February 2015 Catchup

Hello everyone. Its only right to start of this months update with something that changed everything.

February started off with some heart breaking news. The Chapel hill shooting of the three young Muslims in  North Carolina, within their own home. It really sparked shock throughout Muslims across the globe, not just because these three students, two of them newly weds were outstanding members of the community, volunteering time and skills to help the less fortunate, but also because of the outrageous response in the majority of western media. It wasn’t headline news and in so many reports I saw statements about the terrorist who shot them, being caring towards animals etc etc. It was so shocking I was left speechless, three innocent lives have been robbed and the media are trying to convince us it was over a PARKING ISSUE?? If you for one moment believed that to be true, let me just ask you to turn the tables around.

Now if a non-white man walked into a house with three white students, shot them in the head and claimed it was over a parking issue rather than a HATE crime, can you even imagine the response the media would give? It would be headline news all over the world for at least a month, with follow ups from the family and friends, detailed history about the students and more. It seems impossible for the media to portray Muslims as anything other than terror-causing nasty horrendous human beings -
  EVEN WHEN THEY ARE SHOT IN THE HEAD, INSIDE THEIR OWN HOMES.

I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if most of you didn’t hear about this. But if you haven’t just think about it for a moment. It might open your eyes a little to how sickeningly twisted our media can be...

I too tried Benefit’s latest mascara and I actually really liked it. It doesn’t promise miracles, and it does what it says - curls the lashes and lengthens. Although I rarely wear mascara, the times that I do I tend to wear it I go for two, a lengthening and then a thickening one. I have a feeling this and ‘they’re real’ will work a treat!

February has been the month of crossy road. Ok well the first two weeks at least, I wanted to beat my highscore (160) and it’s such a simple yet oddly addictive game I found myself clicking on this every time I had a spare moment. I also had a lovely bubble bath, something which I really should do more often, I reviewed this particular bath bomb here. And I FINALLY got around to opening my frank scrub, which was an experience to say the least! I mean I don’t know why I didn’t expect the scrub to turn all brown and coffee(ish) seeing as it is made from coffee..anyways if anyone wants a review let me know!

One of the nicest days of the month was visiting London with my best-friend Ana. We met at Euston and went to a Persian restaurant which I had to snap a few photos from because just look how pretty it is ^_^  As you come in there is a hot oven for the naan bread, and next to it there was the roller and dough balls waiting to be rolled.

The art work was so interesting, I loved the 3D element and the intricate details in the art. I think that’s my favourite thing about going to a smaller restaurant which serves ethnic and halal food (aka not Nandos lol) is seeing so much of that country’s culture in the surrounding. It adds so much more to the meal!

Also there is something about middle eastern food that makes me feel like I’m eating a really healthy meal (must be ALL that salad right, totally finished it all.__.)

After we ate we headed over to Westfield and tried to visit all the stores that we don’t have in our home town. Of course the moment I set my eyes on Inglot I HAD to rush towards it and I spent around 45 minutes going from area to area, swatching and building my own little 5 swatch palette. I can’t lie, the prices did take me by surprise, it’s certainly a brand that isn’t in the drugstore category and I sort of wished I had properly set aside time to research Inglot and kiko must haves - BUT then again I would certainly have done a huge amount of damage to my bank account!

how cool is this cake - a stand right outside Urban Outfitters

A random UO *hipstah* shot - p.s I’ve seen similar jars at Tiger for a fraction of the price, just sayin

I managed to depot four sleek e/s palettes thanks to the inspo and tips from the beautiful Tamanna’s post here. A few cracks and a lot of patience, but its so exciting to finally have some of my older palettes all together so I actually get to use them. These 4 are au natural, oh so special, storm and ultra mattes 2. Also the large shade in the top right hand corner is a bronzer sample from Lord and Berry in the shade sunny.

I also went to another family wedding, which was a beautiful ceremony. Oh and it had a chocolate fountain which means that it was instantly ranked up in the list of awesome weddings I’ve attended in the past 5 years (they had MINI donuts).

The month has come to a lovely end with the lush event post here and also a much needed catchup with another best friend. As her name is Ayesha I just couldn’t resist snapping a photo of the lush face mask sign teehee.

THE GOLDEN EGG // GLITTER // NJFJSEKGWJRG IDK WHAT IT IS ABOUT GOLD GLITTER Y’KNOW

Also on the topic of the Lush event, I had to sneak in a photo of my label, such a lovely touch!

