New Benefit Cheeky Sweet Spot Christmas Set 2014 | Box o' Blushes Face Palette

Hello!

We've been neglecting this blog over the summer due to work & being on holiday for a good part of it - sorry.  Over the next wee while we're looking to do a lot of autumn/winter posts so tune in!

Today when I was walking through Debenhams, the Benefit counter caught my eye as they had lots of Christmas packages on their counters, cute little red and green tins shaped like different sized Christmas houses!  I think they might actually be shops...can't remember.

The first one I picked up was a sweet shop and when I read box o' blushes I thought it was too good to be true.  I missed out on the stunning NARS blush palette from last year so couldn't quite believe Benefit had released one!!  I'm much more familiar with Benefit's blush colours so this one would be much better for me anyway.  I was actually shocked when I read the back of the box to find out it includes Dandelion, Bella Bamba, Sugarbomb, Coralista, Rockateur, Hoola AND a sample of the Watts' Up! highlighter complete with a mini brush!!!

The store I was in had a 10% discount on all products today.. so I was able to nab this set at £26.55!!!!  For a set with a value of £65.94 this was too good to be true, I am sooooo happy!

The sizing of the products are really generous too, a lot bigger than I had imagined.

This is a product I would definitely say to add to your Christmas list, or if you have a birthday coming up or even just to treat yourself!

One thing I would say is that the packaging is maybe a bit too chunky if you're looking for a palette like this for travelling.  However I'm not planning on using this for travelling.  I think it will make a great festive addition to my dressing table in the next few months when I finally come round to the Christmas mood.  September is just too early!! Haha.

This is usually priced at £29.50, a saving of 55%.

I also passed the Benefit advent calendar, which was £54 today because of the 10% saving... But I couldn't bear parting with that much for an advent calendar!!  I might ask for it as part of my Christmas, or just stick to a chocolate one.  Is anyone thinking of purchasing it?

Happy shopping!

Zoe x

Festival Makeup & Getting Ready Guide 2014

Hello!

Festival season is yet again upon us, one of my most FAVOURITE times of year!  I've been to T In The Park the past two years (where I camped the entire weekend), and Leeds Festival in 2012.  I've experienced torrential rain that led to walking through fields of liquid mud for a whole weekend, (seriously, google 't in the park rain 2012'), and scorching heat that dried the mud into dust leaving a layer of dirt on everyone!

Trying to look good for festivals does require some effort.  Waking up in a tent in a field probably not feeling 100% isn't very nice to say the least but I find that cleaning yourself up and putting some make up on really helps to wake you up and get you even more excited for the day ahead.  I feel like my knowledge or make up products has grown considerably over the past year so using this plus my experience at festivals, here are some tips in the hopes to make it easier for you!

1) Water

Sounds obvious but some people very easily forget to hydrate themselves over the weekend with anything except alcohol.  Boring, but drinking water will make you feel refreshed, your skin will thank you for it and you'll definitely feel better to take on the weekend without the symptoms of dehydration

2) BABY WIPES!

If like me you're too stingey to pay for a Refresh band, baby wipes are an absolute godsend!  They're cheap and will get the dirt off of your body and with a few swipes.  It's far more practical than lugging along a cleanser/toner.  I would however recommend taking a moisturiser!

Boring but essential

3) Sun cream

Last year at T In The Park the sun was beating down from the moment I woke up until it set behind the main stage every night.  I'm always so prepared for every kind of weather at a festival so of course had some Factor 30 with me, the same couldn't be said for a couple of my friends though!  Despite borrowing mine one left with burned & blistered lips, and another had a bright red burn all through her neckline the whole weekend.  Sun cream may be the most important thing you take so make sure its high on your 'to take' list!!

4)  Face coverage

I wouldn't recommend wearing foundation, especially if you're camping the whole weekend.  Baby wipes will definitely not remove every last morsel of it which will lead to your skin and pores feeling clogged, possibly leading to spots.  I prefer to go bare faced with some concealer hiding my dark circles, down the bridge of the nose and any redness on my face.  Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer is brilliant for this.  To warm up my face, I use a Radiance Boost from Virgin Vie.  It instantly makes a
dull festival face seem full of life and I would definitely recommend it.

