LOTW | Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet in Beau Brun 12

Hello everyone, this weeks LOTW has to be the most confusing for me. I don’t particularly love it, nor do I totally dislike it either...in a way I was a little disappointed because the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvets are pretty raved about and there’s a couple of cons which I didn’t hear much about on the blogosphere when reading about them, but anyway a mixed review for sure!

Price: £8.99 - pretty pricy for a drugstore product! But they’re around the same price as the Sephora versions, so not too outrageous.

Colour: Beau Brun is a strange one. It definitely sits in the red family, with undertones of brown but I feel like it also leans slightly on the blue side too. I adore the colour when it is first applied, as it looks like a true red which sits beautifully against my skintone. However when its set or dried down the colour definitely changes on my lips and it becomes a cross between a red and bright pink. I wish it stayed the colour it appeared when first applied to my lips, because then I could overlook my small issues with this lip product sigh.

Formula and Lasting time: So technically this is not a liquid lipstick, it applies like a cream and doesn’t properly dry for a long time. On the lips it feels soft and velvet like, which is a positive because it doesn’t leave my lips feeling dry and in need of TLC at all. However this was also a downfall for this shade because it does sit in the red family and so smudged red around the mouth is never a good look. It’s kind of frustrating that it doesn’t set for a while as it transfers onto food, if I accidently touch it I get red on my fingers and I felt like I constantly had to check my lips in the mirror in case it smudged! Also worn totally alone it lasted on my lips for 3.5 hours...which I was so surprised about! In the middle it started fading and because its a red shade, half on, half off just looked terrible. However when worn with another lip product, the lasting time extended extensively. I found that it worked as a good red base, which I then mixed with either a nude shade or a slightly deeper shade and it helped my lip combo last all day. This is because when the stuff finally does dry it stains like NO TOMORROW!

Favourite Way To Wear It: Well I don’t have the perfect dark red lip liner, though I do imagine that once I get one I’ll be doing an ombre lip with this as the base (and middle) with the darker lip liner to define and fill in the edges. As I do not own said darker liner, I have quite liked pairing this with a nude lipstick over the top to just mute the red/pink shade.

Face makeup wise I much prefer this when I’m wearing a deeper shade of foundation, I find it suits my olive skintone better then my winter pale self. However I’ve been using my Bourjois CC cream and my Dior skin nude foundation, which are the lightest bases in my collection and it just looks a little too stark for me. So yeah the deeper the foundation, the more I can make this work alone, with a nude shade blush and a classic sharp eyeliner.

Overall: I don’t like how it doesn’t set for over half an hour, I don’t like how it stains so easily because red smudges around my mouth look horrendous and overall the shade alone just isn’t MY perfect red. I do like the fact that it feels comfortable on the lips and in the right shade, the fact that it stains means it can last a good while. I still think it’s a little pricey for what it is, although I adore the packaging and I think the doefoot is a good size too. Also there is a scent, nothing too offensive but for those of you who are sensitive to smells, it’s worth mentioning. I feel like I’ve been a little harsh in this review, but perhaps it was because I had such high expectations for this shade..hopefully some of the others work out better, because there are enough things that I like about it to make me want to keep trying with the line.

Available from: Any drugstore, ASOS (currently on sale!) or feelunique.

Rating: 6/10

Repurchase? Not this particular shade. I have one more which I’m planning to use in a few months, so hopefully that colour works better!

Have you tried the Rouge Edition Velvets? How was your experience?

Thank-you for reading ♥

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LOTW | Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet in Beau Brun 12

Hello everyone, this weeks LOTW has to be the most confusing for me. I don’t particularly love it, nor do I totally dislike it either...in a way I was a little disappointed because the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvets are pretty raved about and there’s a couple of cons which I didn’t hear much about on the blogosphere when reading about them, but anyway a mixed review for sure!

Price: £8.99 - pretty pricy for a drugstore product! But they’re around the same price as the Sephora versions, so not too outrageous.

Top Three | Drugstore Blushers

Hello everyone, I hope you’re having a good week so far! Todays top three is regarding my favourite drugstore blushers, the ones I reach for the most and the ones I recommend you check out. Now it is no secret that I am a HUGE fan of NARS blushers and I do wear them probably 70% of the time that I wear makeup, because that have the best longevity and I love all the shades I own! However I am quite the blush-a-holic and own two Muji drawers stuffed to the brim of single blushers, plus a couple of palettes too, so I try and rotate as much as I can. I know that not everyone can afford NARS (although they’re worth saving up for and picking up with ASOS have 20% off!), so I thought it would be helpful to put together a post of my favourites from the highstreet. This post should hopefully be useful to those of you who aren’t really blush fans and don’t want to spend more than a fiver on a blush you may not wear that often! Don’t worry ladies, I have just what you need!

