Bronzing on a Budget | E.L.F Warm Bronzer

The second bronzer in my series is one of my all time favourite makeup products of ALL TIME. Again when swatched in the pan it looks nothing like how it appears on the skin...I’m beginning to see a theme here...you shouldn’t judge a bronzer till you’ve applied it on your face! It is made up of four shades, a light brown and a cool dark brown, a highlight and a pink blush shade and on the back of the paper packaging it claims to ‘Create a healthy looking tan’ which I am pleased to report it does very well!

My skintone is around NC30-35 and this bronzer, although it is more of a sheen finish (not shimmery at all, but no where near matte) gives the most beautiful natural warmth to the face. The pigmentation of this product is just right, not overly pigmented nor so light that you have to keep putting the brush into the pan to get it to show on your skin. I find that I can get an even application with my large Real Techniques powder brush, and I love the fact that its not chalky!

Personally I wouldn’t use the brown shades for contouring due to the sheen finish (which helps make it look like a healthy glow!) but you could use the pink shade as a blush, and the yellow shade as a highlighter. Its a stunning illuminating almost brightening shade (due to the yellow tone) and looks beautiful on the bridge of the nose and the tops of the cheekbones. It also makes a nice change from the pink toned highlighters that you usually find in drugstore highlighters.

Longevity wise I find this lasts me a good 8 hours at least which is fantastic! I think my favourite thing about this bronzer is how naturally it warms up the face because of its stunning finish. It is easily built up, and if I am using a lighter shade of CC cream, I swirl my powder blush around the four shades, do the 3 motion on both cheeks and then brush a little over my forehead and nose too. When I’m in a rush I love using this as the only powder product of the day, as it works as a blush/bronzer in one.

When swatched on my hand I was surprised to find how different this looked compared to how it transfers on my cheeks! Not sure if that is because of the brush, or because I am using all four shades as once but whatever it is - it works a dream! Personally the only way I like to use this is with a large powder brush with medium density.

I think this bronzer is perfect for light-medium skintones with warm undertones, and you can buy the bronzer in cool and golden too depending on your skintone :)

Bronzer Roundup!

Orange or Red?

This is definitely not on the orange side because it adds such a warmth, I would say that its ever so slightly on the red side.

Pigmented?

Honestly this is the perfect amount of pigmentation provided you use a medium density brush. I love the fact that its impossible to get a streaky look.

Matte or Shimmer?

More of a sheen finish than anything, and it really gives that perfect holiday glow for me. If I'm looking peaky and pale this is the first thing I turn to, as it adds a gorgeous sunkissed glow to my skin.

Buy Again?

As soon as I hit pan on this, I am buying it again! For me this is the most beautiful all over the face bronzer I have tried that provides that healthy glow. I understand why people may prefer matte for the face, but I like to stick to cool toned mattes for contouring which gives a shadow look and warm toned slightly sheeny bronzers to add colour to the face.

Thanks for reading!

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Bronzing on a Budget | E.L.F Warm Bronzer

The second bronzer in my series is one of my all time favourite makeup products of ALL TIME. Again when swatched in the pan it looks nothing like how it appears on the skin...I’m beginning to see a theme here...you shouldn’t judge a bronzer till you’ve applied it on your face! It is made up of four shades, a light brown and a cool dark brown, a highlight and a pink blush shade and on the back of the paper packaging it claims to ‘Create a healthy looking tan’ which I am pleased to report it does very well!

Haul | Essence Cosmetics!

Hello! I have upset my bank account so many times in the last month, I don’t even want to use the ‘H’ word anymore, but it is pretty exciting to share with you all! Last week we went to Wilko, a store I’ve literally never been into before. Its 15/20 minutes away from where we live depending on traffic, and we have a larger shopping centre much closer so we don’t tend to go to that area much, but as soon as I saw the large Essence sign and the 3 for 2 I knew it was fate! Don’t worry if you don’t live near a wilko though, I have linked each product to their site so you can order online if you feel like it!