If you feel like you would prefer base with more coverage than I go for, go for a BB cream with SPF in it - my all time summer favourite would be the Topshop BB Cream with SPF20.  Light, buildable and will protect you from those UV rays.  

5) Eyes

A lot of festival make up tutorials use bright, electric colours on the eyes.  In reality, no one really wants to sit in their tent for an hour perfecting a bold eye look with lots of blending and/or stencils (or at least I certainly don't!).  I tend to opt for cream shadows that are easily blended out with just fingers.  I love a shimmery warm look on the eyes for a festival.  A few of my favourites are Benefit's 'My Two Cents' and 'Birthday Suit', and Maybelline's 'On and On Bronze'.

I would be lost without liquid eyeliner, and because I use it every day I find it easy to line my upper lash line and wing out my eyes in under a minute!  Don't worry if you can't yet, it takes a lot of practice.  My all time favourite is L'oreal's Super Liner Black Eyeliner.  If you prefer a more smudged line to your eyes then you could go for a pencil liner (the Rimmel Scandal Eyes range is superb).  I find gel eyeliner is really fiddly in general, so I would probably avoid it for a festival!

I think a warm shimmery eyeshadow look looks AMAZING with some blue eyeliner in the waterline.  My favourite is a Barry M kohl pencil that I've had for a while now.  I find it's that pop of colour that just brings the whole eye look together.  I've attached a picture below!

Mascara is always a must for me.  This year I will definitely be taking my trusty Maybelline The Falsies to T In The Park!  Personally I avoid waterproof mascara's because they're really hard to take off at night and you will definitely struggle with just baby wipes.  The Falsies is a great mascara and doesn't run down my face!

It's important to keep your eyebrows in check over the weekend so don't forget to pack your tweezers and and eyebrow pencil!

6) Lips

My very well loved lip butter

My perfect lip gloss!

I tend to stay away from bright lip colours and go for more 'your lips but better' shades.  Check out Revlon's Colorburst Lip Butters - I love the shades Berry Smoothie and Pink Truffle.  This year I'm thinking of taking Tanya Burr's Lip Gloss in the shade Aurora because its so natural and really completes a make up look.

I thought I'd show you a look using some of the products mentioned.  It's really natural and pretty and will take you at most 15 minutes!

Keeping products minimal

Products used - 

Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer

Virgin Vie Radiance Boost

Benefit 'My Two Cents'

L'oreal Black Superliner Eyeliner

Make Up Store Brow Pencil No. 3

Barry M Turquoise Kohl Eyeliner

Maybelline The Falsies Mascara

Tanya Burr Lip Gloss in Aurora

 Apologies for the atrocious camera quality

My favourite part about any make up look is the eyes and recently I'm obsessed with a blue waterline!

Zoe x

Mini Haul | Soap and Glory & Books!

Yesterday, my mum, nanny & I went to a big retail park near where we live and visited a massive Boots and Tesco.  As much as I LOVE high end make up I will always be a Boots girl at heart.  There were so many deals on, like if you spent £9 in Rimmel you would get a free natural bronzer or 3 for 2 on all L'oreal products which are both soooo tempting!!

A brand that I've never had anything from before (besides a concealer too dark for me given from my mum) is Soap & Glory and I was really intrigued in a lot of their products because I'd never seen any others like them!  Also who can let a 3 for 2 offer go amiss.  Here's what I picked up:

The Kick-Ass Concealer looked soooo interesting.  It has 3 steps - a peachy toned concealer to counteract dark circles undereyes, a yellow toned concealer to counteract redness in the face and blemishes, and a translucent setting powder to set the cream concealers!  I'd never seen anything like it before - am I new to a trend??

I'm never 100% happy with my eyebrows.  I've been switching between an eyebrow pencil which I don't like very much but want to use it up (stingey...) and MAC Omega eyeshadow which is BRILLIANT but my eyebrow shape is too horrible for it to perform it's full wonders.  So I saw a brow stick which had a felt tip end (the tint) and a waxy crayon end (the shaping pencil).  I tried it out as soon as I got home and my brows finaaaaally looked strong and full!!  I got the colour 'Love Is Blonde' - cute name!  Think this might be my new holy grail.