1. Makeup Revolution Vivid Baked Blusher - Loved Me The Best | £2.50 | 6g

This is the newest from the trio in my stash and I should add that I recommend most baked blushers, because they are some of the best formula out there! Loved Me The Best is a beautiful deep pink shade with a hint of berry, which probably explains why I have been reaching for it more in the past few weeks than before. The marble baked finish, not only looks pretty, but adds a swirl of a deeper pink and a light pink together. When I dip my brush in, the colour merge together and on the cheeks it looks ever so flattering. The kind of pink my cheeks turn when I’ve been for a brisk walk in the winter time - which obviously happens a lot(!). This shade doesn’t look delightful when swatched, but on the cheeks I cannot get enough! Decently pigmented and buildable too. Sadly it does have a few minor faults. Firstly the lasting time on my cheeks is about 4.5 hours. After this time it fades considerably and there’s about 30% left. So I tend to sweep this on before a 4 hour shift, or a short trip out because I hate the rest of my base being in place and my blusher fading. The second thing some people may not like, is that this has a sheen to it, the kind of sheen that means I advise you skip out on a lot of highlighting. Personally I don’t mind this, it’s a 2-in-1 kind of effect and great for when you’re in a rush because it adds life, colour and dimension all at the same time. However if you’re only a fan of matte blushers then swatch this in store first.Finally this blush is DELICATE! Despite what the tough looking packaging would have you believe, it breaks easily. All the little cons aside though, it has still landed a spot in my top 3, so again well worth checking out!

2. Rimmel Lasting Finish Soft Colour Blush in Pink Rose | £3.99 | 4g

This is the oldest blusher in my makeup collection, and that particular one in the photo is my second pan which says a lot. I rarely hit pan on makeup because I rotate so often, but when I finished my original Pink Rose I couldn't let it leave my collection for longer than a month. I have said many times that my favourite NARS blush is DT, now I’m not saying that pink rose is a dupe, however they are very similar. They both are on the lighter, more neutral side which means, firstly it is hard to over apply and a lot of blending out is not necessary (which cannot be said for a lot of Sleek blushers). Secondly they both go with pretty much any makeup look you wear, whether its barely there makeup, or full on smoky eyes. Pink Rose is a medium pink shade with a very subtle sheen, no chunky glitter bits at all, rather the type of sheen that translates as a glow on the cheeks. I love the fact that it’s not matte, because it adds a subtle radiance to the skin and also looks pretty natural. The biggest difference between this shade and NARS D.T is that this shade doesn’t have any peach tone to it. Also if you layer and layer this up, it will translate as a deeper pink, but with one sweep you can achieve a similar look. The quality of the powder in the soft colour blushers are comparable to high end, they’re very soft without being powdery and they blend beautifully onto the cheeks. I am confident that this is THE blush for those who fear clown cheeks, this is the one they’ll be able to use without breaking into a sweat. Also the lasting powder of this blush is comparable to NARS, it lasts almost the whole day on me and I really couldn’t ask for much more! I love it so much that I’m including one in an upcoming giveaway, so one of you can be just as pleasantly surprised as I was!

3. Sleek Blush in Suede | £4.49 | 8g

What would a top drugstore blush post be, without a mention of Sleek?? One of the BEST brands on the highstreet, which is filled with some winning products that are worth 4X the amount they cost! Okay onto the one I picked, which is the shade Suede (ohhh that just rhymed!). Suede is a ‘nudey’ kind of blush shade which is totally matte. Upon first glance it reminded me a lot of the discontinued NARS shade ‘douceur’, however according to online swatches this is a little less pink. Despite this slight difference, it does give a similar effect as far as I can tell. A muted, soft light brown with a touch of pink which is SUPER classy. It’s the blusher that I turn to when I don’t want anything remotely pink on my cheeks and it adds the right amount of colour on my cheeks. I have to say that I prefer wearing this shade when I have a slightly deeper base on, as it looks super flattering against my skin when I’m more olive toned. It also makes for a brilliant transition shade, which I discovered the other day. Its a gorgeous shade for the crease and instantly makes you look like you’ve spent a lot longer on your eyemakeup. I was so thrilled to make this discovery because I’ve been planning what MUG shadows I want to purchase in the future, and now I can cross crease shade off and save a couple of quid! When I have a smoky eye and nude lips, this blush shade is like the icing on the cake. Although sleek blushers are typically over pigmented, this one isn’t over the top in my opinion and I don’t need to spend as much time blending it out as others. Plus you get 8g which is double the size of your standard blush, B A R G A I N. Oh and it includes a mirror and is very sturdy, yet space saving ^_^

L-R: MUR, RIMMEL, SLEEK

What are some of your favourite drugstore blushers?