And with that February 2015 is over. It’s been emotional and I was ill for a good few days of it to, which was totally out of the blue because I thought February was meant to the start of Spring??? Anyways I cannot complain. Although I’ve stopped watching as many YouTube videos as I used to, I did watch Amelia Liana’s video on being happy and a big part of that was having gratitude. It really made me think about how we take such tiny things for granted and how blessed we truly are!

Here is hoping March is going to be super productive and I guess my main goal is to stay on top of my schedule and sort out my time keeping >_< 

I hope you’ve all had a great month!

Thank-you for reading ♥

 Follow Via Bloglovin' | Tweet Me | Follow on Instagram | Like The Blushing Giraffe on Facebook

February 2015 Catchup

Lush Bloggers Event February 2015

I was lucky enough to be invited to a local Lush blogger event on Wednesday the 25th of February and it was amazing ^_^ We got to see the new Easter collection, learn more about the perfumes and their story and also make our own face mask which was SUCH a treat! Have a scroll through some of my snaps below..

Vanillary is most definitely my favourite scent from them all and the solid perfume tub even has bits of vanilla pod in it too! What particularly stood out to me about the Lush perfumes, aside from the interesting and very personal back stories, was how unique the names are. You wouldn’t find these kinda names on a typical celebrity or high-end brand, they’re very realistic, intriguing and also unisex too.

The unveiling of Lush’s easter collection was super exciting! We got to see the new bath bombs, that gorgeous golden egg, the cute little bunny and the pink one with the flowers that has the same scent as the well-loved snow fairy - so all of you x-mas snow fairy lovers out there, get some of those pink ones pronto! The lovely lush staff showed us a demo of each bath bomb in a large silver bowl, and I’ve put together a little gif of my favourite - the golden egg!

When I showed my sisters these photos they noted that when in the water the golden egg really does actually look like an egg! Clever haha, this bath blaster twirled around and around and melted slowly. I’m not entirely sure what all the ingredients are (they’ll be listed on the lush site without a doubt) but I do know that it’s filled with skin softening ingredients and it smells deliciously like toffee. I have a pretty weak sense of smell, but I could pick up this gorgeous scent and it was instantly my favourite!

The bunch of carrots bubble bars are similar to the lush fairy wand they sell, except of course these look very realistically like real carrots! This product is reuseable/easier to break off in chunks for multiple baths, it creates loads of bubbles and has quite a fresh and uplifting scent to it.

After lots of ohhings, ahhing and sniffing of the beautiful Easter goodies, we moved on to the most fun part of the event in my opinion - making our own Catastrophe cosmetic face masks! We used all natural ingredients as the factory made ones are created in the same way, except they had combined the various powders and liquids together to make it quicker. This face mask contains real blueberries and it is supposed to calm and cleanse the skin when it is feeling irritated.

How awesome! Our very own hand mixed face masks, mine is currently chilling in the fridge and will hopefully be used this weekend, because I could do with a bit of a pamper!
It was such a wonderful event, I was quite pleased that they didn’t tour the whole store as I already had seen that at the previous event and instead we focused more on the fragrances and newer collections. To any bloggers our there I really recommend looking through social media for your nearest Lush store because they do hold awesome events like this for bloggers and it is so insightful! We were lucky enough to receive a goody-bag and I was SO excited because they gifted me with the golden egg!!!!

Thank-you so much to the Lush team for putting this together, the Easter collection is amazing and I really appreciated the opportunity ^_^
Thank-you for reading ♥
 Follow Via Bloglovin' | Tweet Me | Follow on Instagram | Like The Blushing Giraffe on Facebook

Lush Bloggers Event February 2015

I was lucky enough to be invited to a local Lush blogger event on Wednesday the 25th of February and it was amazing ^_^ We got to see the new Easter collection, learn more about the perfumes and their story and also make our own face mask which was SUCH a treat! Have a scroll through some of my snaps below..

Review | Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer in SX08

Kevyn Aucoin is most certainly in the luxury category when it comes to makeup, even the box is fancy, look at it!  This ‘sensual skin enhancer’ is something I’ve had my eye on for a while, but the price tag always held me back. So last year during black friday when beautybay.com had a generous 20% off sale I grabbed my chance and ordered it in SX08, which as far as I could tell from the online swatches was the closest match. So the sensual skin enhancer is  18g of multi-use, high coverage awesomeness. It’s designed to be used as a foundation, concealer, tinted moisturiser or even a highlighter and with all of those options promised I justified the £35.50 price tag link (minus 20% ofc!).