Also picked up a Sexy Mother Pucker (lol) Gloss Stick.  I have an unreal amount of lip products, particularly lip glosses so the concept of a lipgloss in a stick looked so cool.  I got the colour 'Fuschiaristic' (Soap & Glory seem to have the best names for products?!).  This is such a breakthrough product for me, it looks and feels just like a lipgloss but with no sticky mess!  The colour looks bright but when applied is actually really natural on.  My sister tried it on when I got home and decided she really wants one too :-).  I think this could be the start of a Soap and Glory make up obsession.

I also got three travel clear make up bags.  I'm going on two holidays this summer and to T in the Park so these will definitely come in handy.

Tesco had a deal on books - two for £7.  I have been putting off watching Divergent until I've read it so picked that up.  I'm already hooked and spent this morning in bed reading it!  I also chose 'With All My Love' by Patricia Scanlan, just randomly.  The blurb made it seem really interesting and might be just what I'm needing to read after a fallout with my mum last week haha.

Let me know what you think if you have tried any of the products or read either of the books!

Zoe x

Collective Haul | Topshop, New Look, River Island, TK Maxx, Superdrug, Boots.

Hellooo!

So I’ve been buying a few bits and bobs recently and thought I’d share them with you! Due to not being able to go shopping much during my university placement, I ended up spending far too much money the first weekend after finishing. However it was all very much needed (well most, some things I just couldn’t resist) and consists of make up, hair, clothe and accessories. So let’s get started…

I’ll begin with make up! So I bought 2 items – Sleek eyebrow stylist and NYC Kohl Eyeliner Pencil in White.  This is my third time purchase of the Sleek eyebrow stylist. I’d say it is the best product I have had for my eyebrows ever. It has two sides – a waxy side (product) and a spooly. My first time purchase was spur of the moment as I was trying to grow my eyebrow as they were becoming too thin and thought this would be perfect. I couldn’t have been more right! It is fantastically natural looking and allows you to create shape and definition very quickly and very easily. I use this in the shade Light – 716, as I prefer to build up colour and felt the medium would be too dark too quickly. I would definitely recommend this product!

I have wanted a white eyeliner for ages to help brighten up my eyes when they are looking a bit dull. As I have never bought one before I decided to go for a cheap option to be on the safe side (I also have many allergies so don’t like to spend a lot on certain products.) This product opened up my eye and just made it appear to be brighter which is perfect. I have only tried this once so will need to see how it goes when I continue to use it.

Next, I have purchased 4 nail products – three nail polishes and one set of false nails. I picked up two Barry M Gelly Hi Shine nails paints: Sugar Apple 418 and Coconut 415. Gelly nails paints have always been a fave of mine since they were released a few years ago. My favourite shade is Papaya 304.

Sugar Apple is a lovely minty colour (more blue than Essie mint candy apple) perfect for the spring time pastels trend. I applied two coats and the pigment was great. If the other shades are to go by, then they usually last a week on my nails even when I am working 4 or so times during the week.

Coconut is a more creamy shade as opposed to white which was what I was looking for. However, it is still lovely and with three coats looks fantastic and will go well with any outfit during the spring and summer months!

The third is a Nails Inc. shade in Tavistock Street 221. It is a lovely grey shade which will look nice in the more autumny months, but I saw it and needed to buy it! I purchased it from my work (TK Max) so was only £4.99 as opposed to the £11 elsewhere. It is rather streaky in application but with three coats looks lovely. The Nails Inc nail polishes usually last on my 3-4 days without a top coat so to last longer I’d suggest using a topcoat.

Finally, I impulse bought a set of Elegant Touch Aztec nails. I fell in love with them when I saw them!!! I am disappointed with the quality considering I paid £7.10 for them. The nails look lovely on but they are quite soft and flimsy so I would say that they will last around a week as opposed to the 3-4 weeks I get from my Finishing Touches 216 nail pack. These look amazing though and as definitely a good purchase for summery nails or for a night out to add a pop of colour.

The hair product I purchased was the Schwarzkopf got2b 2 Sexy BIG VOLUME push up volumizing SPRAY MOUSSE. I have been meaning to pick up a mousse for months as my hair was just becoming flat and lifeless since I began dying it a year and a half ago. This mousse works best on damp hair and has created a lot of volume last 2 days! I would definitely recommend this and the smell is amazing too so that is always a bonus.