Thank-you for reading ♥

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Top Three | Drugstore Blushers

Hello everyone, I hope you’re having a good week so far! Todays top three is regarding my favourite drugstore blushers, the ones I reach for the most and the ones I recommend you check out. Now it is no secret that I am a HUGE fan of NARS blushers and I do wear them probably 70% of the time that I wear makeup, because that have the best longevity and I love all the shades I own! However I am quite the blush-a-holic and own two Muji drawers stuffed to the brim of single blushers, plus a couple of palettes too, so I try and rotate as much as I can. I know that not everyone can afford NARS (although they’re worth saving up for and picking up with ASOS have 20% off!), so I thought it would be helpful to put together a post of my favourites from the highstreet. This post should hopefully be useful to those of you who aren’t really blush fans and don’t want to spend more than a fiver on a blush you may not wear that often! Don’t worry ladies, I have just what you need!

LOTW | Wet’n’Wild Megalast Lipstick in Sugar Plum Fairy

Hello, welcome to my sixth lipstick of the week post - how exactly it has been six weeks I have NO idea ._. but anyway, this weeks lipstick was another from the Wet’n’Wild line which have some real winners! Sugar Plum Fairy has been a pleasure to wear, I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed this bright/bold shade but I think it had something to do with not having to try and make such a deep shade work (like last week!). It is also an EXACT dupe for MAC’s Rebel which is amazing as it’s a much cheaper and ethical alternative ^_^


Price: $2.75/£1.78

Colour: This is one of the most unique colours I have in my stash. In the bullet it looks purple and that is definitely the main colour, but it has undertones of pink and plum too. It is incredibly flattering on a lot of different skintones, I can imagine this will look striking on fair skinned ladies and deep skinned ladies. Of course on warm skintones like myself, it works beautifully well too! What I also adore about this lipstick is that you can wear it in different intensities. Several swipes gives you more of a berry/purple hue, whereas one swipe allows more pink so come through and you can sort of get away with dabbing it on too.

Formula and Lasting time: Some of the reviews I had read prior to purchasing this shade said that it’s matte, which I don’t exactly agree with. If you apply it on top of a glossy balm it’ll look more shiny, but over all its a semi-matte finish which feels very creamy when applied. It lasts for about 4.5 hours before it fades a little in the middle and if I let it totally fade it always stains my lips into a pink shade, which to be honest I don’t care much for. So if I am wearing this for whole day I do touch up. If you have dry bits on your lips, they’ll show up, so as always use a sugar scrub and lip balm beforehand. Also I should add that although its comfortable to wear, by the end of the day my lips do feel in need of a little TLC. The formula of the lipstick doesn’t feather or bleed, which is useful as you don’t want such a bold colour smudged around the mouth.It does transfer a little (like on to food - my KFC burger is a good example) so I took it off before eating...which is standard for a bold non-matte lipstick I think?

Favourite Way To Wear It: I’ve found that because this lipstick is so bold, minimal eyemakeup is the best. I’ve loved using my Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette, specifically the matte shades and doing my standard winged liner. Then Blush wise I like to use the Sleek blush-by-3 in Sugar, the deepest shade which works to sculpt my cheekbones as well as adds a stunning flush which sort of matches the lips in the right way. I also preferred my makeup when I skipped the bronzer (something which doesn’t happen very often) - but keeping the focus on the lips, with a hint of cheekbone action looked the best.

Overall: Sugar Plum Fairy is a stunningly unique shade, which looks gorgeous against my olive skintone, as well as so many others. I loved wearing this, it seemed to bring a lot of life into my sleep deprived student face. I didn’t have a lipliner which matched, but the formula stayed in place well enough for me to not feel the need to use one (plus the colour itself is stunning). HOWEVER for weddings and stuff I would probably take a little more care upon application and use concealer to clean up around the lips. This is basically my perfect purple-toned shade, the one which suits me the most and the one I would repurchase again and again. The pigmentation is great, the creamy formula is lovely and I can excuse the fact that it is sort of drying because it does last well. However the stain isn’t my favourite and I spent a long time scrubbing at my lips, which left them pretty worse for wear. Also I didn’t opt to wear this for work, its a little too bold for a tuition centre! I feel like this lipstick is a shade I’ll wear once a fortnight, not over and over on a daily basis because the colour does require a certain makeup look and I like switching it up - however I’m very happy to have found a bold/bright colour that I actually click with seeing as I’m such a neutral girl at heart!

Available from: I bought mine from beautyjoint.com, cheap shipping and a great range of products!

Rating: 8

Repurchase? Yes I would! ^_^

Thank-you for reading ♥

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LOTW | Wet’n’Wild Megalast Lipstick in Sugar Plum Fairy

Hello, welcome to my sixth lipstick of the week post - how exactly it has been six weeks I have NO idea ._. but anyway, this weeks lipstick was another from the Wet’n’Wild line which have some real winners! Sugar Plum Fairy has been a pleasure to wear, I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed this bright/bold shade but I think it had something to do with not having to try and make such a deep shade work (like last week!). It is also an EXACT dupe for MAC’s Rebel which is amazing as it’s a much cheaper and ethical alternative ^_^

