October Update/ Smoky Not Smudgy

Hello everyone, I hope you’re all doing fantastically. I am officially under University pressure again and I almost didn’t see it coming? The first week into Uni was very relaxed and then bam it’s been a month already - time is f l y i n g!


Uni and Dissertation
I have to say though that I am enjoying my course SO much, third year is by far the most interesting and after almost every lecture or seminar I leave feeling knowledge satisfied, y’know? Dissertation wise I have a lot to do, a LOT, but I’ve decided on my topic: Procrastination and wellbeing. I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that procrastination is the bane of my life and I’m interested in looking into what extet it impacts students. Also I am loving the familiar drive to Uni again, I have a soft spot for those 40 minute journeys in which I can just not stress about anything in particular. I don’t think it’s quite serene enough to be called ‘me time’ but I think you get my drift!

Makeup Challenge and lipstick of the week
So if you read this post you will know that I have decided to withhold from buying makeup till my 21st Birthday, which was roughly 8 months away. There is now 205 days left and although there have been a few occasions where I’ve longingly gazed at an email informing me of a great promotion, I am happy to report that for the most part it has been an easy ride so far. Once you stop buying makeup and actually look at what you own you realise just how much you own and how much variety you have. I have thoroughly enjoyed shopping my stash so far! Also I am overwhelmed with the positive response and feedback to my ‘lipstick of the week’ posts - thankyou so much ladies! I’ve even inspired a few other lovely bloggers to do the same (either cut down spending or LOTW) and that makes me soooo happy! I am now into week 4 of my LOTW, and I am loving the challenge of pushing myself out of my comfortable mauves/nudes/dustypinks etc.

Smoky Not Smudgy
This year was the third time that I attended the SNS charity event at Imperial College University and it was a lovely familiar experience. This year was certainly quieter I felt, however the hard work and effort that the volunteers from the Uni had put in did not go amiss! This was the first year that I got to attend the fashion show, filled with inspiring designers of modest fashion. It was so lovely to get a tonne of inspiration from the show as modest dressing is something that I am starting to enjoy more and more. In fact in the last few weeks I’ve massively enjoyed adding key pieces to my wardrobe and in general looking more put together. My style used to be very much ‘if its comfy I’m wearing it’ but now I have a more sophisticated vibe and I’m diggin it! Anyways above is a little collage of some of my favourite piece! Info of the designers can be found on the SNS site here.

Also my favourite room...the food room!!! Look at that chocolate fountain and those marshmallows *heart eyed emoji*. The best part of SNS for me personally was to be able to meet two lovely readers of my blog. It was so nice to meet people who enjoy reading my blog :’)

Honestly it has been an exhausting month and I don’t expect November to get any better with one major assignment due in two weeks and lots to think about for post-grad..how has your October been?

I’ve also been rubbish at taking photos as you can tell! I will try and fix this next month.

Thank-you for reading ♥

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October Update/ Smoky Not Smudgy

Hello everyone, I hope you’re all doing fantastically. I am officially under University pressure again and I almost didn’t see it coming? The first week into Uni was very relaxed and then bam it’s been a month already - time is f l y i n g!

Review | The Balm’s Mr. Write (Now) eyeliner in Jac B. Bronze

Hello everyone! Another review from the awesome Balm Cosmetics, this time focusing on their  eyeliner in the shade Jac. B Bronze* (£13.50). If you’re familiar with the brand you will know that they consistently produce high quality products in the cutest packaging. They have a retro 1950’s theme with adorable characters to match. We are all very familiar with Mary, now let me introduce you to Jac B. Bronze and the rest of the Mr. Write (Nows)!

The Mr. Write Now eyeliners come in a total of 8 shades, mainly sticking to the neutral wearable family. There is a nude shade, a black, an olive, a grey, a brown, a plum, a blue and a gorgeous bronze. I was lucky enough to be sent the last shade, which I fell in love with the moment I swatched in it on the back of my hand. Creamy, pigmented and the perfect size to use on the waterline and to line the eyes closely. I enjoyed using this as a replacement to my usual black winged liner too, it was very subtle but still super pretty. Can we take a moment to appreciate how adorable the box is??

I swiped it on my lower lash-line and smudge it a little underneath, instantly getting a softly glamorous smoky effect. I usually leave my lower lash-line free of product, opting for the standard winged liner instead. But ladies and gents, Jac B. Bronze worked like absolute magic, the colour contrasted so well with my brown eyes and really made them pop! Although it's called bronze I would describe the colour as a cross between gold and bronze, it has a cooler tone that your typical bronze, which means it'll look amazing against most eye-colours. It was just the right amount of smoky for a day time look. I personally don’t apply black liner to the bottom unless its a special occasion because on me it can look pretty intense, this bronzy shade on the other hand managed to strike the perfect balance.