Yesterday whilst out shopping with Zoë I was in River Island and fell in love with a purse. I have a Michael Kors orange purse so always feel like I cannot go out and buy a new one as I need to get my money’s worth out of the other one. However I just loved this one too much and it was only £17 so I thought why not. It is a gorgeous white black and yellow colour with a lovely pattern. It has so many sections inside that I don’t even know what to fill it with! Not money that’s for sure since I am now on a spending ban!! IT is so nice a summery and I just love it so much.

Also in River Island I picked up 2 jewellery pieces which math. They are these lovely cute and dainty daisy set. £5 overall cost was perfect! This will look lovely with many outfit and I can’t wait to wear them.

Finally, the other day I had a spending spree in Topshop and New Look and purchased these four things. I’ll insert picture of me with them on…

The shoes are my absolute favourite and will be a staple piece in my wardrobe this Spring and Summer.

With all that I am now banning myself from spending as I need to save for summer since I am now off until September!

Thanks for reading guys, Love Devon x x x  

Real Techniques Night Owl Palette | Review, Swatches and 2 Looks!

Hi guys!

The other day I ordered myself the Real Techniques Night Owl palette - it came today and I have spent the whole day playing around with it and thought I would write a review about it and show you two of the looks I have created.  The looks are both really smoky because it is a night owl palette and so are looks that you could wear on a night out or to a fancy event!  I wouldn't really say these are day time looks.

I was surprised when the palette came with a free 'pointed liner brush' and thought that this was a really nice touch.  It was really convenient as well seeing as the palette comes with a gel eyeliner and I wouldn't have had a brush to apply it with!

The palette comes with four eyeshadows - a sandpaper colour with a slight shimmer called 'Quicksand', a purple with a slight shimmer called 'Royal Orchid', a dark grey/bluey colour with a slight shimmer called 'Midnight Sapphire' and a shimmery black called 'Galaxy'.  Apparently one of them is matte so maybe some of the shimmer from 'Galaxy' has transferred because they all look shimmered in my palette!  Here they are swatched - 

The palette also includes a black gel eyeliner, a soft glowing pink blusher, a cream highlighter, a nude lipgloss called 'Nude Rose' and a red lip gloss called 'Cabernet'.

I absolutely LOVE the gel eyeliner.  I've never really been one for gel eyeliner, liquid has always been my go-to because it's so easy and fool proof to use and I think I have finally mastered the perfect flick!  The brush that comes with the palette makes applying the product super easy, giving a less harsh line to your eyes than liquid liner does and making your lashes look fuller.

My other favourite from this palette is the highlighter, because like the blusher, it just really helps you get that flawless glowing cheek look.  It's really lightweight and so easy to blend just with your hands.

The eyeshadows are not very heavily pigmented but what is great about them is that they are very easy to build up.  The sheerest of them all is the black shimmery one and it took quite a few layers to build up quite a heavy colour pay off.  They all blend together really well and are not chalky in the slightest.  I love all the colours, they're perfect for a night out!  When I was creating my eye looks there was quite a lot of fall down onto the face but I'm not sure if it was because of my technique or the fact I didn't use a primer to begin with.

Here are the looks I created!  I used my sister Hollie as a model.  Here's a 'before' shot - she's wearing Collection Lasting Perfection concealer on any imperfections in the shade 'fair', Loreal True Match foundation in 'rose ivory' and Soap and Glory One Heck Of A Blot translucent powder.

Look 1:  I used a Real Techniques Deluxe Crease Brush to sweep the sandpaper colour all across Hollie's eyelids.  Next I used a Real Techniques Accent Brush to create a V shape in the outer V of her eyes with the shimmery black eyeshadow - this took a fair amount of layers!  Then I took a Real Techniques Base Shadow Brush and blended from the V with the grey eyeshadow.  It's really important to blend well in this step so that the shimmery black doesn't look too harsh.  Then I took the eyeliner brush that came with the palette and the gel eyeliner to line her upper lash line, adding a flick in the outer corner.  Then, I highlighted her inner corner with the sandpaper colour.  To finish off the eyes I added Maybelline The Falsies mascara.  Next, I applied the blush to the apples of Hollie's cheeks, and used the highlighter to highlight her cheekbones, and used a sparing amount to highlight her brow bone.  I used Bourjois Chocolate Bronzer to slightly contour and warm up her face a little bit more then finished with the red lipgloss in the palette.  Here's the result!