The packaging is this little pot and it’s a similar size to the Anastasia Beverly Hills dipbrow - but taller. The pigmentation is rich and greater than that of any foundation - a little goes a long way! I have tried this as a foundation and achieved this by mixing it with a little moisturiser or a small drop of sweet almond oil (thanks Goss makeupartist for this tip!) and it provides amazing pretty much full coverage despite only using a small amount!

My two favourite ways to use this however are as a slightly more sheer base - medium coverage, or simply as a concealer. I dab my ring finger in the pot, warm up the product with both ring fingers and gently tap it in around my undereyes. This is the ONLY concealer I have ever tried that covers up dark circles 95% without a corrector! To get a totally flawless undereye however, I do like to use a small amount of my Benefit Erase Paste - shade 3, but I’m sure the majority of people would get away with just this.

As a concealer this shade doesn’t really BRIGHTEN my under-eyes as it’s a perfect match for NC35, so I am thinking about possibly buying SX06 at some point in the future, when I’ve used up all my current concealers and a nice healthy discount code heads my way of course! This shade works beautifully as a concealer/highlighter for skintones of NC40+ though, I used it on my mum and auntie for a wedding and they loved it!

As the consistency is thick and you have the option of sheering it out, the overall finish is semi-matte and it lasts a very very long time. Under my eyes it does crease if not set properly, so that is incredibly important to remember, and as SX08 is so orange/yellow toned I like to use a neutral coloured face powder and then a light dusting of Ben Nye banana powder (reviewed) for special occasions.

Anyone looking for a versatile, high coverage product should look into the SSE because this stuff is amazing! Although it is ridiculously expensive, it's the only base/concealer type of product that conceals and covers with very little effort, plus the value of it (how you need a small amount each time) makes up for the dent in the bank account!

Overall Rating

Rating: 9

Pros: Phenomenal coverage, multi-use, strong yellow tones available, a decent overall shade range, travel friendly, long lasting on the skin, a little goes a long way- it’ll last at least two years, super creamy and blends into the skin like a dream!

Cons: Expensive, as it has a mattish finish so skin needs to be thoroughly prepped when using it for foundation, as it is so creamy it does tend to crease under the eyes so setting is a must!

Repurchase? Yes I would as this is the most concentrated product I’ve used - but I want to add SX06 first as this for brightening and concealing at the same time would be amazing!

Thank-you for reading ♥ 

 Follow Via Bloglovin' | Tweet Me | Follow on Instagram | Like The Blushing Giraffe on Facebook

Review | Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer in SX08

Kevyn Aucoin is most certainly in the luxury category when it comes to makeup, even the box is fancy, look at it!  This ‘sensual skin enhancer’ is something I’ve had my eye on for a while, but the price tag always held me back. So last year during black friday when beautybay.com had a generous 20% off sale I grabbed my chance and ordered it in SX08, which as far as I could tell from the online swatches was the closest match. So the sensual skin enhancer is  18g of multi-use, high coverage awesomeness. It’s designed to be used as a foundation, concealer, tinted moisturiser or even a highlighter and with all of those options promised I justified the £35.50 price tag link (minus 20% ofc!).

Review | Collection Fast Stroke Liner

For me eyeliner is an absolute staple in my everyday makeup routine, that and concealer are two things I just cannot skip so needless to say I’m always on the look out for a decent liner! I have tried probably around 15 different eyeliners in the past few years which is pretty crazy, pot, gel, pen and khol...but I just cannot help but come back to this particular one from the great budget brand collection.

It costs £2.99 and you can get it three different colours black, brown, blue AND bizarrely I just checked the boots website, they have a limited edition gold and silver one too?!..although the image isn’t quite right haha.

There are several things that make this particular liner stand out, one of them being the applicator. As you can see it has a kinda medium sized foam tip which helps to get a great quick line on both eyes without much going to and fro. This isn’t as thin as the bourjois 16hr Linear Pinceau Liquid Liner (reviewed) however as the foam nib is brilliant -

soft enough that it doesn’t tug or hurt the eyelids but firm enough to achieve excellent flicks too.