The Mr. Write eyeliners are retractable, which is always a bonus, however to make matters even better they’ve included a little sharpener at the end of the pencil! This means that when the tip has worn down a little, you can pull off the end and literally sharpen it to get that ultra precise shape again. The only issue I had with this was spending a good 7 minutes trying to get the end off ._. I like how the lids are the same colour as the pencil itself, it’s really helpful if you own more than one shade.

Lasting time on my eyelids was very impressive - with a bit of light eyeshadow underneath this pencil lasted all day on me. On the lower-lash line is lasted pretty much the whole day (9-10hours), just fading a little towards the end. In the waterline itself after a couple of swipes it stayed put for 6 hours which I was very impressed with. My favourite nude eyeliner is the Rimmel one because it’s so affordable, however in the future I will definitely be picking up the shade Brian as a replacement!
You can purchase Jac or any of the other liners here.

Overall Rating

Rating: 9

Pros: Beautiful bronze/gold colour which really makes brown eyes pop, its a simple way of adding a little bit of glam to your eye-makeup, very pigmented and silky smooth, lasts the whole day on the top lid, lasts a decent 6 hours in the water line, retractable so no sharpener needed...but it has its own little sharpener to keep the tip precise!

Cons: The little sharpener is tricky to get off, but thats about it.

Repurchase? Yes I would, the colour and formula is stunning!

 What is your favourite pencil liner?

 

*This post contains PR samples or products gifted to me. All opinions are my own. For more info check my Disclaimer 

 

Thank-you for reading ♥

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Review | The Balm’s Mr. Write (Now) eyeliner in Jac B. Bronze

Hello everyone! Another review from the awesome Balm Cosmetics, this time focusing on their  eyeliner in the shade Jac. B Bronze* (£13.50). If you’re familiar with the brand you will know that they consistently produce high quality products in the cutest packaging. They have a retro 1950’s theme with adorable characters to match. We are all very familiar with Mary, now let me introduce you to Jac B. Bronze and the rest of the Mr. Write (Nows)!

Review | The Balm Time Balm Foundation in Medium-Dark

Hello everyone! I have another foundation review for you today, but this time its of a cream foundation which is very different to my norm. Introducing The Balm Time Balm* in the shade medium/dark. This is the first time I’ve tried any base products from one of my favourite brands The Balm cosmetics, who make fantastic cheek and eye products. (I’ve also heard great things about their liquid lipsticks, those are firmly at the top of my ‘to-buy’ list...next year!) So when I got the opportunity to try out their cream foundation I was intrigued.

Packaging
The box this foundation comes in is very pretty, though I was surprised there weren’t any of the cute balm characters adorning it. The packaging of the foundation itself is very standard, a plastic circular pot with a lid that you secure by screwing on. The advantage of having transparent packaging is that you can see the shade clearly, and also you’ll use up ALL the product which is good - but in all honesty the packaging itself is nothing special. I should also mention here that the foundation comes with a foam applicator which applies the product in a very blotchy manner - discard and read on to see which application method worked out best for me.

Price and Amount
The Time Balm foundation costs £22 from Debenhams and you get a hefty 21.3g of product. It’s not s expensive as brands such as NARS and Dior, however the quality of the product is one par. A little goes a long way with this foundation so I think it’ll lasts a good while before hitting pan.

Formula and Finish
Of course the formula is cream - however I was almost expecting it to be hard and pastey to the touch, how wrong I was! It’s creamy to the touch and with a bit of blending it melts into the skin with ease. My favourite way to apply this is using the Real Techniques Buffing Brush, I feel like it picks up the right amount of product and I can layer it easily. It feels silky on the fingertips and as long as my skin is prepped with an emollient moisturiser (my current favourite the the Embroylisse lait cream) the foundation glides with ease. Time balm gives a medium to full coverage, so when I’ve finished applying this all redness, hyper-pigmentation and dark spots are effortlessly covered. I was a little worried when I read about the coverage, because I assumed that cream foundation+ high coverage = cakey finish. I couldn't be more wrong, despite the high coverage, the way it blended into my skin meant no caking what so ever. Typically I’ll reach for a light-medium coverage foundation for day-to-day so switching it up with time balm was pleasant because my skin looked so beautiful with very little effort. It has a semi-matte/satin finish, which is one of my favourites. If I want to get a more dewy look, I’ll spritz my Mario Badescu Facial Spray review here over the top.

 
Longevity
I have tested this foundation without a primer, powder or setting spray, typically getting around 7 hours of wear before my skin started looking shiny. When I did powder the areas that were shiny I got an extra half an hour of wear, so I think this is a great foundation for those days where you need a decent coverage but you’re not out from 7:30am-6pm.

Shade Medium/Dark
I was sent this shade which is probably 1.5-2 shades deeper than my skintone. Now I typically go up one shade because my face is a good deal lighter than my body, so I wasn’t too alarmed - but I think the shade medium would be ideal for this time of the year. I looked pretty tanned when wearing this, so it’s now reserved for summer time. In terms of other brands I think this is close to Barcelona in NARS, or perhaps the shade deeper and for reference sake probably an NC40-45 in MAC. In general the shade range seems fantastic, going from ‘lightest light’ to ‘after dark’. They all seem to run on the warmer undertone side according to online swatches.