Essence is a fairly well known makeup brand world wide. They don’t test on animals and as far as I know have no affiliation with Zionism! Their product prices are VERY affordable, and even though I bought 9 items (to get a real feel for of the brand) with the 3 for 2 offer my total came up to £15 which is incredible value for money!

no flash | flash

TOP: I <3 stage E/S Primer

MIDDLE: Stay Natural concealer 04 honey

BOTTOM: Stay All Day 16hr

So starting off with the face products, I decided to buy two of their concealers. The Stay All Day 16 hr long lasting concealer in the shade 10 natural beige. The first reason I was drawn to this was because the 16hr claim reminded me of Collection’s lasting perfection which is my all time favourite but also when I swatched this I was taken aback as to how light but NOT PINK it was! Its definitely more neutral than yellow, but it looks like it can be fantastic for highlighting and reminded me a tiny bit of MAC’s prep-and-prime in light boost which I would love to find an ETHICAL dupe for! Unfortunately it’s not as yellow as that but so far its done a decent job of brightening. I’ll report back with a full review soon! The second concealer I picked up was one of those brush types, the Stay Natural concealer in 04 soft honey (£2). I have yet to try this but I’m hoping its a good replacement to my Maybelline version of this. Finally I couldn’t resist picking up another eyeshadow base in I heart stage in a small lipgloss style packaging and to be honest the shade of this interested me - it look like a brilliant corrector shade! Its worth a shot right? Plus it could stop creasing under the eyes. If you’ve tried any of these I’d love to hear your thoughts ^_^

Moving on to the eyes, I did linger over the single shadows but remembering how my muji drawer is full to the brim of single pots that I’m trying to use up, I skipped those and instead checked out the eyeshadow sticks. Ever since I purchased my NYX Jumbo pencil in Milk I’ve loved the ease of using these sticks! I was most drawn to two shades from the Essence Stays No Matter What eyepencil and shadow (these are chunkier than the eyeliner ones even though they have the same name #imconfusedtoo) because it was literally love at first swatch, gah just look at them! 05 Cute Copper is a stunning shade for all over the lid with a touch of mascara and you’re good to go. The texture and finish make these suitable for use during the day and for nightime looks. Much to my delight they work PHENOMENALLY as eyeshadow bases, both intensifying the pigment and making the shadow last longer!

08 Chocolate Brownie is less metallic/fancy, but just as creamy and the two of them make a beautiful quick and simple Smokey eye without the need of brushes (they blend well with fingers!)These two colours in particular compliment brown eyes BEAUTIFULLY. I really wish I had picked up more shades now... I probably will next time I’m there because 3 of these for £5 is a real bargain!

Moving onto the Cheeks, after hearing and seeing so much about these Essence Silky Touch Blush from the gorgeous blog run by Vanessa (srsly you HAVE TO CHECK OUT HER BLOG, BEST PHOTOGRAPHY EVA and here is the review for the blushers from her lovely self) and seeing the price was only £2.50! I picked up two 10 Adorable and 50 Sweetheart. Although they both look quite similar, on the cheeks they do appear different and these look great for want a gentle wash of colour on the cheeks.

The only things I bought for lips are these XXXL Longlasting lipglosses in MATT effect. The reason why I purchased these was the promise of a matt look because I don’t tend to go for lipglosses anymore! The shade 06 Soft Nude is my favourite already, a gorgeous classy brown nude. 05 Velvet Rose is more of a barbie pink and I would only wear this shade mixed with soft nude because I just don’t like that colour against my skintone! The finish is velvety and although it does dry down, it feels a tad odd for the first few minutes when first applied.

And that is my 9 item haul from essence! As you can tell I have A LOT to be experimenting with for the time being, but I’m already very impressed with the things I have been trying, especially for their price!

Is there anything else from the brand that you would recommend?

Thanks for reading!

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Haul | Essence Cosmetics!

Hello! I have upset my bank account so many times in the last month, I don’t even want to use the ‘H’ word anymore, but it is pretty exciting to share with you all! Last week we went to Wilko, a store I’ve literally never been into before. Its 15/20 minutes away from where we live depending on traffic, and we have a larger shopping centre much closer so we don’t tend to go to that area much, but as soon as I saw the large Essence sign and the 3 for 2 I knew it was fate! Don’t worry if you don’t live near a wilko though, I have linked each product to their site so you can order online if you feel like it!

