Review | Rimmel Scandaleyes Shadow Paints in Rich Russet & Golden Bronze

Hello! I’ve had a lovely first week off of uni, and have managed to PLAN the rest of the posts for December! *gives self a round of applause* but after this week I need to crack on with Uni reading and assignments and try to get me head around it all again.

Moving onto these two, we have a newish product from one of my favourite high-street brands ever – Rimmel can do little wrong in my eyes. I first saw these on a couple of blogs and was quite intrigued, but I only got round to picking them up during one of ASOS’s sales. By the way, just a heads up it’s worth keeping an eye out for ASOS’s random beauty sales, sometimes they spotlight on a certain brand and you can pick up some awesome stuff for like 30% off! (yes I lose my self-control)

Rimmel describe these as ‘long wearing eyeshadows’ and so far there are 5 shades available (A silver, gold, bronze, purple and a grey colour) costing you £4.99 each. They all have a metallic finish, but this is easy to sheer out with your finger or a brush. At first glance you could mistake them for being lip-glosses, but I personally love the packaging because they’re easy to store away!

The applicator is a doe-foot style but elongated and its super easy to apply on all eye shapes. If you have smaller lids, it’ll put the product exactly where you need it!

Creamy in formula and rich in pigment, Rimmel have made these foolproof to use. They do dry pretty quickly, so once I’ve swiped them onto my lids I like to blend them in with my fingers and then usually add a slightly darker eyeshadow to the crease and I’m good to go! When applied they feel pretty wet and thick, but at the same time oddly cooling (which I enjoy in the morning!) The amount of pigment you get in one second is phenomenal, and I have to say a refreshing change to using powder eyeshadows, which do take some patience.

I can’t say I’ll be picking up the other shades anytime soon, possibly the darker grey shade as that looks quite versatile, but Rich Russet  and Golden Bronze both seemed like perfectly wearable colours and they really have met my expectations.

Starting with my favourite shade Rich Russet its a beautiful taupe colour with a metallic finish and brown undertones. I love how this colour will compliment almost all eye colours, and it’s such an easy one to pop on the lids, add a bit of mascara/liner and you’re good to go! Who doesn’t love those ‘only-got-five-minutes-to-get-ready-so-I'll-grab-this-real-quick’ kinda products?! When I was swatching this on the back of my hand, it dawned on me that this is strikingly similar to Maybelline's colour tattoo in ‘on-and-on-bronze’ (reviewed here) and I decided to do a mini test on my hand and keep both swatches on side-by-side whilst washing my face and cleansing etc. and they both held on for an impressive amount of time! The colour tattoo did last that little bit longer a few hours later, but that's because it claims to last for 24hours, whereas these shadow paints give a realistic claim of 8 hours which they manage perfectly. Similarly to it’s half-sister on-and-on-bronze this shade also manages to create a effortless basic smoky eye, looking slightly darker in the crease and I have to say I have LOVED popping this on and being able to sheer it out enough so that it is suitable for work but still a little more interesting than a basic shadow.

Moving onto Golden Bronze, this colour is also very beautiful, a much nicer gold than Maybelline's ‘eternal gold’ (also reviewed) as it has warmer undertones thus is more wearable. I’ve been playing around with this shade for the last two days and I’ve found it works beautifully as a base if you apply the other eyeshadows within a few minutes of putting this on. Due to it’s consistency and how it dries, if you leave this to set and come back to doing your eyeshadows later on chances are you’ll have to spend a lot more time blending, so yes these do work as bases but you gotta be quick to blend! On my IG I’ve posted some pictures of one eye with just this all over the lid and a slightly darker colour in the crease, and the other eye with shadow ontop (so using golden bronze as a base). The picture quality is rubbish but I THINK it’s just about noticeable and you can see the difference!

As you can see, the more you blend out Rich Russet the more the brown colour comes through which I love. They dry fast and last for hours upon end, and following in the footsteps of the much loved colour tattoo, I think this little number from Rimmel is just as good! I’d love to see some new shades in 2014, like a richer brown shade and a champagne would be just wonderful. They’re the lazy girl’s bestfriend, taking a mere few seconds to apply and giving you a unique blend of colour on the lid – beautiful! And best of all the lasting power of these means 2 big thumbs up from me ^_^

Final Verdict:

Product rating: 8.5

Pros: Very pigmented, can be used sheer or full on, saves a lot of time, easy to use when short of time, lasts all day, adds dimension to any eye look, feels cooling on the lids and is pretty much foolproof!