NARS One Shocking Moment Cheek Palette

I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS POST, I CANNOT EVEN ATTEMPT TO EXPRESS IT WITHOUT THE TRUSTY CAPS LOCK. Also this post is going to be VERY picture heavy, just a little warning because A. I couldn’t pick a couple B. I want you all to appreciate this beautiful palette C. Its the only thing I’m gonna buy makeup wise in an 8 month period, so allow me my excitement please ^____^

The NARS One Shocking Moment Cheek Studio Palette (£49) is the only palette from the holiday releases, which really stood out to me and captured my heart. If you’re a regular reader of my blog you’ll know that approximately 54 days ago I decided to set myself a challenge and not purchase any more makeup till my 21st birthday (which is on the 25th of May 2016). However in that post I mentioned that I did give myself a small budget (or ONE purchase) from the holiday collections, as these tend to give you excellent value for money, the opportunity to try more products for a cheaper price and normally they come in travel friendly palettes.

When I saw the Hourglass release, like many others my eyes turned to heart-eyed emojis and I tweeted that I would probably be needing that! But honestly I am SO happy that I am not buying makeup because it really forces me to think carefully before making a purchase. I’m going to be honest, if I wasn’t on this challenge/ban I probably would have bought it as soon as it was released, but after watching several YT videos I realised how much of an absolute rip off the palette is. I think I heard that the amount of product in a single sized Hourglass blush/bronzer/powder is more than the total amount of powder in the 6 pan holiday release....how did they think that was fair at all?? Anyway if you do have it I really hope you’re happy with it, but after looking into it a little more I knew NARS was the way forwards.

Again regular readers here will know that I am quite the NARSsisst, I am yet to regret any of my purchases from NARS and I use the brand on a daily basis. Last years palette had the most stunning packaging and I generally liked it - I would have 100% switched the highlighter, but the fact that they included casino over laguna for once AND THE MINI ITA BRUSH, I still think it was worth it’s price tag. This year NARS collaborated with edgy photography Steven Klein and its safe to say the packaging is boardline...creepy. This palette’s in particular isn’t too bad, it certainly is unique, but I can’t say I’m head over heels y’know? Anyway I quite like the lack of rubber packaging, it is wipeable and the lid itself is made of a glossier kind of plastic.

Size wise this palette is the largest I own from NARS, as it houses seven different powders! The total amount of product in this palette is 29.5g which for the £49 price tag is pretty amazing value for money. The Paloma contour blush duo (3.5g x 2) is one of the main reasons why I choose this, because I had seen this range before but never really felt like I needed any of them. A full size of Paloma, which is the middle shade from the range, contains 2.7g of the lighter shade and 5.5g of the contour, so you actually get more of the highlight in here. You get 8.5g of Laguna, which is extremely generous seeing as a full sized Laguna is 8g and costs £27.50 alone. There are four blushers and you get 3.5g of each one, again  I think that’s pretty generous seeing as a full sized NARS blush costs £23 and you get 4.8g in a full sized pan. So all in all, this is one of the best palettes value wise that you can get your hands on.

Now lets get on to what I think about the actual shades included. So far Paloma has been a mixed bag. I like but don’t love the darker ‘rosy brown’ shade, it works decently well for chiselling the cheekbones, however it’s not grey toned enough for me to want to purchase a full size. The highlight shade is decent for setting under-eye concealer, however it isn’t as yellow toned as I had hoped. This is more of a natural setting powder for me and I’m very happy to own it, because I now know it would have been a bit of disappointment to one day purchase the full size for £30. I do however think that this duo is versatile enough for a decent amount of skintones and the quality of the powders are just as I had imagined, pigmented enough to do the job, buildable and of course very blendable.

Moving on to Laguna, this bronzer is one of my all time favourites. I actually purchased the NARS Tahiti Laguna bronzer haul post here, which is HUGE, because I love it that much. In the pan it looks pretty meh and on the orange side of things, but on my skin it works fantastically well to warm up my face without much effort. It has little bits of shimmer in the pan but I don’t find that they show up on the skin. It honestly is one of my HGs, alongside the Too Faced Chocolate Soleil in medium/deep and Benefit’s Hoola. But from the three of them Laguna is the bronzer which can give me a believable warmth to the skin, make lighter bases work and not appear streaky in any way as it isn’t exactly matte. I certainly didn’t need anymore Laguna in my collection at any point soon, but I cannot complain because I use it so often!

The blusher round up is again versatile and better than last years holiday blush palette too. Shades from light to deeper, all of which can work well for most skintones. Also the advantage of having a few blushers in one palette, means you can mix and match to get the perfect shade - always a good thing! From left to right, Robotic a new shade is a pretty cool toned light-medium pink with shimmers. I wish it had slightly more golden tone to it because those are my favourites, but its wearable. Would I buy a full size? No. But that is the beauty of having it in palette form. Blasphemy is my favourite from the four shades and instantly made me think of my HG NARS blush (reviewed here), however this has a much stronger peachy tone. In fact this is like D.T and Torrid merging to form this colour and I like it! Definitely the type of shade I can practically apply with my eyes closed as it ticks my boxes and it looks super flattering on olive skintones - yes I’d purchase this in full size! The next two are part of their permanent line and I’m really happy to have Luster, a peachy-golden blush, in this form because I really wasn’t drawn to it when passing NARS counters. I haven’t really used this yet, but I’ll report back soon. Finally the gorgeous Dolce Vita blush is included, which I already have a full size of. It is STUNNING for A/W time, a medium plum shade with little barely there golden shimmers and it also has a gorgeous sculpting effect too.