I own both brown and black and I love them both. The brown liner in the swatch above actually doesn’t look that light. For me the brown liner is perfect for everyday, its a LITTLE less intense than black yet it still adds the definition I adore from eyeliner. The pigmentation of this liner is another amazing thing, with one swipe you get a strong line which dries pretty quickly as you can see from the above picture! I really recommend anyone looking for a new liquid eyeliner to head over to collection, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

The only downside is, similarly to the bourjois liner, on my eyelids if I haven’t prepped with a base and shadow before applying I do find this doesn’t last all day. If I DO prep then this’ll work for at lest 8 hours, and for that price and the ease of use I always always have at least one in my collection ^_^

Have you tried this eyeliner? Do you have a favourite liquid liner that lasts ALL day? Let me know below!

 

Thank-you for reading ♥

 Follow Via Bloglovin' | Tweet Me | Follow on Instagram | Like The Blushing Giraffe on Facebook

Review | Collection Fast Stroke Liner

For me eyeliner is an absolute staple in my everyday makeup routine, that and concealer are two things I just cannot skip so needless to say I’m always on the look out for a decent liner! I have tried probably around 15 different eyeliners in the past few years which is pretty crazy, pot, gel, pen and khol...but I just cannot help but come back to this particular one from the great budget brand collection.

Review | Makeup Revolution Pro Hygiene Anti Bacterial Brush Cleaner

I’m pretty sure the main thing every makeup lover dreads, is washing za brushes. I used to be so good and consistent. Washing them every single Sunday (and if you want to read my thorough post on that click here!) but I think both the excessive amount of brushes I now own, plus a super busy schedule have meant I’ve hardly had a chance every fortnight, let alone weekly.

When I saw this brush cleaner on the Makeup Revolution website, for the first time I was interested in a cleanser of this type. I’m a firm believer in using my magic ingredients for all the face brushes I own, however the absolute BANE of my life is when I pick up an eyeshadow brush, dip it in a nude shade and end up with a big black smudge across my eyelid - argh such a hassle! Then I have to reach for the bioderma, carefully remove the splodge without disrupting the base and do you know how time consuming that it *sigh*. Anyways having one too many of those incidents lead me to purchase this and I am so pleased that I did!



You get 200ml in a white plastic spray bottle for £5, I ordered mine from the makeup rev website and you can find the link here. The bottle isn’t fancy but it does the job, with the directions and ingredients written clearly on the the back. This is ‘specially formulated to keep your makeup brushes clean and free from bacteria’ and according to the directions, you’re supposed to spray the cleaner 3 to 4 times directly onto the brush. Now I ONLY use this with small brushes - the eyeshadow and small concealer brushes specifically, and spraying that much would be a big waste. (One of the main reasons why I don’t use it for face brushes, but also because even when I tried, there was so much brush to clean, even 10 sprays of this wouldn’t make it squeaky clean - save the face brushes for a regular weekly wash, and don’t forget to wash the eyebrushes with soap on the regular too, this isn’t supposed to be a substitute.



Instead I place a sheet of kitchen towel under the brush, spray once on the brush itself and once on the tissue. This successfully removes all colour and presumably bacteria and grime from the brush, and the best part is it’s ready to use again in less than 20 seconds. This makes it essential when  you’re doing a more complex eyelook, but also super useful for day to day, whenever I have a spare few minutes I give my eyebrushes a quick clean after I’ve used them, but if I don’t have time, it’s perfectly fine to do this quick 10 second process in the morning too ^_^

ta-da, clean and ready to use in next to no time!

Overall Rating: 9

Pros: It cleans the brushes really well, with two sprays all the colour will be removed and the brush will be ready to use within less than 20 seconds. The amount of product in the spray bottle is great value for money, I reckon this will last me at least 4 months if used a couple of times a week. It means I have no accidental dark splodges on the eyes and it also ensures any dust or dirt on the brush is removed, leaving me with totally hygienic eye and concealer brushes to use. Again the price point is super, Makeup Revolution really have given everyone an affordable option to keep their smaller brushes clean every single time they use them, because I have seen similar products to these which cost 3 or 4 x the amount!

Cons:  1. not all the colour leaves the brush using this sometimes and 2. I only use it for small brushes. but to be honest, this isn’t much of a problem seeing as I wash my facebrushes at least once a week, and simply won’t use them till they’ve had a wash again if I can’t find the time that week (yay for fingers and sponges).

Repurchase? 100% I cannot tell you how much this has helped and if you’re an MUA or just wear eyeshadow more than once in a blue moon, please do pick this up, it’ll be of so much help!