Cons: Can be tricky to work with if you don’t blend straightaway, not enough shades (yet)

Repurchase? When they bring the new shades out (I hope) I shall be heading straight to boots!

 

Have you tried the shadow paints yet? What do you think of them? :)

Review | Rimmel Scandaleyes Shadow Paints in Rich Russet & Golden Bronze

Hello! I’ve had a lovely first week off of uni, and have managed to PLAN the rest of the posts for December! *gives self a round of applause* but after this week I need to crack on with Uni reading and assignments and try to get me head around it all again.

Review | Lord & Berry ASOS Exclusive Lip Colour Set

I recently picked up this set from ASOS and seeing as it’s even cheaper now (£11) I thought it would be a suitable time to review it ^_^
*EDIT: Just read that these are RRP £7.50 each!! SO THIS IS AN AMAZING BARGAIN*

Lord & Berry is a makeup brand that I’ve only seen on the internet, but I was drawn to it’s cute sleek packaging. I’ve also really started enjoying using lip-liners, either as an all over the lip matte or just to define my lips. Its a step a lot of people tend to skip, but can make a lot of difference.

I only own two or three lip liners from Rimmel, so this set is a great introduction to the brand aswell as a range of colours I hadn’t previously owned. I’m especially happy with the lightest and darkest shade, because a good neutral lip liner is invaluable and for a darker lip, lining and defining the lips is essential.

Prior to trying these out, I had the expectation that they would be a little drying as obviously they’re a pencil product. I’ve tried a cheap lipliner from Natural Collection which left much to be desired, and the Rimmel ones are lovely but lack a wide range of shades. So I was expecting a decent pigmentation, at least slightly creamy/easy to apply and also long lasting. They’re labelled ‘Kissproof’ and ‘waterproof’ so these expectations weren’t much to ask for.

My favourite, and the one that will undoubtedly get the most use blush is a beautiful neutral pink colour that matches my ‘go-to’ lip colour of choice perfectly. I tend to favour the nudish-pinks and this liner defines my lips beautifully, even when just wearing a gloss (this Barry M one or Bobbi Brown one). A little trick I’ve picked up is instead of applying this all around the lips, just line the top (cupid bow) and bottom middle part. This will make them appear fuller as it emphasises the fullest part of the lips. Blossom is a mauveish-bluish pink and again lovely for a slightly darker pink lip. I don’t have a great deal to say about it other than it’s a welcome addition to my sparse lipliner collection. Sienna is a red with a tinge of orange mixed into it. It’s a nice enough colour, not anything particularly special but I’m sure it’ll come in handy when doing a red lip. Finally my second favourite Black Red which is more of a purple and matches PERFECTLY with Rimmel’s lasting perfection lipstick in 04 (the vampy one). I think with any bold/dark lip a liner is essential and I can’t express how perfectly these two go together. Not that I’ll be reaching for this often, but it was an awkward bold colour to find the perfect liner for, so happy Lord&Berry have provided that for me ^_^

They're smooth and easy to apply. Not the MOST creamy but defo worth their combined price!

You can find the lipliner set here.

Do you have any favourite liners? Please share them below I’d love to read your favourites!

Review | Lord & Berry ASOS Exclusive Lip Colour Set

I recently picked up this set from ASOS and seeing as it’s even cheaper now (£11) I thought it would be a suitable time to review it ^_^
*EDIT: Just read that these are RRP £7.50 each!! SO THIS IS AN AMAZING BARGAIN*

ASOS Haul December ‘13

Hello lovelies! First of all I wanted to say a BIG thank you for all your support! I’m at 150 bloglovin followers and just over 100 Facebook likes and don’t even get me started on all the love I get from IG <3 You guys are so kind, and it means so so much to see all your support *huggles*