The palette contains a huge mirror on the inside, which is always a good thing in my opinion and after having this in my possession for around a week, I can give you the verdict that I am SO happy with this purchase. The amount of products to trial, the amount of product provided and the consistent high quality of NARS powders makes it a wonderful purchase in my opinion, and well worthy of the ‘one purchase in 8 months’ slot!

I purchased my palette from SpaceNK and I can’t believe they’ve actually dropped the price ._. I got mine for £49 but it is currently £45 - so if you want to save a couple of quid (plus free delivery!) they I advise you get your hands on it right now, because I don’t think it’ll be this price for long. I love SpaceNK and I found the speed of the delivery to be super quick PLUS I got a bunch of really decently sized samples! I picked the Caudalie anti-wrinkle lip and eye cream, Caudalie anti-wrinkle defence serum, REN Invisible pores detox mask and the Chantecaille face oil. I’ve been using the lip and eye cream and I’m surprised by how much I like it. I also can’t wait to try that REN mask! Thanks SpaceNK for being so generous ^.^

Overall Rating

Rating: 9

Pros: 7 different powders, very generous sizes and an affordable price. Sturdy packaging, large mirror and unique design. The laguna bronzer is almost the same size as a full sized, the paloma contour duo work decently well and are suitable for light/medium skintones. The four blushers have a good range between them, with a cool tone, a peach tone, a very golden tone and a stunning deeper shade. Two brand new blushers in this palette. Consistent high quality across the palette. The size of each of the products are large enough for you to really test them out and find out if they’re worth buying a full size of. Excellent value for money!

Cons: The colours, though versatile, are not useable for darker skintones. I always think its a shame that high end brands don’t come out with two versions of their holiday palettes.

Repurchase? As it’s L/E I wouldn’t be able to but if it disappeared, yes! If you like it, get it ASAP, I doubt you’ll regret it!

 

Have you purchased anything from the holiday palettes yet? What have you got your eyes on?

Thank-you for reading ♥

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NARS One Shocking Moment Cheek Palette

I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS POST, I CANNOT EVEN ATTEMPT TO EXPRESS IT WITHOUT THE TRUSTY CAPS LOCK. Also this post is going to be VERY picture heavy, just a little warning because A. I couldn’t pick a couple B. I want you all to appreciate this beautiful palette C. Its the only thing I’m gonna buy makeup wise in an 8 month period, so allow me my excitement please ^____^

Bedside Beauty Essentials

Hello lovely people, todays post is on my bedside beauty must haves - not the cleansing and toning, but the items I use on a daily basis just before I go to sleep. The two oils I have been using for months now and I have seen a real difference in my skin so I whole heartedly recommend them if you have the same sort of skin issues that I do..which I'll get into later.


The first item I want to talk about it the This Works Deep Sleep Pillow Spray (full size is £16) which is in a mini size as I got it in beauty box a good few months ago. If you’re a regular reader of my blog you’ll know that I had an issue with being able to smell things for about a year and a half. Luckily out of the blue my sense of smell has started to return...which is both a good and a stinky thing, but I’m not complaining! Anyway as I really couldn’t smell this properly before I would never use it as it seemed like a total waste, but recently I have been having trouble with sleeping (said every student ever) and this spray works! The lavender and camomile scent is very soothing and helps me relax. It’s not an instant miracle worker by any means, but I find that when sleep just won’t come a quick spritz of this does help. (I wonder if mixing together lavender essential oil and water would have the same effect for a fraction of the price??).

Moving onto the oils, I am so glad that I introduced these both into my skincare routine. Both of these are 100% pure oils and the effects they have on the skin is phenomenal. They have achieved what products three or four times the price failed to do!

Starting with the Pure Rosehip Seed Oil ($5.52) this stuff is what made my normal to dehydrated skin shift more onto the normal side. In fact the last week or so I’ve noticed a bit of oil on my face after 7/8 hours of wearing makeup and it is the weirdest thing! If you watched Jacquline Hill’s skincare routine, I experienced a similar thing to her - excitement over a little bit of oil because if your skin is producing oil it’ll stay supple for longer than dry skin types. I originally bought this because I had read on a couple of blogs that it’s great for hydrating the skin and dealing with uneven skintone. Firstly I started applying this around the mouth, but gradually I phased out my night cream which wasn’t doing much, and patted this all over my drier cheek areas too. My skin feels super soft and actually hydrated after continued use. I use a cleansing milk in the morning to wash my face because of the residue, but if you have dehydrated skin, sun-damaged skin or scaring, you need to try this oil! Either as your nightly moisturiser or mixed in with a cream. I also love the pipette that this bottle comes with, it makes controlling the amount of oil you dispense very easy.