Overall Rating

Rating: 8

Pros: Affordable, good amount of product for the money, fuss free packaging means product won’t go to waste, a decent shade range, yellow undertoned, creamy formula melts into the skin without any effort, medium-full coverage with a natural satin finish, decent lasting time. The other day I woke up super late for work and grabbed this foundation, within 1 minute my face looked like I had spent a good 10 minutes on perfecting the base, the fact that it covered all my blemishes and uneven skintone and melted and blended into the skin SO easily was incredible!

Cons: Not great for anyone who is super oily or has dry patches. Also the packaging is pretty basic.

Repurchase? I am loving using this at the moment but I’m not sure if it’s my favourite higher coverage base simply because it does get shiny on me, we shall see!

 Have you tried any cream foundations?

*This post contains PR samples or products gifted to me. All opinions are my own. For more info check my Disclaimer 

Thank-you for reading ♥

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Review | The Balm Time Balm Foundation in Medium-Dark

Hello everyone! I have another foundation review for you today, but this time its of a cream foundation which is very different to my norm. Introducing The Balm Time Balm* in the shade medium/dark. This is the first time I’ve tried any base products from one of my favourite brands The Balm cosmetics, who make fantastic cheek and eye products. (I’ve also heard great things about their liquid lipsticks, those are firmly at the top of my ‘to-buy’ list...next year!) So when I got the opportunity to try out their cream foundation I was intrigued.

LOTW | E.L.F Mineral Lipstick in Beautiful Berry

So week two of my new ;lipstick of the week’ series is a colour I have never reached for before, but much to my utter surprise I loved wearing - who would have thought?! I do apologise that this is late, I had a VERY busy sunday, but more of that in this month’s update post!

Price: £6.00

Colour: It is a maroon/burgundy colour with a hint of brown. Absolutely perfect for the colder months as it has a hint of vampyness, but it’s not too dark for a newbie to lipsticks which fall into the not-nude category. It actually really reminded me of a colour my mum used to wear all the time, around 10 years ago and it bought back fond memories. Beautiful berry is pigmented in one swipe but you can apply two layers to get a deeper shade.

Formula and Lasting time: The mineral line lipsticks have a slightly creamy formula with a hint of shine. Not glossy by any means, but certainly not matte, they’re equally in-between. Whilst it is labeled a moisturizing lipstick, I don’t feel like it does moisturise the lips and it can catch on dry bits (though not as intensely as matte lipsticks) Under a lipliner this lasted a decent 5 hours when I didn’t eat anything greasy. However after my KFC trip the middle part had totally disappeared..which is pretty normal so I can’t complain. Without a lipliner underneath it lasted round 3.5/4 hours before fading evenly. I was really pleased that I wasn’t left with a horrible line around the edge of my lips! I would recommend using a lipliner with this lipstick in particular though because it can bleed and look a bit uneven when worn alone.

Favourite Way To Wear It: I loved pairing this with Rimmel’s lipliner in Epic (far right) which is a lipliner that is several shades darker than my natural lip colour and it has no hint of burgundy or red in it. Instead it’s pretty much an awesome brown. The creamy formula of the lipliner meant that it was easy to put it all over the lips and then layer Beautiful Berry on top, which not only extended the longevity, but it also made the lipstick look even darker which I liked. However, having said that I do love thr colour of the lipstck alone and for work I work it as more of a stain, dabbed on and it looked equally as nice. So its a very versatile shade!

Overall: Beautiful Berry took me by surprise, I really enjoyed going for a deeper colour and found it pulled my whole face together effortlessly. After using this for a week I will definitely be reaching for this more often in the future and when I go back to buying makeup here and there I will probably be looking for a similar colour in more of a matte formula too. The mineral line from E.L.F are all formulated without parabens, preservatives or chemical dyes which is awesome. I’m so glad this brand have reopened up in the U.K again! Although the prices have risen a little, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they’ll still have generous sales from time to time - I do love me a bargain!

Rating: 9/10

Available from: E.L.F UK

Repurchase? Yes I 100% would!

Have you tried any lipsticks from the E.L.F Mineral Line?

Thank-you for reading ♥

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LOTW | E.L.F Mineral Lipstick in Beautiful Berry

So week two of my new ;lipstick of the week’ series is a colour I have never reached for before, but much to my utter surprise I loved wearing - who would have thought?! I do apologise that this is late, I had a VERY busy sunday, but more of that in this month’s update post!

Price: £6.00

Colour: It is a maroon/burgundy colour with a hint of brown. Absolutely perfect for the colder months as it has a hint of vampyness, but it’s not too dark for a newbie to lipsticks which fall into the not-nude category. It actually really reminded me of a colour my mum used to wear all the time, around 10 years ago and it bought back fond memories. Beautiful berry is pigmented in one swipe but you can apply two layers to get a deeper shade.