Ok enough of the mushy stuff, so this was a little haul I did around two weeks ago when I was up to my eyelashes in stress from assignments and exams, and ASOS kindly had a 20% of EVERYTHING sale going on. Of course I hit up the beauty section first because my philosophy with high end makeup (and actually most makeup) is if you get it in the sale, it’s a good enough deal to justify. Plus high-end makeup is more of an investment blah-de-blah I say the same things every time I talk about it, you all get my drift ^.^

I also really thought about what I NEED (something I’m trying to do a lot more!!) SO ON TO THE HAUL:

Although I have already picked up some black boots this year (link here) which I DO like, I wanted some more that were a little more edgy, and hopefully more comfortable. Like I’ve mentioned before I am already pretty tall (5’6.5) so I don’t love to wear heels..but when I saw these ASOS Revolution Ankle Boots I just couldn’t say no to the 20% off. They are £35 at full price, and I figured if I didn’t like them I could always return them for free.

The heel is 5cm, and it’s more of a wedge then a ‘heel’ so they are SOO comfortable to wear. To the point where I can actually run in these without wanting to chop my feet off. They are the most practical boots I’ve owned, I love how they look great with max skirts, and all types of jeans. I picked up another pair of boots because in England, we have cold weather until April time, and even then it’s pretty chilly, so boots aren’t a 2/3 month thing only, they’re pretty versatile! The Revolution ankle boots are edgy yet still smart. I really like how they make my feet look smaller than they actually are, and how I can tighten them up around the ankle, something which is a lot harder to achieve with the New Look boots. The wedge part is made out of some sort of foamy material, I’m not sure how clear that is in the middle photo, but I have to admit I was pretty dubious when I saw them at first. However this material makes them spongy and comfy. It’s a mix between military, chique and casual and although they won’t be everyone’s cuppa tea I have fallen in love!

Next up was the purchase I was (and am) most excited about, the NARS Guy Bourdin Blush in the shade Coeur Battant.

I couldn’t justify picking up the 6 blush/bronzer palette because it came up to nearly £50 which actually is a bargain considering each NARS blusher is around £21, but none of those shades STOOD out to me, and so I didn’t rush online to order it. (Lets not forget that I'm a student so spending nearly half a hundred quid on blushers when I already have a small and growing collection was totally unjustified ._.) 

Coeur Battant however is something special, limited edition and pigmented like you wouldn't believe it is a blue-toned magenta colour which is so unique, yet so flattering on my medium skin tone. It would look fabulous on darker skin tones too, however the paler gals would need to go with a VERY light hand when applying this. Much to my irritation the camera just wouldn’t pick up the true shade of this, however if anyone wants a more in-depth review then I will try again in the early hours of the morning to captur it’s beauty! The packaging of the box is very ‘louboutin-esque’ and I was slightly disappointed that the actual packaging of the blusher wasn’t similar haha

It actually has more of a purple/blue hue to it than the camera has captured and NARS are the high-end equivalent of Sleek, so although it looks frightening in the pan, on the cheeks it’s a different story. I adore this blush so much, and 20% was just the perfect excuse to treat myself to a Limited Edition piece! I know this is sold out on ASOS, but I’m sure it’s available at NARS counters so do have a swatch and see this for yourself ^_^

I was on the hunt for a new purse, seeing as my old one from Primark (which has served me well might I add) was finally beginning to look a little battered. I went for another ASOS own brand and picked up this cute envelope style.

I ADORE the gold detailing on this, and how soft the material is! It’s also a lot lighter than my old one, which does help when you're commuting several times a week. I don’t like overly blinged out purses/bags so this simple style, with a tiny bit of special to it was perfect! It costs £10, but I got it for £8 and hopefully this’ll last me as long as my old one did. Inside there are 12 card spaces, and I find all my cards fit in fine. The change pocket thing is a LITTLE bit smaller and trickier to use than I would have liked, but it does that job and stops me cramming a bunch of receipts, vouchers and other paper that I probably won’t look at again!

Last of all we have the cutest little mirror ever. Cath Kidston is known for her feminine prints, but this has got to be my absolute favourite of them all. It costs £3, and I really needed a small compact mirror for my makeup bag, but unfortunately I dropped this when taking a photo and it now has two cracks in it! What bad luck. It really should have been sturdier, or at least have had a cover so I can’t say I recommend this…still useable but, a big shame that its cracked.