The second oil I have talked about a couple of times on my blog, so I’ll try and keep this shorter, but if you’re a newbie here, let me introduce you to Sweet Almond Oil ($3.81). The ONLY thing that helps me with my dark circles. I’ve tried various eye creams, cucumbers, potatoes, just about every remedy that I could afford. Till I watched a Huda Beauty video in which she mentioned this and after around 6-weeks to 2 months I noticed the area get a lot lighter. This requires consistent use on a nightly basis and patience, but it really does brighten the area. Erase dark circles completely? No, but it does work in lightening and brightening the area enough to make me recommend it to everyone who has this problem!

Both the links I have listed will take you to iherb, my favourite site for natural products and makeup brushes too! If you want more details of my previous orders search ‘iherb’ on the right hand side. Also if it’s your first time ordering feel free to use my discount code LCD104 for a discount! ^_^

My final essential is a product that was kindly sent to me, the Sudocrem Skin Care Cream* (£1.99). This brand was well known in my house because the original cream is a must have for babies with nappy rashes. In-fact anyone who has skin rashes or irritation, a few weeks old or many years old, the original stuff in the tub worked well. We haven’t bought it for a while, so it was a bit of a blast from the past when I was sent this newer version. The first thing that I liked was that it is provided in a hygienic tube (over the tub) and secondly I noticed that there is no strong scent unlike the original.

This cream is created for soothing problem skin, be it spots, irritated skin, flakiness or dry patches. A tiny bit goes a long way, so this very affordable and travel friendly tube will last a decent amount of time. I believe they call this bang for your buck! Anyway enough with the gushing over a tube of cream, the question is why had this made it into my essentials list??

Because it really does help spots like no other! I’m talking about those obnoxious, red, sticking out spots that are painful and hard to cover up. I don’t know how those spots form and to be honest it’s not often that I get them, but as luck would have it(!), I did get one right next to my nose and after one application of this overnight, it was 90% healed! I was so shocked because I normally spent a good few days trying different masks and toothpaste to dry those spots up and eventually they go away on their own. But with this spot the swelling had gone down and it was dealt with in next to no time at all. Lets be honest, it's so cheap you wouldn't necessarily expect much (I'll admit I didn't). So to see it deal with my nasty spot so well...you'll understand why I'm so happy with it! It doesn’t work quite as well for standard (non obnoxious) spots as far as I can tell, but nonetheless I am thrilled to have a spot cream that actually works and costs all of two quid.


Those were all my essentials, products that I have used for a good amount of time and that have worked really well for me. I have to admit I’m chuffed that three out of the four are at an affordable price, don’t you just love picking up a bargain of a product which actually does what you want? ^_^

What are your bedside beauty essentials?

*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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Bedside Beauty Essentials

Hello lovely people, todays post is on my bedside beauty must haves - not the cleansing and toning, but the items I use on a daily basis just before I go to sleep. The two oils I have been using for months now and I have seen a real difference in my skin so I whole heartedly recommend them if you have the same sort of skin issues that I do..which I'll get into later.

Review | Kiss GelFantasy Ready To Wear Gel Nails

Hello everyone! Today I am going to review these Kiss GelFantasy Ready To Wear Gel Nails* which are part of Kiss’s x-mas range, to add some easy sparkle into your festive beauty routine! I have tried stick on nails before, you can read that review here and those were not the gel type. So I was interested to see how these would look on. I believe Kiss is quite a prominent American drugstore brand, but from what I know you can find selected products from their range in Boots, ASDA and Tesco stores.

 When the box arrived I was quite surprised to see that there was glitter on each nail, I expected it to be a feature on the accent nail and maybe a little on the thumb nail but these are really aimed for the holiday party season! In the box you get 24 nails, a little tube of nail glue, a nail file, gel stickers, cuticle pusher and instructions in several different languages. Needless to say I was impressed with the amount of materials supplied to attach these gel nails, great for the price!

 I went through the selection of nails and picked the ones that were the best match for my hands. Like the other nail kit, I feel like this has excluded those with small hands because a lot of the nails were on a large size. I opted for using the nail sticky pads over the glue, as I wasn’t sure how long I would wear these for and the pads seemed easier to remove.

 As you can see it is easy to pick a sticky pad closest to the size of your fingernail, though for my middle finger the sticky pad was a tad too large, but that’s the only one I had a slight issue with. Once you’ve peeling off the film from the pad you simple press the nail down and hold for at least 10 seconds and it feels secure.

I have never had french manicure stick-ons before, but I was surprised to see how long the white part was, which did put me off a little!  I thought there should have been more of the nail colour and less of the white colour. Especially as the picture on the box of the nails look shorter and a little more elegant. These are the nails freshly applied...what do you think? Perhaps I’m just not used to these kinds of nails?

