HOW I FEEL*

Here’s a video that sums up why i’ve been so quiet on my blog lately. I’m finding it hard to know who is genuine and original in the community so I’ve taken myself away for a while and just enjoyed makeup and skincare on my own.

B E A U T Y | V A M P N O I R*

Freedom Makeup – Vamp Noir | £8.00

Ok, so um, here’s another thing I bought that I didn’t need. Ha!

I saw (somewhere on the interwebs) a picture of the new Black Swan Halloween kit and I thought to myself “oo, the range of products there looks quite nice but a) I hate Halloween so that’s a waste and b) it’s all black and white (obviously) which is so singular to this time of year that I wont get much use out of the products”.  Luckily, Freedom had another kit on offer, the Vamp Noir. I got mine in my local Superdrug when I was picking up another order. We don’t have Makeup Revolution on stands in my town, I usually get mine at Sheffield or online so I was surprised to see the Christmas and Halloween Tam Beauty offerings all lined up prettily. The Vamp Noir comes with one eye dust (glitter), one quad eyeshadow palette, a lipstick, a lipgloss and a gel eyeliner.

S K I N C A R E | P U R E G L O W*

L’Oreal – Pure Clay Glow Mask | £7.99

For the first time, the L’Oréal Paris laboratories have selected three pure clays and combined them with red algae extract, known for its brightening properties. The beaded, creamy texture illuminates tone by exfoliating the skin’s surface without drying it out.

A powerful blend of 3 pure clays

Koalin A highly effective natural clay, known to absorb impurities and excess sebum.

Montmorillonite Rich in minerals, a clay recognised for helping to eliminate imperfections.

Ghassoul A pure clay highly concentrated in minerals renowned to help clarify complexion. Instant and lasting, visible results.

I first saw this mask like everyone else in Boots on a new promotional offer at £5.00 about a month ago. There are three masks in the range to choose from but the Pure Glow spoke to me most because I love to exfoliate and my skin always looks dull from lack of time in daylight.

The mask is bright red (and does leave my skin looking very red as opposed to its usual yellow).

B E A U T Y | B A N G K O K N I G H T S*

w7 Naughty Nine Swatches w/ Review – Bangkok Nights | £2.70

“Bangkok Nights is one of four in W7’s The Naughty Nine eyeshadow collection.

Bangkok Nights ranges in purple and plum shades which vary in textures from shimmer to matte effect. The combination of finishes allows you to create looks for the day as well as the night time.

In its sturdy and small packaging, this compact palette can be easily slipped in a handbag or luggage for when you’re on the go”.

I initially bought this palette after seeing BeautyBreaksWithVicky talk about it on her Instagram. She didn’t say it was good or bad, she just posted likening it to the Mac x9 palettes.

This brings me to a different point…. Vicky later made a comment on that same picture that the quality wasn’t so great with these palettes (I am not getting at Vicky in particular). I’m aware that this palette was cheap as chips and it was my own decision to buy it but I feel that social media “influencers”, myself included have a duty to state an opinion….. Don’t just post ambiguous pictures of things looking pretty. Do you like it or do you not? Is it worth it or is it not? Is it comparable to the original product that it’s trying to mimic?

If she had said this clearly in the original post I’d have said “ooo, how pretty, but I don’t want to buy something that’s crappy”. And now I have bought it, all I have to say is that this palette is pants. Utter rubbish. 

B E A U T Y | SL E E K – H A U L*

New From Sleek – Haul September 2016

“Lose yourself in sumptuous romantic evenings; embrace the cosy warmth of dinner by candlelight and seductive nights by the fire. Create alluring looks with warm, rich shades including smouldering dusky rose, deep plum and iridescent shimmers”.

I saw yesterday on Sleek’s Facebook page that they had launched a brand new Limited Edition iDivine palette called “Goodnight Sweetheart along with three new Lip VIP shades, Icon, Elite and Paparazzi. A few months previously there were also six new Matte me shades added to the existing line (Shabby Chic, Velvet Slipper, Vino Tinto, Bittersweet, Fired Up and Old Hollywood).

Now everyone is already bumming the autumn even though summer hasn’t finished just yet and it looks as though this years trending colours are pinks, mauves and you guessed it, berry tones (again).