Top Three | Autumn Nail Polishes

Hey all! Time for another Top Three, this time with my favourite nail polish shades for the season. I don’t know what it is about autumn, but it brings out the vampyness in me, especially when it comes to the nails. I don’t always find it easy to choose nail polish colours which are complimentary to my warm skintone, some shade just look so off! These three however are my go-to, ride or die shades, y'know the the ones which just look on point every single time? These are those..

1. Zoya Polish in Aubrey* | £11 | link
This is one of my favourite purple shades to wear all year around, but in the autumn time I like to mix it up with a bit of gold detailing here and there. I adore the shade Aubrey for some reason, maybe that it makes me start humming hotling bling??, but this creamy mauvy-purple colour looks so beautiful against a warm skintone! The formula of this is great, on par with O.P.I for sure and with two coats I find it lasts well for at least 5 days with no chips or flaking off.


2. Rimmel Lycra Pro in 425 My Denim | £2.49 | link
The only blue shade that I really like on my nails is this type of deep royal blue. Again it looks so striking against olive skintones and makes a nice change from my usual purples. I LOVE the 'maxi' brush from this line. When I first pulled it out I thought it would be much too thick and messy to use, however it somehow makes it easier to apply the polish?? It cover the whole nail efficiently and there are no bits to fill in afterwards, which is the case with smaller fiddly brushes.


3. Barry M Nail Paint in Berry Cosmo | £2.99 | Review | link
Finally a gorgeous deep purple shade which can be built up and turned into a even  darker purple with an extra coat. Berry Cosmo takes around two coats minimum to get a nice opaque colour and without a topcoat it lasts a decent amount of time. This colour is the most vampy of them all and looks stunning alone, but even better paired with some nail accessories (I shall link you a throwback post below!). The Barry M formulas are awesome for the budget price and you can normally pick them up in a 3for2.

Related:

Autumn nail picks 2014

Eid Nail Art ft. Berry Cosmo

Those are my top three nail picks for autumn! Do you have any favourites?

Thank-you for reading ♥

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Top Three | Autumn Nail Polishes

Hey all! Time for another Top Three, this time with my favourite nail polish shades for the season. I don’t know what it is about autumn, but it brings out the vampyness in me, especially when it comes to the nails. I don’t always find it easy to choose nail polish colours which are complimentary to my warm skintone, some shade just look so off! These three however are my go-to, ride or die shades, y'know the the ones which just look on point every single time? These are those..

LOTW | Sleek Matte Me in Birthday Suit

Hello! Welcome to the first instalment of ‘lipstick of the week’...if you’re wondering what on earth that means click right here. So for my first week, I decided to go for a pretty easy choice, nothing too crazy or out there...the Sleek Matte Me in Birthday suit. When this line was first released I’m pretty sure Birthday Suit was sold out for weeks! Let me give you the low down on how it went for me..


Price: £4.99 - very affordable.

Top: Kiko lip pencil 311. Bottom: Sleek Matte Me in Birthday Suit not quite dry.

Colour: A gorgeous dusty rose mixed with mauve. My kind of nude shade in a tube! When first applied onto my bare lips it looks slightly lighter than it appears from the outer packaging, however once it’s dried down the mauvey undertone becomes more apparent.

Formula and Lasting time: It starts off wet and dries fairly quickly, within 10-15 seconds. It has a matte finish which isn’t too drying, however I can feel the product on my lip a little, which is expected of a liquid lip! I find it lasts around 5.5 hours with eating and drinking, before it starts to fade slightly. Reapplying is easy and it doesn’t look gunky or uneven.

Favourite Way To Wear It: I love wearing it with the Kiko precision lip pencil in 311 which is a little more terracotta in tone than birthday suit (and it had no mauve tones, almost like a MLBB). I’ve tried applying the lip liner all over the lips and then putting Birthday Suit ontop and this really changes the colour of the overall lip which surprised me, because alone the matte me formula is pretty pigmented. I love putting birthday suit all over the lips, letting it dry down and THEN going in with the lip liner, carefully outlining my lips and blending the colours together. This adds more definition and a gives a slightly fuller appearance.

Overall: I think for a fiver it is a fantastic product, it lasts a good amount of time and I enjoyed not having to keep checking my lips to see if it was still intact. Colour wise it was totally my comfort zone and I found it really fun using the lipliner in various ways to switch it up. Plus the fact that you can adjust the colour slightly depending on which lip liner you use,  means it’s really quite versatile. Packaging wise I love how sleek the rectangular base looks, much more pricier than the fiver it cost! However the doe foot means that application isn’t the quickest, I found it easy to get an uneven line when I was in a rush. I do wish it had a more precise nib! In terms of using this every day, I found it very easy to do the rest of my makeup around this, as it is a nude colour and goes with natural makeup or more 'done up' makeup. On Thursday I had some fun and used more pinks in my eye makeup and blusher, which matched this shade really nicely. However in general I do think Birthday Suit is suitable for most makeup looks. This was the first liquid lipstick I tried and it has lived up to my expectations.