 I spent a good 45 minutes filing them all down, which wasn’t too bad since I was catching up on my YouTube videos, but had I have been in a rush to get out the door I wouldn’t have been happy. I must say they look rather pretty in the above photo and longer nails are an effortless way of making my manish fingers looks more feminine! As to how the gel nails felt, obviously because of the sticky pads they were lifted a little on the fingers and at first I didn’t mind this. I took a couple of pictures and then went about my daily errands. It took 20 minutes before that middle finger, which had the pad that was a little too big, started loosening up. I tried to push it down and continue but it wasn’t having it. Unfortunately I did have work later and I didn’t have time to use the glue to reattach it. So I took them off, which made me cry a little inside given the amount of time it took to file them down!

Overall Rating

Rating: 6.5

Pros: The nails are easy to apply and you get two different methods of putting them on. The sizes should fit 70% of people. You can file them down to your preferred length. The glitter is perfect for the festive season but not so over the top that you couldn’t wear this mani to work. These are very affordable gel type of nails and are fun to wear for a special occasion. I also love how longer nails make my fingers appear more slim and elegant...I just wish it would take less effort (filing) to get them this way!

Cons: The sizes aren’t suitable for everyone, the length of the nail is a little too long, they gel sticky pad although easy to attach made the nails a little uncomfortable. Also as the size wasn’t perfect on the middle finger it came off too quickly. If you’re used to gel nails definitely check these out! However if you’re a newbie to stick on nails, try a set from a regular line rather than gel.

Repurchase? No not this particular set. However the other sets in this holiday kit look much more up my street as they are more of a regular shape.

Have you tried Gel stick on nails? What are your thoughts?

*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 | Kiss GelFantasy Ready To Wear Gel Nails

Hello everyone! Today I am going to review these Kiss GelFantasy Ready To Wear Gel Nails* which are part of Kiss’s x-mas range, to add some easy sparkle into your festive beauty routine! I have tried stick on nails before, you can read that review here and those were not the gel type. So I was interested to see how these would look on. I believe Kiss is quite a prominent American drugstore brand, but from what I know you can find selected products from their range in Boots, ASDA and Tesco stores.

LOTW | Rimmel Lasting Finish by Kate Lipstick in 04

Hello everyone! I cannot believe its been a whole week since my last post, I apologise! The amount of hours I took on at work, combined with a deadline last week just proved too much and I had to put my blog on the backburner whilst I dealt with it all. I just wanted to say a HUGE thankyou to ALL of you for helping me reach 1000 bloglovin’ followers! I am so incredibly happy with this milestone and I can’t wait to post my TWO giveaways (to mark two years of blogging also!) very soon.

So this weeks lipstick, as I mentioned on Instagram, was one of the most challenging ones to work with and I have to be very honest here...I didn’t do a great job at sticking to it. The Rimmel Lasting Finish By Kate Lipstick in 04 is by far the darkest, deepest, most vampy lipstick in my collection. I bought this a good while ago from FragranceDirect for around £2 and apart from the odd vampy moment in my room it hasn’t has a lot of use.

Price: £2-£5.99

Colour: A very deep purple shade, so deep that it could look black from a distance. Its the type of shade that really made me feel like I need a nose ring and a permanent scowl on my face. Smiling with this type of vampy shade just didn’t quite look right!

Formula and Lasting time: I really like the formula of the Rimmel lasting finish lipsticks, they’re comfortable and creamy enough to stay put for about 3.5-4 hours and they glide onto the lips with ease. It only takes two swipes for the colour to look complete opaque and its refreshing to see there is no patchiness with such a deep lip colour.

L-R: Topshop lip liner in Girl Bye, Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick in 04, NARS VMLP Bahama with 04 patted over top

Favourite Way To Wear It: Like I said I found this far too intense to wear full on for day-to-day. Whilst I secretly loved wearing it at my desk, feeling like a super cool and  ~vampy~  I couldn’t bring myself to wear it alone when I left the house. If this type of deep purple colour is your cup of tea though, I recommend checking out the Topshop Lip Liner in ‘Girl Bye’ which has a burgundy undertone, but is very close to the dark purple shade. Determined to try and give it a go I found that my favourite way of wearing it is lightly dabbed onto of the NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Bahama (review) which still gets the purple vibe across but is a lot less intense! I do like that it can be worn as a stain as it is so pigmented!

Overall: 04 is a SUPER vampy lipstick that is not for the faint hearted. It is by far the deepest lipstick shade that I have seen on the British highstreet, so if you’re looking for an affordable vampy lipstick then this is a pretty good option! Due to the creamy formula a lipliner is highly recommended. It is very comfortable, just too dark for me!

Available from: I can’t find it online, but check out Boots and Superdrugs.

Rating: 6 (only because of the colour!)

