Review | MUA Blusher ‘bonbon’

Hello!

I’m sure many of you have heard of MUA’s Blusher range, and maybe some of you may have been uncertain on whether it’s worth buying such a cheap product, like I was too. A few months ago I picked up this shade (one from their newest range) partly because the name was so adorable bonbon and partly because I was curious as to if they’re any good and I loved it so much I went ahead and added candyfloss and cupcake to my collection too!

The packaging is a simple rectangular plastic pan, with a clear lid ideal for storage to pick the right colour out straight away, but certainly nothing special. ‘MUA’ is imprinted into the blush itself, and it has a small clip like contraption (you can see the hole bit) to keep it secure which makes popping one of these in your makeup bag that little bit easier as the chance of it opening and smoshing against everything else is a lot less (TAKES A DEEP BREATH) The cost is £1 and there are 12 shades in the range (six new ones for 2013) which I think is phenomenal for a drugstore brand! There must be a colour for every single skin tone out there and at one pound a pop and 2.4g of product, they’re more than affordable.

The colour bon bon is actually darker looking in the pan that the photo has shown, and with just one sweep of your brush you have more than enough for both cheeks and a third if you’re not careful! (read – VERY PIGMENTED) I find this easiest to apply with a fluffy brush, concentrating the first sweepmid cheek rather than on the apples of my cheeks because the colour can look too intense too quickly! It’s a lovely middlish pink colour, and a nice change from the more peachy tones that I tend to favour. WHICH is another reason why these are brilliant, if you want to invest in a high-end blush but aren’t sure about the tone why not pick up the closest swatch are try it out?

As you can see they are easy to build up, but look beautiful blended out. The lasting power is great, I’m not one to carry around makeup for touch-ups (other than lip stuff of course) but these last nicely! So to conclude (....you can tell I’ve not written a blog post for a whole week – damn you swollen eyelids) these are perfect for anyone on a budget, the shade range is brilliant, as is the pigmentation and they are well worth your pennies! If I ever want to pick up a MAC blusher (I own none as of yet) then I’ll certainly try to find a shade from the MUA collection that matches and test it out first :) Though I’ve not tried the much loved essence blushers these are reminiscent of those at an equally bargainlicious price – chaching!

Pros:                                                                                              

• huge shade selection                                                                  
• brilliant/unbeatable price!
• soft powder
• fantastic pigmentation

Cons:

• cheap packaging that isn’t spectacular (but it does the job so this is a bit of an unfair con)
• can be easy to over apply this particular shade if heavy handed

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE DRUGSTORE BLUSHERS?

Review | MUA Blusher ‘bonbon’

Hello!

The Autumn Tag!

 




I wasn’t tagged by anyone, but I've seen a few of these floating around the blogosphere and thought it looked fun so here goes ^_^

1. Favourite thing about Autumn?
Being able to layer up again! I love wearing layers and truthfully do all year round other than those sweltering hot summer days, but this is the season of getting back into cosy dressing – just the way I like it! I also love switching up my makeup, 95% of the time I don’t bother with mascara in the spring/summer simply because it’s a bit of a faff, but I love coating my lashes and thickening my top liner slightly in this season..its not even a conscious switch I just find myself more drawn to particular looks?! Oh and FINALLY (I'm such a cheat I know) its AUTUMN COLOURS, khaki and maroon/burgundy are my absolute favourites and I tend to stick to them often with gold jewellery, gah what is not to love?!


2. Favourite drink?
Vanilla latte with lots of sugar. Or a good old cup of tea, strong and sweet with two sugars – nom!


3. Favourite scent/candle?
When my sense of smell isn’t playing up generally I love sweet smelling candles (the cupcake ones from Primark were my absolute favourite of all time ever. But anything warm and cosy really, I tend to steer away from lemon/lime and refreshing scents they just don’t feel right!


4. Best lipstick?
In all honesty I’m still not much of a lippie person, but I really want to have the guts to wear MUA’s shade in ‘1’ its the perfect dark berry/red shade for the colder months! I guess what I’ve been opting for most days are my nudes and apocalips (posts coming up my favourites soon!)


5. Go to moisturiser?
Still my all time favourite ‘Oilatum Natural repair face cream’ it works wonders for normal/dry skin and is a beautiful base from a non-primer kinda gal like me.