Available from: Boots, Superdrug and online from the Sleek website.

Repurchase? Yes I 100% would.

Have you tried any of the shades from the Matte Me line?

Thank-you for reading ♥

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LOTW | Sleek Matte Me in Birthday Suit

Hello! Welcome to the first instalment of ‘lipstick of the week’...if you’re wondering what on earth that means click right here. So for my first week, I decided to go for a pretty easy choice, nothing too crazy or out there...the Sleek Matte Me in Birthday suit. When this line was first released I’m pretty sure Birthday Suit was sold out for weeks! Let me give you the low down on how it went for me..

'Lipstick of the week'

Hello everyone! I thought I’d publish a post explaining another new series to my blog - this time a weekly one! Since deciding that I won’t be purchasing any more new makeup for the next 8 months, more on that here, it’s now time to figure out the best way to use my large and lovely collection. Now when it comes to lip products I am very much a neutrals girl. I LOVE my pinky,brown toned nudes and they’re the colours that are most in my comfort zone. I recently wrote down every single lip product that I own and around 70% of them are all in the nude/neutral family. However I do have a fair amount of lipsticks which are not ‘me’ at all. Usually this is because I’ve picked them up on special offer or ordered a bunch of things online and not checked the shades properly, very clever I am aware.


I’ve decided to introduce ‘lipstick of the week’ which will serve two functions. Firstly it will force me to work with a lipstick for seven days, which is more than enough time to figure out my opinion of it shade wise as well as consistency and formula. By the end of the week I’ll have a well rounded opinion of the product and hopefully I can write you up a thorough report back! If that lipstick just hasn’t worked out for me, I’ll then pass it on or throw it out. So secondly I’ll be condensing my collection and giving each product a thorough testing. Why keep things if you know you won’t use them? It’s a total waste of space, which could be utilised a lot better.

I’m very excited to push myself out of my comfort zone, something I don’t do at all when it comes to the lips! Also despite not purchasing any new makeup, by systematically going through my collection it’ll feel like I have bought new products because I’m actually using them all for a good amount of time and there is just something so fulfilling about that for me. I really hope you’ll enjoy these posts, starting with Sleek’s Matte Me in Birthday Suit, coming at you very soon!

P.S I’ll also be talking about various lipliners here and there in these posts.

What is your favourite shade of lipstick to wear? Do you own far too many like me??

Thank-you for reading ♥

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'Lipstick of the week'

Hello everyone! I thought I’d publish a post explaining another new series to my blog - this time a weekly one! Since deciding that I won’t be purchasing any more new makeup for the next 8 months, more on that here, it’s now time to figure out the best way to use my large and lovely collection. Now when it comes to lip products I am very much a neutrals girl. I LOVE my pinky,brown toned nudes and they’re the colours that are most in my comfort zone. I recently wrote down every single lip product that I own and around 70% of them are all in the nude/neutral family. However I do have a fair amount of lipsticks which are not ‘me’ at all. Usually this is because I’ve picked them up on special offer or ordered a bunch of things online and not checked the shades properly, very clever I am aware.

Review | Lush Milky Bath Bubble Bar

Hello everyone, I hope you’re all doing brrrillintly on this chilly autumn day. Today I have a Lush review for you all, which is exciting because I don’t get around to doing these too often. It is of one of their newer Bubble Bars - called Milky Bath. I saw this demo’d in the store and instantly knew I had to have it. As a child, bubble baths were the BEST, but as you get older the bubbles seem to disappear and are replaced with scents and colours and even the occasional handful of glitter! Now I’m all for a bit of glitter, but seeing the bubbles in the Lush store, as well as hearing about the inspiration behind this bubble bar urged me to buy it. Inspo: Cleopatra and her alleged love for bathing in milk! According to the reviews on the Lush website, this bubble bar give the most amount of bubbles - I’ve not tried any of the others but I certainly did get a satisfying amount in my tub which I was very pleased with.

So before we get into the review, I have a confession to make. I bought this bar almost two months ago when I attended the lush event and ...I forgot about it. I know I know! I am a rubbish beauty blogger at times, but in all honesty I’m not very good at giving myself indulgent ‘me times’. Having a good soak in the bath tub is not something I do often, which really should not be the case because that bath was AMAZING, it relaxed my muscles and just gave me time to chill out. No thoughts of my dissertation, of my blog schedule, of my weakness for junk food, of my lack of exercise....you get my drift! It was just so good to be able to relax and I think everyone should give themselves time to have a nice soak now and again.

