Review: Essie Nail Polish

Shade: Tarte Deco

 

Essie nail varnish's have been in Boots stores for a few months now which is where I came across them, and I am a total Essie convert!

The Essie range has the most fantastic colour range (especially in nude shades) and the shades are such in that there is only a slight difference between each shade as you go up the colour spectrum so you can spend ages deciding between two nude shades that there is only a slight difference in colour between (this is speaking from experience as my husband got very frustrated me standing for ages in Boots uhming and ahhing over prospective shades). I now have a few of the Essie shades with an eye for purchasing more, but this review is for this gorgeous bright coral/orange shade which is called Tarte Deco (such a fantastic name!!!).

First off the brush on the nail varnish has to be the best brush for applying varnish as it is wide and flat and you only need two strokes (if that) and your nail is covered! The colours tend to only need a couple of coats for them to go opaque and they are fast drying, this colour in particular I did two/three coats on to get the desired opaque look and it dried in a couple of minutes after the last coat. I am also quite impressed with how the colours last on the nails (more so the nude shades), they aren't as great as say Nails Inc but they do have good staying power which is good, however I always find you want to change your nails after a couple of days anyway so it doesn't really matter that much on staying power unless a varnish chips straight away! Like I said Tarte Deco is a fantastic coral/orange colour which is a perfect shade for summer or in winter would be fantastic on the toes to add a bit of brightness to those dark nights! I would definitely recommend the Essie polishes for fun colours and great application and will be bringing some other reviews on their shade shortly.

Review: Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation

Shade: Ivory 01

First off I have to say I rarely buy Rimmel foundations basically because the lightest shade that they do, ivory, is a bit too dark for me (crazy I know!) and therefore look a wierd orange colour on my skin which is not a good look! However when I got back from Honeymoon and my tan started to fade a little bit I needed a foundation that would suit my skin tone and had heard fantastic things about this Wake Me Up Foundation that I thought I would give it a whirl, the verdict is in and I absolutely love it!!!

I have been using this basically every day since coming back from Honeymoon as I still am not completley back to my normal pale self and even if I was this foundation would suit my skin tone which is a big bonus for me, wierd I know as normally it wouldn't be! I have featured it in a couple of my monthly favourites videos on my Youtube channel @SBSparkledust as well so do check them out :-).

Anyway back to the review, this foundation blends fantastically and you don't need a lot of it, you can use either your fingers or a brush to blend it (I use mainly either a Real Techniques Stippling Brush or the Buffing Brush to blend), and it sits lovely on the skin. It has tiny sparkly bits in it (don't worrk it's not glitter so you won't loook like you've jumped out of a David Bowie/Ziggy Stardust video), these give you a lovely glow to the face which I personally love but can understand why some people may not! It is also very long lasting which in my book for a foundation is a major plus factor and for a drugstore foundation an even bigger plus factor as you don't normally get that with lower end foundations and sometimes not even with highend foundations.

All in all a fantastic foundation which I would recomend and will definitely be re-purchasing (which I hardly ever do)!

FASHION POST: Simple skinny chic

Top: Topshop

Jeans: Topshop Leigh Skinny Jeans

Shoes: Next

Bag: River Island

I thought I would branch my blog out a bit and dip into fashion and accessories so this is the start of my posts in that direction. My main focus for blog will always be on beauty as I love it too much but I love reading outfit of the day posts on other blogs and decided I would give it a whirl on here too as a little branch off away from beauty. A couple of my favourite fashion/beauty blogs to read are: Llymrs, Viviannadoesmakeup and PeonyLim. I think it's important to find your own way and style with blogging which I am getting used to as I am trying and testing bits out, but I do think I am getting there and the most important thing is I am really enjoying it!!

Anyway onto fashion, I think I have changed my style a lot of the years and when I was younger I don't think I necessarily had much style (sometimes very dodgy), and even now sometimes a couple of style misses occur but I think as I am getting older I am experimenting more and feel a lot more confident when it comes to wearing outfits.

My style at the moment I would say is quite basic, I like skinny jeans and basic t-shirts with flats, but you guys will see we go on :-).

Hope you guys like my outfit and I would love it if you left me a little comment :-)

x

Review: Topshop Nail Polish

Shade: Gone Fishing

Firstly I just love the packaging the the Topshop beauty products it's all spotty and Dalmatian like and just looks very adorable but not in a childlike way! Secondly I love this colour nail polish, it's a fantastic mint green colour which isn't too pastel like but is on the cusp of a pastel shade and looks fantastic on both fingers and toes. What I have found though with this is the nail polish is quite watery to begin with so you do need a couple of coats to get an opaque look, and the brush is quite thin and therefore not as fantastic to apply as say a Nails Inc nail polish.