And that concludes my haul! I saved a fair amount and love love love 3/4 of my purchases! What have you been splurging on this month?

ASOS Haul December ‘13

Hello lovelies! First of all I wanted to say a BIG thank you for all your support! I’m at 150 bloglovin followers and just over 100 Facebook likes and don’t even get me started on all the love I get from IG <3 You guys are so kind, and it means so so much to see all your support *huggles*

Review | The Balm’s Mary-Lou Manizer Highlighter–HG STATUS

I have owned this highlighter for months, and it really is the best I’ve ever tried! Firstly The Balm is an American cosmetics company, and it sits between highend- drugstore. The prices are a little cheaper than MAC, and the quality is just as brilliant. I first heard about this from the YouTuber EmilyNoel83 who adores The Balm, so I would recommend checking out her channel for more info on the brand ^_^

Moving onto this highlighter, Mary-Lou it has the most adorable packaging ever. Its reminiscent of Soap and Glory and Benefit, with its cutesy retro theme. This one has a blonde woman with pouty red lips on the front named ‘Mary’ and the cardboard packaging was just as cute! Sadly I don’t have it anymore because this highlighter’s been tried and tested for a while!

The offence is ‘highlighter,shimmer, eyeshadow’ and the charge is ‘too pretty, too popular’ which made me giggle. When company's put the effort and detail into their products and packaging, it just makes me rate them that little bit higher! It is a multi-use powder, but primarily a highlighter which is encased in a sturdy silver packaging which is secured by a clip. There is a handy mirror inside (a real mirror not one of those funny ones).

The reason why this has earned a HG status (aside from the cuteness) is because of its colour and texture. Highlighters come in powder, liquids and creams and generally they are in either a golden tone, or a pink tone. Its pretty self-explanatory that if you have yellow undertones you’ll likely suit the golden toned ones more. I don’t like pink toned highlighters on me because they look odd, they just don't blend in with my skintone, so I’m most drawn towards the champagne coloured highlighters like this one. 

It is the most beautiful highlighter I have ever set eyes on! You can get other which are more subtle, but if you want to really HIGHLIGHT this is the one for you! It is super pigmented, but easily blendable so when applied to the tops of the cheekbones and other areas it makes the world of difference. I use the Real Techniques Setting Brush (review here) as it helps to put the highlighter precisely where I want some extra glow. 

I couldn’t believe the way it lit my face up and made me look healthier with a single sweep. I’ve tried other highlighters (admitably not any other high-end ones) but this by far is the best out there. It looks phenomenal with a gentle contour and a matte blusher, however with a shimmery blusher I’d most likely skip this or just about touch it onto my skin. 

For some people this would be over the top for the daytime, however it’s all about how strongly you apply the stuff. A gentle light sweeping (something the setting brush achieves effortlessly, or a thin fan brush) adds a subtle but beautiful glow. It looks amazing in the inner-corner too, a real ‘wide awake look’ and for evenings out, weddings and partys this is the finishing touch for getting your glam on!

It costs around the £17 mark and you get 8.5g of the stuff. I picked it up from Amazon,  however it is now cheaper on this website! I’ve used it so often and there’s still loads of the highlighter left because a little really does go a long way! It lasts for hours in the skin and would suit many skin-tones. I cannot get enough of this and really want to pick up their nudetude palette (when I’m off my spending ban which started last week ._.)

Final Verdict:

Product rating: 10

Pros: Its super soft, can be subtle or built up with ease, lights up the whole face, makes the world of difference! looks amazing as a inner-corner highlight, is the perfect colour for a medium skin tone especially, and you get a decent amount of product for a reasonable size. It’s super blendable and It’ll last me for years to come.

Cons: It can be overdone haha

Repurchase? Without a shadow of a doubt!

 

Have you tried anything from The Balm?

Thanks for reading!

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Review | The Balm’s Mary-Lou Manizer Highlighter–HG STATUS

I have owned this highlighter for months, and it really is the best I’ve ever tried! Firstly The Balm is an American cosmetics company, and it sits between highend- drugstore. The prices are a little cheaper than MAC, and the quality is just as brilliant. I first heard about this from the YouTuber EmilyNoel83 who adores The Balm, so I would recommend checking out her channel for more info on the brand ^_^

Review | Real Techniques Sam’s Picks LIMITED EDITION set = BEST BRUSH SET EVER!