So anyway the Milky Bath contains orange oil and actual skimmed milk so I was a little worried that there was a use by date which I had passed, due to forgetting about the thing. I searched high and low on the Lush site and couldn’t find one, so I just went for it and used the whole cute milk bottle shaped bar in one go. If I had used it a month ago, I probably would have put half in and saved half for another time. The smell was quite strong, but I really liked it. Very comforting and not too sweet which made the whole bath a lot more relaxing. As the bar contains fair trade organic cocoa butter my skin was left feeling so soft, which is ALWAYS a bonus. And bubbles, the bubbles were fantastic - not your typical adult bath product, but it makes a nice change. The bar costs £3.75 and I think these are better value for money than your typical bath bomb because you can break it up with ease (mine was almost melting!) and as it creates so many bubbles, I find a little goes a long way.

I didn’t find a 'use by date' however I would obviously recommend you use this bar sooner rather than later because of the organic ingredients, I didn’t have a bad experience but at the same time I wouldn’t leave this bar that late again!

Repurchase: Yes, definitely in the winter time, its the perfect nourishing bubbly bathtime treat!

Related Post: Lush Event August 2015

Have you tried any of the Lush Bubble Bars? When was the last time you had a good soak?

Thank-you for reading ♥

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Review | Lush Milky Bath Bubble Bar

Hello everyone, I hope you’re all doing brrrillintly on this chilly autumn day. Today I have a Lush review for you all, which is exciting because I don’t get around to doing these too often. It is of one of their newer Bubble Bars - called Milky Bath. I saw this demo’d in the store and instantly knew I had to have it. As a child, bubble baths were the BEST, but as you get older the bubbles seem to disappear and are replaced with scents and colours and even the occasional handful of glitter! Now I’m all for a bit of glitter, but seeing the bubbles in the Lush store, as well as hearing about the inspiration behind this bubble bar urged me to buy it. Inspo: Cleopatra and her alleged love for bathing in milk! According to the reviews on the Lush website, this bubble bar give the most amount of bubbles - I’ve not tried any of the others but I certainly did get a satisfying amount in my tub which I was very pleased with.

Top Three | A/W Daily Bases

Hello everyone - welcome to a new series on my blog called ‘top three’. I love doing detailed reviews on here, those won’t stop, but I thought it would be useful to group together a lot of my favourite products and write about them! I aim for this to include makeup and skincare and for it to be seasonal too...I’m not so great at narrowing things down (you’ve probably noticed this from my favourites posts!) so this’ll be a challenge, but it’s one I look forwards too.

So to kick this series off I wanted to start with my top three daily bases from Autumn/Winter, the ones I’ll be reaching for most and why.


DiorSkin Nude Foundation in 31 | £32.50 | Review here 
This foundation has a semi-matte formula and it lasts well on the skin as long as you prep beforehand (for me using SPF works wonders!). It evens out my skintone effortlessly and provides a light to medium coverage. I like that it is buildable on discolouration or redness and the overall finish is perfect for day-to-day. Also this is one of the lightest (shade wise) bases that I own and so naturally it’ll match me best during the colder months.


Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in 54 Beige | £9.99 £6.65
I’ve not spoken about this base on my blog yet and I really don’t know why. It’s a brilliant base from the drugstore, it provides a natural/healthy finish and has a medium and buildable coverage. I love that it feels lightweight on the skin too. One pump is enough for me and it blends so beautifully into the skin. With either a brush or a sponge (though coverage is more sheer) it takes a minute to get a lovely finish and the shade match is great for my winter skin. I find it lasts longer on the skin than their happy light foundation (which I also really like) and it doesn’t cling to any dry patches. Worth the price and so much more!


Make Up For Ever Face & Body Foundation in 32 | £27.00 | Review here
Finally one of my HG bases, which is the trickiest to work with but once you get the hang of it, its beautiful. This base again provides a light/medium coverage and gives a dewy, glowy and healthy looking finish, whilst feeling light on the skin. As I have normal to dehydrated skin, the fact that this is water based works wonders. It’s the foundation I turn to most when my skin is looking dull due to colder weather and it needs a boost. I apply it with my fingers or with a buffing brush for an even finish. It does have buildable coverage so I find it is versatile too. Best part is that with a little bit of powder it lasts a long time on my skin - I love it!

Honorary mention: Bourjois CC cream! It's amazing, I've reviewed it here and I think its fantastic for everyday - I just haven't been using it as much in the past few months so it MAY have slipping my mind!


Those are my top three bases for this season and the next. All a little lighter in colour, but a variety of formulas and finishes, which are all great for day-to-day.

What are your favourite foundations at the moment? Have you found your ultimate ‘HG’?

Thank-you for reading ♥

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Top Three | A/W Daily Bases

Hello everyone - welcome to a new series on my blog called ‘top three’. I love doing detailed reviews on here, those won’t stop, but I thought it would be useful to group together a lot of my favourite products and write about them! I aim for this to include makeup and skincare and for it to be seasonal too...I’m not so great at narrowing things down (you’ve probably noticed this from my favourites posts!) so this’ll be a challenge, but it’s one I look forwards too.

So to kick this series off I wanted to start with my top three daily bases from Autumn/Winter, the ones I’ll be reaching for most and why.