Thank-you for reading ♥

 Follow Via Bloglovin' | Tweet Me | Follow on Instagram | Like The Blushing Giraffe on Facebook

Review | Makeup Revolution Pro Hygiene Anti Bacterial Brush Cleaner

I’m pretty sure the main thing every makeup lover dreads, is washing za brushes. I used to be so good and consistent. Washing them every single Sunday (and if you want to read my thorough post on that click here!) but I think both the excessive amount of brushes I now own, plus a super busy schedule have meant I’ve hardly had a chance every fortnight, let alone weekly.

When I saw this brush cleaner on the Makeup Revolution website, for the first time I was interested in a cleanser of this type. I’m a firm believer in using my magic ingredients for all the face brushes I own, however the absolute BANE of my life is when I pick up an eyeshadow brush, dip it in a nude shade and end up with a big black smudge across my eyelid - argh such a hassle! Then I have to reach for the bioderma, carefully remove the splodge without disrupting the base and do you know how time consuming that it *sigh*. Anyways having one too many of those incidents lead me to purchase this and I am so pleased that I did!

Haul | A quick blip in the makeup-ban (Inglot and Kiko)

Hey guys I hope you’re all doing well. I’ve been pretty unwell since my last post, but today was the first day I’ve started to feel my normal self, so here is a cheeky little haul. Loyal readers of this blog will remember the post titled ‘its not a spending ban it’s called appreciating what I already have’ which you can read here if you like. I have to say I’m pretty proud of myself because I really have refrained from buying makeup in the past two months. I mean that’s a pretty big deal, and if you read January’s update post you’ll know I have been thoroughly enjoying shopping my stash. However on my lovely catchup trip to London with my bestie, I realised when in Rome you gotta take advantage of what you don’t have when at home. *alright not quite the saying but y’know* AKA: When you see an Inglot and a Kiko, you shop them, even if it is just a little bit!

Starting with Kiko, I wanted to dabble in their lip products and the shade range available to swatch was awesome.  I did restrain myself and only picked up on lipliner and a lipgloss stick. The Precision Lip Pencil in the shade 311 (£4.20) looks gorgeous, and it was the only shade that totally captivated me in that crowded and over-heated store. It is described as a long wear lip pencil and it’s not quite as creamy as I had hoped, but the shade remains just a lovely as it was on my hand. I hadn’t heard or read anything about the Kiko Lipgloss Pencils (£3.90) so it was a bit of a risk, however swatching shade 10 on the back of my hand and seeing the pencil transform into a creamy glossy opaque nude colour meant I had to try it out. Plus at just under £4 it was worth a shot!

The nude shade is not one I would usually opt for, very light with a hint of pink, It reminds me of the makeup looks Kim K would wear a few years back, and I will probably use this with a warmer lip pencil, but from first try I’m glad I did pick this up. Its creamy, easy to apply and doesn’t need lots of layers for the colour to cover up my pigmented lips.

The final thing I picked up from Kiko was again on a whim, but when I spotted the yellow tone I instantly thought that the Soft Focus Concealer in shade 1 (£7.50) looked like a good alternative for the MAC prep and prime in light boost. I’ve tried this once and sadly it is not as yellow nor as opaque as the unethical MAC version, so here is hoping the wonderful Makeup Rev come up with a dupe for that eh! All is not lost with this though, as it still brightens in less of a WOAH way than the P&P, making it much more appropriate for daily use. Whether it is worth the pretty high price tag is yet to be decided though.

Moving on to Inglot now, the store is truly beautiful and it was SO exciting to finally visit one and swatch their powders and lipsticks. As I’ve had a good ramble on about Kiko already I shall try to keep this brief! I’ve known for a long time that I wanted an Inglot palette from the lovely Pauline’s (addicted to makeup) reviews and when I swatched the shades it sealed the deal for me. I opted for a 5 palette which cost £8 as I knew I wouldn’t make use of all the shades in a larger one, not to mention how expensive it would end up being!

I will dedicate a whole post to my Inglot palette with full details and shade numbers too, but can I just say I am completely swooning over my selection of neutrals!

 

That is about it ladies, a bit of a cheeky splurge, but as the title says a little blip and that is all, now back to no buying makeup hehe! ;D

Have you tried anything from Kiko or Inglot? Any favourites?

Thank-you for reading ♥

Follow Via Bloglovin' | Tweet Me | Follow on Instagram | Like The Blushing Giraffe on Facebook