentle' and I thought I would do a review on it comparing it to the drugstore highlighters I own.

The first drugstore highlighter I have is the collection contour kit, now this is an all round amazing product and for the price I cannot fault it - £4.19. The packaging is very neat and sleek as its black and the highlighter from the kit is absolutely gorgeous, its so smooth and isn't too chunky with glitter, its just shimmery, and gives you a natural glow. Its also not too powdery, it just applies very easily and with a brilliant finish. 'Its a pearlescent shimmer powder to highlight and illuminate facial contours'.

The next drugstore highlighter I have is the makeup revolution radiance light in 'Breathe', its also amazing, although a bit more powdery than the collection one and I found that the glitters show up a little more, its still so gorgeous and again gives you such a natural glow. It currently retails at £3.50 as the website is having a massive sale at the moment so I would recommend you checking that out. Both of the drugstore highlighters I have are build able so you can have a natural highlight or build them up to me more of a dramatic look.

Now to the Mac Mineralize Skinfinish, it retails at £24 and the packaging is very sleek and black. The product inside is gorgeous it gives such a beautiful glow to the skin, but I have found (like I found with the blushes as well) that they are quite powdery and you have to make sure you tap off any excess otherwise it leaves a powdery touch to the skin. But the finish is beautiful and even though it is a lot more pricey than the drugstore ones, if your thinking of splurging on a highlighter I would definitely recommend them. I own the shade 'Soft and Gentle' and I feel its a very versatile shade, it would definitely suit any skin tones as its not too bronzey for light skin tones, but not too pale for darker skin tones it just looks like a natural glow when added to the top of the cheekbones.

I would highly recommend all of the highlighters I have mentioned above, although the drugstore ones are definitely a lot cheaper the quality is still comparable to the Mac one. But if your willing to invest the money I would certainly say get the Mac one.

I hope everyone is having a brilliant new year so far!

xxx

(Disclaimer - The photos I have used in this post have been taken from the websites themselves or from google image, I am in no way trying to claim them as my own.)