Review | Mini Beauty Blender

 Hello everyone! When born pretty store contacted me and asked if I wanted to review a few products, I was SO excited because this is an online store which is kind of like an ebay...just for beauty. They sell very affordable makeup and tools, with a good few dupes too. I ordered a couple of things and I am very pleased to report that when the package arrived, around two and a half weeks later, I was chuffed with what I picked. Today I’ll be reviewing the ‘mini beauty blender*’ which is clearly a dupe for the beauty blender micro minis. Now the micro minis come in a set of two and cost £13.50...I’m all for paying the £16 for the original beauty blender, but no way am I spending that much on two mini sponges! So to see this on the born pretty store for a mere £1.30 was an absolute no brainer!

 The mini beauty blender arrived in a little plastic bag and upon first squish I knew it would be good because it felt very similar to the original beautyblender. I’ve tried other sponges and hardly any of them get close to the same texture as the £16 version because that sponge is made with some sort of ‘secret’ material. It was a little more firm but promising. Then I ran it under warm water and it expanded to double it’s size and became softer and bouncy too...result!

 Before I tell you if it works well, let me answer a question I’m sure a lot of you have right now.. why bother with these little sponges you may be asking? Well, though you can blend out your concealer with a regular beautyblender, there are areas of the face that may require a bit of extra attention. Not everyone has this problem, but my under-eyes are always the biggest issue for me. Dark circles, fine lines you name it...so if I’m not careful the area can look cakey or creased up. To be honest taking a couple of extra minutes with the beauty blender does a pretty good job, but I’ve always wanted to try a mini sponge and see if it makes a significant difference.

 It is wonderful, the pointy tip fits perfectly right under the lower lashline and blends out concealer like a dream. With a normal sponge or your fingers it’s impossible to get the same precision as you can achieve with the sponge and of course it blends out creases effortlessly. The softness of the sponge makes it comfortable for such a delicate area and the bouncy texture means it takes very little time to blend out the concealer. My favourite thing about using a damp sponge is that it removes excess product, which means the chances of concealer creasing are very little. It’s such a flexible sponge that its easy to squeeze and fit into the smallest areas of the face, so not only is it good for undereye concealer, but also for blending out cream contour and spot concealing.

Overall Rating:

Rating: 10

Pros: It is the closest sponge texture to the original beauty blender and it works so well at blending out concealer under the eyes in particular! Introducing this into my makeup routine has minimised creasing, reduced cakiness and left me with a much more flawless finsih than I could ever achieve using other tools. Though it’s small size seems over the top, it actual means great precision where you need it, the tip gets RIGHT under the lashline. The damp sponge removes excess product and to be honest it totally exceeded my expectations. The price is one of the best things about this, you could literally buy 10 of these sponges for the price of two beauty blender micro sponges - stock up on these instead and get the same result. Plus due to the size these will probably last a shorter amount of time than a bigger sponge, meaning it’s very affordable to stock up on them and always have one handy.

Cons: I really can’t think of many...if you’re not into sponges you probably wouldn’t want one of these???  but if you have issues with your undereye concealer in particular, go for this budget friendly option. Its cheap but the quality is almost as good as the beautyblender..and you can’t say that about a lot of sponges!

Repurchase? Yes!

You can purchase the mini beauty blender from this link and it only costs £1.30 with free worldwide shipping - I’ll be ordering backups very soon (they don’t technically count as makeup do they? D:) Also you can help yourself to 10% off using the code IQAH10.

Related Posts:

Dior Backstage Blender Review

BeautyBlender VS Real Techniques Sponge

*This post contains press samples or products gifted to me. All opinions are my own. For more info check my Disclaimer

Thank-you for reading ♥

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Review | Mini Beauty Blender

 Hello everyone! When born pretty store contacted me and asked if I wanted to review a few products, I was SO excited because this is an online store which is kind of like an ebay...just for beauty. They sell very affordable makeup and tools, with a good few dupes too. I ordered a couple of things and I am very pleased to report that when the package arrived, around two and a half weeks later, I was chuffed with what I picked. Today I’ll be reviewing the ‘mini beauty blender*’ which is clearly a dupe for the beauty blender micro minis. Now the micro minis come in a set of two and cost £13.50...I’m all for paying the £16 for the original beauty blender, but no way am I spending that much on two mini sponges! So to see this on the born pretty store for a mere £1.30 was an absolute no brainer!

September Favourites 2015

Hello ladies, I hope you’re all doing well. I missed out my favourites of August, because most of them were the products that I put into my travel makeup bag post. This month I have a bunch to share with you, a couple of new things and some older rediscoveries so lets get started.