Look 2:  I kept the face make up and mascara from the previous look but removed the red lipgloss and all eyeshadow and eyeliner.  Firstly, I packed on the purple eyeshadow using the eyeshadow brush that comes with the Urban Decay NAKED palette.  I then took the black shimmery eyeshadow on another clean Real Techniques Base Shadow brush and blended all across the outer part of Hollie's eyelid.  I used some of her translucent powder to help blend out any harsh lines.  Again, I used the sandpaper colour to highlight her inner corner and also used this as a brow bone highlight.  I added some purple eyeliner from Rimmel Scandaleyes on her waterline to make the look even smokier.  I also lined her upper lash line the same way as in look 1.  I finished with the nude lipgloss that comes with the palette!  Here's the result!

There doesn't seem to be a difference in lip colours in the pictures but Hollie has naturally quite pigmented lips.

I really hope you love the looks and please let me know if you decide to recreate them, and don't forget to let me know what you think of this brilliant palette! <3

Zoe x

Summer Lip Essentials | Bourjois Color Boost Lip Crayons

Spring is in full swing so it's definitely time to ditch the deep red and purple lip colours for more bright and light colours!  There's so many amazing lip products on the market right now but my favourites right now are the Bourjois Color Boost lip crayons!  They're my latest obsession and I really want every colour.

I have the colours Red Sunrise, Peach On The Beach and Orange Punch and plan to collect them all as I just think they're so handy to carry in your makeup bag.

The lip crayons are really smooth to apply, and leave a really nice colour with shine to the lips and moisturises them at the same time.  The pigmentation of each colour is great, and at the moment my favourite is Orange Punch - the bright orange packaging may be offputting to a lot of people but the colour is a more toned down orange with hints of pink I think.  The crayons are great for the brighter weather as they have SPF15.  They also twist meaning there is no need to sharpen these.

One thing I will say is that they do not last 10 hours like they claim to, I have to reapply maybe every hour or so just to keep the colour really radiant.

I think that these are definitely every day essentials because although the colours are bright and true to their names, they're lovely alternatives to a bold lipstick this Spring.  These lip crayons are priced at £7.99, but I do believe there is a 3 for 2 deal on at Boots right now meaning you can grab three of these for just £16! Highly, highly recommend these lip products.

Zoë x

ARTDECO Bronzing Glow Blusher | Review

A few weeks ago, Devon and I attended the Scottish Beauty Show through in Edinburgh.  I didn't purchase a lot, but one thing I did buy was the ARTDECO Bronzing Glow Blusher.  This is usually £20, but at the event it was on sale for £10 and also came with a free brush.

The blusher and brush were packaged in a box so I didn't actually know what either were going to look like, but I really wanted to give ARTDECO a try seeing as it is the makeup brand used at the likes of the National Television Awards, Emmerdale and Coronation Street.  I am so glad that I picked up this product, because it's AMAZING!

Firstly, let's appreciate how gorgeous the packaging is.  The design is so pretty and came as a lovely surprise because as mentioned, I had no idea what this was going to look like.  I know packaging doesn't have anything to do with what the actual product is like, but it does make for brightening up what's in your make up bag.  I do love nice packaging on beauty products.

The blusher comes with a mirror which makes it a great product to take on the go or when travelling.

The majority of the blusher is taken up by the coral colour, which has a shimmery golden tone to it as described in the name.  The colour makes for a really natural, healthy glow on the face with just enough radiance without being over the top.  The product allows you to enhance your cheek colour by adding either the fuchsia or rosewood colour depending on what look you are going for or how you feel on a particular day.  I enjoy mixing all three colours together to create a soft yet luminous look on the apples of my cheeks.

So preeeetty!

The product itself contains three colours - which are described by ARTDECO as being 'golden shimmering coral, fuchsia, and rosewood'.  A pattern similar to the one on the outer packaging is engraved into the product and the detailing just adds another thing to love about this product.

As for the brush, it does the job.  It's really just your standard blush brush but nothing to rave about - I actually prefer using a contour brush to apply this.

I've attached some photos of the three colours swatched and what they look like on my cheeks.  Enlarge them by clicking on them.

This blush is definitely worth a buy to add to your spring/summer make up collection!  

From L-R, Fuchsia, Coral, Rosewood

Zoë x