Bronzing on a Budget | Rimmel Natural Bronzer 021 Sun Light

Hi ladies! Looking through my stash, I have accumulated....lets be honest here....a LOT of everything over the past year! But one part of my makeup wardrobe, that has been silently growing, almost unnoticed by me, has been my bronzer draw! I thought I’d start a mini series on my blog, called ‘bronzing on a budget’ because although I have now dabbled into high-end bronzers (and I love em!) I have so many good drugstore ones that I’d love to share with you all ^_^

 

I think I should start by addressing my skintone. I am quite pale normally and whenever it comes to picking a foundation shade I like to go one up. I just like the healthier, warmer skintone (plus it matches the colour of my hands better too!) Because I wear a hijab and my neck is covered I find it VERY easy to switch shades on the daily if I feel like it. However sometimes my bases are just too pale and I feel like I need some more warmth and life in my face; enter bronzers!   If you’ve never ventured near them because you’re scared of that orange look then perhaps I can help you find a bronzer and a brush (that’s just as important!) to suit you.

Bronzer is easy to over-do, and there are so many shades out there (because look at how many beautiful skintones exist too!) so it’s worth doing a bit of research before purchasing any bronzer in my opinion, highend or otherwise. The thing with blush is you can more or less make any shade work with your skintone, but bronzer can be a little easier to get wrong.

This is why I love the Rimmel Natural Bronzer. It was actually the FIRST ever face powder I bought back when I was 14 and although I forgot about it for a good few years, purchasing it again at 19 bought back good memories! The reason why I bought it at the time was because when I swatched all the cheaper drugstore powders they all looked way too chalky and pale for me, but this felt light-weight and I was interested in seeing if I could bronze too, despite not being white. (Oh Iqra how far you have come with your bronzer knowledge haha)

Its cased in your typical drugstore plasticness, and the sun design on it is a nice little touch. On the packaging it claims that it is a ‘waterproof bronzer’ with ‘SPF 15’ which is promising for the summer months!

If I had never tried this before, and then I swatched it in boots I wouldn’t have it in my possession. Because when swatched on my hand it appears quite orange which is what most people back away from! However when applied with a large fluffy brush (I quite like the ELF Complexion one) at the temples, along the cheekbones and around the jawline it effortlessly warms up the face without looks blotchy or like you’ve stuck your face in a bowl of wotsits.

Its very buildable and a little bit will give you a slight wamrth but you can add more for that real sunkissed look. I didn’t actually realise you could get different shades of this till I looked at the back! If I didn’t own so many bronzers already I would probably be temped to by 22 as well!

Anyway my favourite thing about this bronzer is how well it warms up your base if its too light for you because you have tanned a little! For £5.99 you can’t go wrong with this one. Personally I couldn’t contour with this and I think for those of you who are VERY fair it would look orangish, but if you are NC20-NC40ish I would recommend this as a lovely natural bronze. I could get away with using concealer over redness and darkcircles, and then this bronzer in the 3 motion and my skin would look super healthy and put together ^_^

If you’re looking for a bronzer which will give you a natural non-blotchy warmth to your skin, this could be the answer!

 

Bronzer Roundup!

Orange or Red?

slightly more on the orange spectrum.

Pigmented?

Pigmented enough that you can warm the face up a LITTLE with one sweep, but not over the top so your face looks blotchy and fake-tan-gone-wrong-ified.

Matte or Shimmer?

This sits on the matte/glowing look I would say, its not a flat matte and personally not a powder I would use for contouring due to its slight orange tones, but the glowyness is probably what gives the illusion of a sunkissed healthy look!

Buy Again?

Yes I would buy it again! It says what it does on the tin, gives a natural bronze and the price is brilliant value.

 

Do you own this? What do you think of it? ^_^

Thanks for reading!