 Base wise the month of September was focused on flawless. As briefly mentioned in my Aug/Sept catchup post here I had a lot of wedding events going on and so my key needs from my foundations were to cover well and not flash back in photos. The DiorSkin Star Foundation is one of my all time favourite foundations, it helps me to achieve beautiful looking skin, with a little glow and great lasting power. It does have SPF but it still looks lovely in photos...idk how but hey! The other foundation which has been floating my boat is a brand new one - the Too Faced Born This Way in Warm Beige. I picked this up with a gift voucher and used it on myself and my mum for two weddings, verdict? we both loved it. Phenomenal coverage, yet light on the skin and nothing too matte or dewy, a happy medium! The only slight issue was selecting the right shade, for me this is a tad dark - nothing a bit of highlighting can’t fix but I think I would have been good with natural beige too...or perhaps a mix, but who has $60 to spend on mixing foundations -.- Anyways it’s not too much of a difference and you can’t tell anyway thanks to my hijab.

 My absolute favourite concealer and highlighter in one has been the Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer in SX06 it is highly pigmented, creamy and brightens like no other. I’m still working on how to stop it creasing as much, but the rest of it works so well that I don’t mind TOO much. Also the Charlotte Tilbury flawless airbrushed powder in medium is ALL that it’s cracked out to be. Honestly this powder is glorious, a little goes a long way and despite the lack of more colours this one is a good match. I once got home after an eight hour day and powdered half my face...I kid you not it was like fresh makeup. Incredible. I have normal/dehydrated skin so powder isn’t part of my everyday routine but a light dusting of this when I need my makeup to last longer is perfect.

The Kat Von D Shade and Light palette is something I’m still in awe of (despite managing to create a dent in the middle contour shade -_-). I love how versatile it is and how I can set, brighten, contour and bronze my face using use this one palette - I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, it is PERFECT! On the rare days I didn’t pick the palette up I rediscovered Benefit’s Hoola which is one of my all time favourite bronzers. I didn’t think it would work so well for my medium skintone but I’ve found it’s so great for warming my face up AND adding a nice contour line with the awesome brush included. I tend to reach for this when I’m doing a 4 product face as it’s quick and easy to use and makes a huge difference. If you haven’t found your perfect matte bronzer and you have light-medium skin check out hoola!

Moving on to the brows, a brush mentioned in my recent haul has totally changed my brow game. I know, a pretty dramatic statement to make but I’m not even kidding the Anastasia Beverly Hills Large Synthetic Duo Brow Brush #12 is worth every penny. I don’t know what it is about the shape, but it works better than any other slanted brush I’ve used in the past and I find it so easy to shape and add more to my sparse brows with the Dipbrow pomade. Plus dat spoolie. Yaaaaaas. I have been loving the Topshop Magic Liner in Engraved it’s super black and the nib makes it SO easy to draw a great cat eye. I’ve switched my liner shape up since using this pen, my wings are more elongated and I’m really enjoying them like that! Finally my favourite Mascara of the past for weeks, yes I ACTUALLY have a mascara in my faves! Is the Benefit They’re Real, I got the full sized version ages ago when it was really discounted and only opened it up for the weddings - this is such a good thickening mascara. Yes it’s a pain to remove but it makes such a huge difference, especially when used with a bit more of a lengthening formula underneath. Pricy but worth it!

The lip products that I’ve been reaching for are all from the highstreet! Sleek’s Matte Me in Birthday Suit used alone or with a deeper lip liner has been one of my favourite lip looks to go for. It’s a mauvey/nude shade and I think it is so flattering on medium skintones. Plus it doesn’t budge for ages so it’s great for a long day, because I’m rubbish at remembering to touch up. Moving on to a very new product to in stash, the Barry M Matte Me in 3 which I picked up online on a whim, not knowing what to expect. It’s a chunky crayon type of product with a beautifully creamy consistency which feels SO comfortable on the lips and provides a good wash of colour in one swipe. This shade is definitely a MLBB for me, surprise surprise and I find it perfect for when I’m in a rush! I have been LOVING lipliners in the past few months, but the one that stands out the most is the Rimmel 1000 kisses lipliner in Tiramisu. For some reason this doesn’t get enough love on the blogosphere, it’s a beautiful nude shade which isn’t too pink. It’s a mix of brown and peach and it’s the lipliner I’ll go for when I want fuller looking lips without that obvious over-lined look. It creates believable pouty lips and for the small price tag the quality is phenomenal. Highly recommend you check out the whole line!

 Finally on to the skincare bits, firstly we have the Pixi Makeup Fixing Mist which is brilliant - an ethical alternative to the UD one FINALLY! It kept out makeup up flawlessly throughout all the wedding events, the countless hugs and kisses with family members and the humid conditions. It also refreshes and hydrates the skin which is always nice when it’s a hot and icky day. The Una Brennan Vitamin C Cleansing Oil has been a favourite for months - it’s the only product that actually makes me excited for take my makeup off and I am obsessed. A little oil gentle massaged onto the skin breaks down the majority of my makeup and it leaves my skin feeling so hydrated! It is brightening and I can’t imagine my night time routine without it.

And those are my favourites from the last month and a bit! Right now back to my Uni reading (which I’m really enjoying right now!).

Reviews from this post:

Dior Star Foundation

Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer

Kat Von D Shade and Light Palette

Topshop Magic Liner

What were your favourites from the month of September?

Thank-you for reading ♥

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