B E A U T Y | T A N Y A B U R R*

Tanya Burr Cosmetics – Mistletoe Kisses Lipgloss – £2.25

“If you’re hankering after the perfect catwalk-inspired pout or want an everyday high shine lip gloss, take a look at these gleaming lip glosses from Tanya Burr. Offering a state of the art finish and performance, each Tanya Burr Lip Gloss comes packed with moisturising ingredients to feed and hydrate the lips”.

This will be a very quick review because this lipgloss is pants! I’ve never been a fan of Tanya Burr (no disrespect intended), I just don’t find her videos particularly fun to watch. Even if I were a fan, my opinion would be the same. This lipgloss sucks. 

U P D A T E | W H E R E H A V E I B E E N?*

WHERE HAVE I BEEN?

This post has taken me a long while to get around to…… Who am I kidding? All of my blog posts have taken me a long while to get around to. I’ve just been so busy adulting that suddenly churning out three blog posts a week just did not, for the longest time, feel like something I wanted to do.

I have managed to keep up with product shots of things here and there that I’ve bought, tried and tested so that’s left me with a huge backlog of product reviews to be getting on with.

If after all of my time away, you’re still here with me then thank you for sticking around.

If you’re new, then thank you for reading and I hope you plan on sticking around too!

Speak soon all 🙂 x

M A K E U P R E V M O N D A Y | F L A W L E S S II*

Makeup Revolution Monday – Flawless Matte II Review w/Swatches | £8.00

Following the success of our original Flawless Matte palette we bring you 32 more highly pigment matte ultra eyeshadows in one palette. Everyday wearable tones so perfect for use into the evening. Easy to blend and long lasting, this is the perfect palette for on the go too as it comes complete with a full size mirror.

From light to dark, 32 matte shades for flawless eyes.

My postman delivered me an unexpected treat last week Friday and I was pleasantly surprised to see that Makeup Revolution had a brand new Flawless Matte palette on the market. I’ve been out of the loop with makeup recently due to it being exam season so I didn’t even know this was being released but here she is! – I didn’t purchase the original Flawless Matte palette because when I swatched them in Superdrug they were all quite pale which wouldn’t work at all for my skintone so I’m glad to see a brand new palette that has least has some warm shades that can be worked into pale shadow looks.

S H O P M Y S T A S H – C O L L A B O R A T I O N W/ iDOROTTKA

Shop My Stash – Collaboration w/ iDorottka

We shopped our stashes and here’s what we found….

I recently met D in real life and we had a complete last talking makeup, men and all kinds of things and we just knew we had to do some sort of collab. We did an impromptu look of the day on Instagram a while back using the Makeup Revolution Naked chocolate palette but we just had to do something else. At the moment it’s just the two of us, but Folu from BoxBraids&Beauty will be jumping on as soon as exams are done with!

So in a group chat on WhatsApp between myself, Dorota and Folu, we decided on shopping our stashes instead of continuously splurging on makeup (don’t judge me, my next post is a haul, this conversation was a while ago ahahaha). The whole idea is not buying into so much beauty and using what you have already because let’s face it, we could all have stopped at maybe three palettes and two lipsticks but of course, that’s just never going to happen.

So for my “shop” I tried to choose products that are more summery in nature because I’m honestly so over dark colours. I want a fresh and flirty face that’s bright and pretty and i’m going to drag it out into autumn if it kills me.

B E A U T Y | T A T T O O*

Maybelline Colour Tattoo‘s Review w/ Swatches | £4.99

Our innovative pigment technology for a super-saturated colour. Smooth cream-gel formula. Up to 24hr staying power. Twelve popping vivid shades. Get inked your way.

Why You’ll Love It:

The collection has twelve long-wearing shades. Our innovative pigment technology gives a visually intense, high colour impact. Cream gel formula feels light on lids and is fade-resistant.

This is a very long overdue review but I feel as though reviewing cult products is always a benefit no matter how long they’ve been on the market. If people continue to talk about them, then others can benefit from knowing about truly good products so today I’m talking about Maybelline Colour Tattoo’s.

The colour tats are supposed to just be used as gel eyeshadows but the beauty world has just gone in and said, “hey, no, that’s not what we want, so we’re just going to pretend their eyesadow bases instead”. I must admit, it did take me a while to click that YouTuber’s and the like weren’t using them as directed, I just thought Maybelline had come up with a product and given it a mismatched name. But anyway…