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Bronzing on a Budget | Rimmel Natural Bronzer 021 Sun Light

Hi ladies! Looking through my stash, I have accumulated....lets be honest here....a LOT of everything over the past year! But one part of my makeup wardrobe, that has been silently growing, almost unnoticed by me, has been my bronzer draw! I thought I’d start a mini series on my blog, called ‘bronzing on a budget’ because although I have now dabbled into high-end bronzers (and I love em!) I have so many good drugstore ones that I’d love to share with you all ^_^

Review | Makeup Revolution Lipsticks in Treat, The One, Chic and Divine

Hello everybody, apologies for the lack of posts. A mixture between Ramadan lathargic-ness and feeling very deflated by the ongoing genocide in Palestine really hasn’t inspired me to blog. Anyway more on that in the update post.

Makeup Revolution is the new MUA brand of the internet. Its been raved about by so many beauty bloggers, around a month ago I couldn’t resist picking a few bits up myself! Instead of doing a haul, I’m just going to be posting reviews as and when I’m ready. I will say though that I’m not super happy with my swatches, and will try and rustle something up on the instagram to show you clearer swatches later on!

So starting with the packaging, you get what you pay for - you’re spending £1 so expect a lippie that could open in your bag, and isn’t the most sturdiest. They do the job however and for the price I really can’t complain. They do look very similar to MUA’s lipsticks, BUT I don’t think you can open the transparent part on the lid (please let me know if you can I’ve been trying so hard haha.) I do like the rose gold font however! It shows that the brand is on trend ^_^

The One- The palest colour lipstick in my whole collection, this will definitely give anyone with a warm skin-tone an ill look, however it is perfect for lightening-up any shade so I will be getting my moneys worth from this one! The texture is soft, and pretty pigmented, although it does have the tendency to sit in the fine lines on my lips, so again used alone this wouldn’t be the most flattering shade!

Treat - My favourite of the bunch! This is a gorgeous my lips but better shade MIXED with a touch of brown. Upon first application I instantly thought of the famous Kylie Jenner look just not matte! On reflection i wouldn’t say that this is the PERFECT shade if you’re going for her exact look, but the touch of brown adds a classy 90’s edge to any look and I honestly have had nothing else on my lips since I bought it! The formula again is fabulous, very moisturising and after 2 hours its still there as more of a stain which I quite like too! This is the only shade that I will be repurchasing in the future :)

Devine - The only matte lipstick I picked up, and I’m glad I didn’t venture into other shades. The formula is the standard drugstore matte type, a little difficult to apply and you do have to tug on the lips. The colour is quite a bright/loud coral and not as similar to the one in the bottom of the packaging! But annoyances aside this is a ok matte lippie, one I’ll probably try and mix with another shade to subdue it a little, but still wearable..just about.

Chic - This one I was the least prepared for because it has bit of glitter in it! NEVER something I go for ever (I mean maybe for a fancy dress?!) I prefer glitter on my eyelids for a special occasion, and so I wasn’t massively impressed with Chic. Having said that they aren’t as noticeable on the lips, and the colour itself is a nice neutral pink, but if you were having a conversation with someone face to face they probably WOULD notice the specs of glitter...at least the formula is fab!

So all in all fairly hit and miss I would say! But for £1 a lipstick, I have enjoyed my first introduction to Makeup Revolution’s lipstick selection, and if you head on over to their website you’ll discover they have an amazzzzzing range of colours to choose from! (Even blues and yellows!)

Have you tried any of these Lipsticks? Any shades you would recommend?

Thanks for reading!

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Review | Makeup Revolution Lipsticks in Treat, The One, Chic and Divine

Hello everybody, apologies for the lack of posts. A mixture between Ramadan lathargic-ness and feeling very deflated by the ongoing genocide in Palestine really hasn’t inspired me to blog. Anyway more on that in the update post.

Makeup Revolution is the new MUA brand of the internet. Its been raved about by so many beauty bloggers, around a month ago I couldn’t resist picking a few bits up myself! Instead of doing a haul, I’m just going to be posting reviews as and when I’m ready. I will say though that I’m not super happy with my swatches, and will try and rustle something up on the instagram to show you clearer swatches later on!