Hello again! Feels like an age since I sat down to write a blog post, but thankfully with the assignment deadlines and exams over (for this month) and a splendid three week holiday from University I am able to share with you guys some fantastic bits and bobs I’ve picked up recently.

I thought I’d start with one of the best  bargains I’ve picked up, and something  every girl should own (in my humble opinion). I also think this would make the PERFECT gift for any girl who wears makeup, whether once in a blue moon or every single day because it' has you covered for everything! When I first saw this, I couldn’t believe my eyes and knew it had to be mine as soon as possible. Now luckily enough around the time that I got into makeup, Sam (from Pixiwoo on YouTube) and her brilliant ‘Real Techniques’ brushes were fairly popular around YouTube, so I didn’t have to waste a crazy amount of monies on MAC, Sigma, and the rest of them. At the same time I didn’t have to buy a lot of cheaper, poop quality brushes either, I bought my set of RT brushes and haven’t really looked back!

In terms of pricing, these brushes are cheaper than the high end ones, but if you wanted to get a whole kit it would still be pretty hefty for a student budget. So I did my research and purchased my brushes from iherb.com which is a US site that ships to a tonne of countries worldwide. The shipping is fairly cheap ($4 per order) and of course the brushes are such great value! The core collection for example would cost you around £21 to buy here in the UK but only around £11 to buy from this site! The catch was however that if your package’s contents costs more than £15 you were likely to get charged  customs import tax. Essentially you wouldn't be able to pick up your parcels till you’d paid the tax. So me being the money saving, bargain loving human being that I am decided to plan this out and purchase 3 parcels and split up my brushes making sure that I didn't go beyond the limit, so I’d recommend you do the same if you plan to order from them, and don’t forget to use the voucher code - LCD104  to get $5 off your first order!! (every little helps ;D)

However if you would like to order from a reliable UK site then I would suggest you purchase it from here - a site which offers free worldwide delivery over £10! (currently)
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ANYWAYS onto THIS fantastic set, first off I purchased it from Amazon, because even with the American savings it would still cost me over £15 and p&p and then probably TAX so I thought it was better off just buying from here. Furthermore it contains 4 brushes I desperately wanted, and the other two aren’t half bad either! So this set contains all of Sam’s personal favourites and it is actually limited edition. It came in this plastic box (apologies for the bad photo) and the brushes are held pretty firmly in place. The RT system is that if its a yellow/gold handle it’s a base brush, if it’s a pink handle its a finishing brush and if it’s a purple handle its an eye brush. This set contains two of each, including a brush that’s brand new and very much needed essential crease brush (something the eye’s set should have had!)

I’m going to run through each brush separately, if you already own them then feel free to skip ahead to the next review :)

So starting with the multi-task brush one that is unfortunately not sold separately and only available in the travel essentials kit (something I didn’t want to purchase but was strongly considering it for the sake of this very brush!) It is definitely one that should be sold separately! I was so so pleased to see that this was included in the kit. It is less dense than the buffing brush, so more fluffy and the head is larger too. I ADORE this for blusher, I find it is perfect for adding some colour too the checks but not overdoing (something which is easily done with the actual RT blusher brush). It is also great for a lazy/natural contour. What I love about this brush and a few of the other RT brushes are, the barrel isn’t fully rounded, instead its almost squashed just before the head so there are multiple uses for the brush as it becomes flat as well as being round and fluffy. It most definitely is a travel essential as one could easily do everything powder related with this little guy and achieve a flawless finish for each use! I am SOO impressed with it, I only wish you could purchase these separately because I would have more than one in my collection. rating: 5/5