6. Go to colours for the eyes?
The neutral Smokey eye that consists of browns and of course gold's! I love me some gold’s which is why having an amazing fashionista palette full of them is going to come in very handy!


7. Favourite music or band/singer to listen to?
I've kind of gone off of music as of late. I listen to whatever is on my phone during my long commutes, but that's the only time I bother with it these days. For anyone curious I’ve been loving J.Cole and know most of the words for most of his songs by now heh

8. Favourite outfit to wear (i.e. boots & a scarf combo)?
Dark maxi skirt, layered tops, cosy jacket and a snood. If I'm in the mood for jeans then probs my boyf jeans from asos slightly rolled up, my blazers or black sneakers, a plain top and a cosy cardigan/slightly oversized jacket. I adore oversizedness!


9. Autumn treat?
Definitely been my new Zara coat! It’s the most expensive item in my wardrobe and my mum kindly offered to go splits on it as she saw how much I adored it :’) Generally I tend to buy a lot more cappuccinos/vanilla lattes and though these are oh-so-cosy they can get expensive! Trying to be a bit more savvy with buying hot drinks (starting from..tomorrow)


10. Favourite place to be?
Either in a cosy costa sitting on a big squashy sofa with a friend, or wrapped up in my blanket on my laptop, reading blogs and watching YT (so exciting I know!!!)

I TAG ALL OF YOU GUYS cos yey autumn! ^_^

The Autumn Tag!

 

Review | Laura Geller Blush ‘n’ Brighten–Berry

Today I am going to talk about one of the most beautiful blushes I’ve ever seen…Laura Geller’s whole Blush’n’Brighten range is absolutely stunning and yes whilst this post IS photo heavy, I have no regrets because it would simply be rude to not share these beauties (eye candy galore)

There is just something so gorgeous about marble products isn’t there?! Now although I don’t own any MAC mineralise skin finishes yet, the packaging and general beauty of these very much reminded me of them. However when swatched together the LG blush had a lot more pigmentation than the MSF suggesting these are more suited for use as BLUSHERS AND HIGHLIGHTERS rather than just skinfinishes.



Sadly I do not own this blush (get your violins out, it’s really a tragic fact). It was lent to me by my lovely auntie, however my mum also owns one of two of these blushers so I have the chance to play with them now and again. For the basic details this pan holds 5g (although full sized are 9g with a brush I believe) The lid of the blush is half a mirror, half clear plastic. She hit two birds with one stone – you can easily see the shade but you also have a handy mirror should you need it when traveling! I believe there are two ranges of these blushers ‘sugar’ which are the shimmery (NOT glittery) ones and ‘non-sugar’ the matte kind.

In terms of availability I know my auntie purchased it from QVC and I think the range changes there all the time so it’s worth keeping an eye on that site, I also know my friend’s mum buys a lot of her range from e-bay but I’m not sure if I have the guts to buy makeup myself from there so sorry to be of little help D: (I do know her range is widely available in the US though so another brand to add to my USA wishlist!)



In terms of application, the product picks up on the brush very easily and applies beautifully. When first opening this I expected it to be VERY shimmery on the skin, but much to my delight it is a lot more subtle than expected. The shade berry is perfect for autumn! but thats a total given right?! The gorgeous traces of gold amongst the pinks and plums blend together to create a classy, sophisticated shade which just screams cosy jumpers and leather boots.



I can never align my swatches right urgh ._. So on the left we have the swatch without flash, it’s probably the more accurate view of this blusher, as you can see a slight berry colour which would no doubt compliment any skin tone and also not be too harsh for the paler tones (as some plum shades can be). On the right is the shade with flash and it looks equally as stunning, needless to say highlighting is unnecessary with this as the subtle gold tone does the job just fine. I think it’s such a gorgeous shade mainly because, in the colder months our skin lack that warmth and the skin can sometimes look dull/dry – this is the perfect product to bring some life back into it.

In short I think for the price (around £18 for a full sized product) these are of course pricier than drugstore but they are well worth it. The colour is long lasting and because they are baked blushes its a mixture of colours rather than one flat colour – making it look more special (and sometimes more natural).

I’ll be sure to look out for some holiday giftsets to see if I can get one or two of these in my collection! What are your favourite baked products?

Review | Laura Geller Blush ‘n’ Brighten–Berry