Repurchase? No. I’ll probably be offering it to friends or chucking it out because realistically I won’t get enough use out of it to justify keeping it in my stash.

P.S If you would like to read my Rimmel lip liner collection then click HERE, I had the pleasure of guest posting on the amazing Jasmine’s blog and I’ve included swatches! ^_^

Have you tried the Rimmel lasting finish lipsticks? Which is your favourite?

Thank-you for reading ♥

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LOTW | Rimmel Lasting Finish by Kate Lipstick in 04

Hello everyone! I cannot believe its been a whole week since my last post, I apologise! The amount of hours I took on at work, combined with a deadline last week just proved too much and I had to put my blog on the backburner whilst I dealt with it all. I just wanted to say a HUGE thankyou to ALL of you for helping me reach 1000 bloglovin’ followers! I am so incredibly happy with this milestone and I can’t wait to post my TWO giveaways (to mark two years of blogging also!) very soon.

So this weeks lipstick, as I mentioned on Instagram, was one of the most challenging ones to work with and I have to be very honest here...I didn’t do a great job at sticking to it. The Rimmel Lasting Finish By Kate Lipstick in 04 is by far the darkest, deepest, most vampy lipstick in my collection. I bought this a good while ago from FragranceDirect for around £2 and apart from the odd vampy moment in my room it hasn’t has a lot of use.

Price: £2-£5.99

LOTW | Stila Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick in Baci

Hello hello! We meet again for my fourth lipstick of the week and I am writing this SO late. It has been a super tiring week, I feel like I’ve got a lot done but at the same time I have so much to do in a short amount of time..anyways let me stop rambling and get into this! I was very kindly gifted the Stila Eternal Love Liquid Lipstick Set from MyBeautyFix2015 on IG here and I was super excited because I have never tried any of the Stila liquid lippies but I’ve heard a lot of good things. As the gift arrived this Monday I simply couldn’t resist trying out one of the shades (I’ll have a review up of the whole set at some point too). So this weeks LOTW was Stila’s Liquid Lipstick in Baci* which is a brand new shade!

Price: You can only get this as part of the eternal love set which costs £20 from MyBeautyFix2015.

Colour: It is a pink/lilac mixed with mauve when first applied, but the weird thing is around an hour later it seems to get a good deal darker? ._. When I swatched it on my hand it reminded me a lot of the liquid lipstick in Stone which I had seen numerous times all over YouTube! For me the colour alone is way too light, I find that it washes me out and also makes my teeth look yellow D: So as much as I tried to wear this by itself I just couldn’t. However all was (and is) not lost, because the gorgeous formula of this meant that I could mix it up with a couple of lipliners and still keep the whole nude theme but adjust it to a colour which worked for me. I think this colour will only really look great on those of you with fair skin, however it works well as a long lasting base.

Formula and Lasting time: The formula is lovely, I see why so many people love these liquid lipsticks. It applies as a liquid and dries comfortably to an almost creamy matte finish. It doesn’t dry out the lips but it does kind of show horrid dry bits if you were silly enough to put on a liquid lipstick without prepping first (like me on monday - excitement does such things). I love how I can hardly feel it on my lips and its transfer proof too. I’ve only worn it with lipliner either just lining the lips, lipliner OVER this, or over the top of my lips when filled in with a lipliner (if that makes sense??). So lasting time has been a decent 5.5hours before I experienced a little fading and a full 7 hours before I realised I really needed to reapply.

Favourite Way To Wear It: I have quite a few favourite ways because the formula is pretty forgiving, so layering a lip pencil over the top works really well! I’ve shown you all how easy it is to switch up the colours above. The middle swatch is Baci alone and on the right hand side the Rimmel 1000 kisses lip liner in Tiramisu alone and next to that is Baci swatched and Tiramisu applied on top. On the left is Rimmel 1000 kisses lip liner in Spice and again Baci with spice over the top. So as you can see it is super versatile which I wasn’t expecting. I apply the liquid lipstick and leave it for about 40 seconds before going over the top with a liner. I then go around the lips with the same liner, or even a slightly deeper one and voila a lovely nudish liquid lipstick!

Overall: I am so grateful to be gifted this set! Although first impressions of the shade were not good, but I’m pretty stoked that its so easy to mix it up and still get an opaque and long-lasting lip. I find the applicator (doe foot) to be good for applying, not too messy. Although having said that you should make sure you wipe the wand carefully before taking it out of the tube as excess product DOES make things a little tricky. I do really like the formula of these and I think the size of these minis are brilliant. Perfect for really getting a feel of the shade AND formula. When I start buying makeup again in May I already have one or two on my wishlist ^_^

Available from: The link above!

Rating: 8

Repurchase? I’m in two minds... I can really achieve some beautiful custom liquid lipstick colours with it AND its not too much effort either...but we shall see because there’s a couple of other shades that I’m interested in too.

Have you tried any of the Stila Liquid Lipsticks?

*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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