Moving onto the setting brush this is one of my ALL TIME FAVOURITES. I picked this up from iherb months ago, but it was only when I purchased the Ben Nye Banana Powder (review here) that I started to use it, and boy was I impressed. Alot of people use a damp sponge to set their concealer with that powder, but for me this method was too cakey and uneven (not to mention a total faff). This brush however is perfect in size and shape for setting the undereye area. It’s extremely soft, as are ALL RT brushes, and very light. The bristles aren’t in the slightest dense so patting a dusting of powder on is done effortlessly, and this saves me so much time in the morning. People often use this for blending concealer out as well, because it does a great job due to its size. I was actually going to purchase another of these from the UK (they’re around the £6/7 mark) for highlighting  because it’s again a perfect brush for distributing highlight across the face evenly and not packing it on! I used the same brush from both setting and highlighting for months, so I’m over the moon now I’ve got a second one now which will be my designated highlighter. Its a little one, but I’ve been totally stunned by how useful it is! rating 5/5

Next up, this brush needs little introducing..it’s the well known buffing brush and probably the most raved about RT brush out there. In short, it has a lovely shape to it, with medium-high density bristles that are as soft as a baby’s bottom. It makes blending foundation, tinted moisturiser, powder, cream products, pretty much ANY product a total dream. Some people prefer the expert face brush which has a smaller head and denser bristles..I would say personally the buffing brush gets more use from me because I like the coverage I can achieve from this brush. If I want more coverage I will go with the expert face brush, but they’re both fantastic foundation brushes to be fair. I was again going to purchase another core collection kit for this and the contour brush (which sadly isn’t included in here) so that I wouldn’t have to use the same brush for the majority of the week (hygienically it’s not the best for your skin, and I don’t have time to wash them more than once a week). So I’m mighty pleased the buffing brush is in Sam’s picks! Rating 5/5

The Pointed Foundation Brush is next in the line, and it is available as part of the core collection. Personally I’ve never used a flat foundation brush for my base, simply because buffing it in with a round and fluffy brush is quick, and more flawless looking. However this brush is still made with exceptional quality and it is super soft. Admitably it is probably one of my least used RT brushes, but it’s fab for blending in concealer around tricky areas like the nose, or if on a night out you wanted to do a Kim K highlighter style look this would be the perfect tool to help create that. Useful when needed, but not a necessity brush for me. Rating 3/5

Next is the essential crease brush one that looks typical of a blending brush, with its tapered head. I love this brush, not quite as much as my MAC 217 (but which eye brush could come close to that anyways eh?)  but it is a fabulous cheaper blending brush. What I’m particularly happy about with this fellow is how small it is, so perfect for blending out the crease, or any part of the eye as the tapered point makes it easier to do detailed work. It is a set exclusive, and already one of my favourite RT eye brushes ever. The only reason I’ve knocked half a point off of this is because it should have been part of the Eye’s kit which was really lacking a blending brush…but hey we got there in the end. Rating: 4.5/5

Finally we have the fine liner brush which I’m really excited to try out! This AGAIN should have been included in the eye kit in my opinion, purely because the liner brush that was given is so thick in size it’s extremely difficult to do an everyday winged liner with such a large brush. This brush on the other hand is very thin in size, and has fine short hairs. It looks amazing, but as I’ve not tried it just yet I can’t comment or rate it. This is available to buy alone, but its pretty expensive! It’s £6.99 and as much as I love RT I couldn’t justify that much for a little liner brush, so this was for sure one of the reasons why I picked up this UNMISSABLE SET.

Honestly guys I couldn’t rave about this more if I tried! It is BY FAR the best brush kit RT have released and the fact that it is limited edition just makes it even more unmissable. You get 6 fantastic quality brushes, for cheaper than if you bought them individually/in their sets. For a beginner in makeup to the pros, this is truly an amazing present. You have everything you need to do your makeup to a professional standard and I really believe using brushes not only speeds the makeup process up and is more hygienic, but gives you better results too. All RT brushes are made from synthetic hair, so they’re cruelty free and I’ve had these brushes for almost a year and haven’t experienced shedding from a single one. They are easy to wash and dry quickly, they’re colourful and quirky and I don’t know what I would do without my little RT brush family! Need I say these are HGs?? They are worth all the hype in my opinion! And this set is such a steal. I bought mine from Amazon from THIS LINK and having just clicked on it they’re £5 cheaper than when I picked them up! (darn it!)

So lovelies order this before it’s too late, it is without a doubt one of my best purchases this whole year!