I do however think that the Topshop nail polish range is fantastic and they have some fabulous colours which are very on trend and are not a bad price point at around £6, so definitely well worth a buy if you haven't already tried them out!

Review: Maybelline Colour Sensational Popsticks

Shade: Citrus Slice

This is one of those products that I saw advertised and thought oooh I have to try one of those, commence the endless search to find it, proceed to try it and then unfortunately becomes a bit of a disappointment!!??

To me this is a gimic product making a lipstick look like a popsicle or an old school push pop (do you remember those!!) and in principle it is a great idea, however with this shade in particular the pay off was not there for me. It is balm/lipstick with a nice shine to it and even though this shade of Citrus Slice is orange to look at, when swatching it on my hand in Boots it actually is a pink shade which was a bit of a "oooh that's interesting" which added to my excitement, however when you try it on the lips the colour pay off is just not there and although it gives a lovely balm/shine texture to the lips, the colour is a barely there pink. Now for some this may be great and don't get me wrong I do like it, but you can get a similar finish from a tinted pot of Vaseline and for the price (just over £7, I think about £7.19, odd number I know!!!) for me for the product was a bit much for what it does, so really the price point for me should be under £5. For the scent of this product it is lovely and does remind me again of push pop's with a mix of citrus and sweetie scents, but if you are not keen on scented products this would not be one to try.

All in all for me it was a slight let down colour wise and price but a nice texture on the lips, however I don't think I would re-purchase it.

Review: Revlon Lip Butters

Shades from left to right:
Creme Brulee - Neutral beige colour
Tutti Frutti - Orange
Sweet Tart - Bright pink
Berry Smoothie - Muted purple/pink

Swatch does not show the colours particularly well.

Hands down I love these lip products!!

I have never been a lipstick person and my lips tend to be something that I always overlook (perhaps because I was self conscious as they are quite large, the older I get though the more I embrace them), and when I did buy products they were more glosses than balms or lipsticks. Over the past couple of years I have started to change and have started buying more lipsticks and experimenting with different colours, and these lip butters are by far my favourite purchases (which is why I have 4 and I would like more of them!!).

These products are a cross between a lipstick and a lip balm, so if you like the colour payoff of a lipstick but the conditioning of a balm Revlon lip butters are the way forward! They are packaged well with the lid having a diamond pattern on them which I am a little OCD with putting them back on correctly :-), they feel fantastic to apply and very conditioning on your lips 9not drying at all) and the colour pigmentation is fantastic considering that they are balm based especially for the brighter colours such as Tutti Frutti and Sweet Tart!! The price is very reasonable as well as they cost £7.99 in Boots and with the offers that sometimes Boots have you may be able to pick them up cheaper.

I have also mentioned these in a couple of my youtube videos which you can find on my channel SBSparkledust

Overall I totally recomend these and are worth investing in whether you like a subtle neutral lip or prefer experimentation with bright colours!

*Star Product* :-)!!

Brush Review: Real Techniques

Blusher Brush

Stippling Brush

Shading Brush

I have really neglected my blogging recently so I thought it was time to get my backside into gear and get some posts done, starting with these fantastic Real techniques Brushes by Samantha Chapman of Pixiwoo! I can't express my love for these brushes too much they are just brilliant and I am desperate to get more of them!

The brushes are made with Taklon Bristles and therefore are 100% cruelty free and are the softest bristles on make-up brushes you will find, just absolutely lovely on your skin, and as they are synthetic absolutely perfect for applying cream products to your skin as well as powder products. The handles come in a colour coded system, bronze/gold for base products, purple for eye products and pink/red for finishing touches which I think is a great idea as it makes them easy to locate in your brush pot.

These brushes are available to buy online and you can find out more about them on the website and also Sam Chapman shows you how to create different looks using the brushes on the website as well which is brilliant if you are new to make-up brushes!

I bought my three brushes from Boots in the MetroCentre and got them as they were 3 for 2 which was an absolute bargain and for the 3 brushes it worked out at around £21 which I didn't think was bad. All brushes I have found fantastic for applying my make-up, the stippling brush gives an absolute flawless finish to your foundation and I have also used it for cream blush, while the blusher brush is perfect for either blusher or contouring, the shading brush is perfect for either concealer or eyeshadow and it has been perfect for applying my Chanel Emerville cream eyeshadow.

All in all fantastic products and I totally recommend them to anyone either starting out with brushes or someone who is wanting to expand their brush collection.

You can also check out my youtube channel at SBSparkleDust where I talk about these brushes in both a haul video and my April favourites :-)!