The perfect match?

Collection 2000 - Colour Match Foundation in Ivory 1

As I have stated in previous posts I do struggle to find foundations that match my skin tone, so when I saw this product I was interested to see if it does what it says i.e. match to your skin tone!

I don't buy Collection 2000 foundations mainly because their palest shade which is normally Ivory is just too dark for my skin tone which is really annoying. This product here is in Ivory so I thought it would again be too dark so resisted getting it at first, however as it is supposed to match to your skin tone I did a tester again and decided to give it a whirl, plus it was on offer for £5.99 in Boots so a bargain really.

I was relatively impressed by the skin tone match as it did match my skin tone quite well, the texture is quite thick and creamy and it does blend in well to the skin, I used my fingers to apply it for quickness really more than anything else. I do have to powder throughout the day to combat shine, but generally the foundation lasts well throughout the day which for a cheap foundation is really good. The bottle is glass and therefore gives it a more expensive feel for a drugstore product. If you want to see what I look like wearing this check out my Illamasqua fake eyelash post as this was the foundation I was wearing at the time!

If you are looking for an inexpensive foundation this is definitely the product to get and I would say is definitely one of the top drugstore foundations I have tried (and I have tried lots!).

Free goods :-)

No 17 - Peep Show Smokey Eye Palette

I'm off work today and tomorrow (tomorrow is my 30th Birthday :-)) so  thought I'd catch up on my blogging and get a few posts out so expect to see lots coming in the next day!

I got this lovely little eyeshadow palette free with a No 17 Peep Show Mascara (review to follow soon) from Boots. I hadn't realised it was free and had picked it up independently and then got to the checkout and the lady behind the till said it was a free gift with the mascara so as I am a mascara lover I got the mascara as well, killing two birds with one stone and all :-)!

This is a good palette for creating a smokey brown eye as you have a pink colour a mid brown and a dark brown, all of which are shimmery eyeshadows, then there is a matte charcoal grey colour which could be used along the lash line as a liner. I have only used the pink and brown colours as I'm personally not too keen on the grey colour. The colours are great and blend easily the only thing is they crease really quickly so say I apply my make-up at 7am on a morning for work, by about 11am they are creased, so not particularly long lasting for day wear but would be ok for say a night out. I do however think possibly with an eyelid primer they would last longer. I mean all in all it was a free gift with the mascara, and it's No 17 which is a cheap make-up brand so you can't complain too much about it not being too long lasting. If you love a bargain or free gifts then this is something to keep and eye out for, I personally don't think I would purposefully buy any eyeshadows from the No 17 range but they are great as a free product.

A sprinkling of fairy dust :-)

Lily Flame Candle in Fairy Dust

I absolutely love candles (maybe I was a witch in a former life!!?? lol), and this is my favourite candle to date! Lily Flame candles are fantastic they have some delicious smells, although some are a bit potent, but Fairy Dust to me is their crowning glory! This is the third one I have had and was bought for me by Jason (my Fiance) as a stocking filler for Christmas as he knows I love them. For me I think candles are better than air fresheners as they are less fake in their smell and look prettier!

I think this is most peoples favourite and the reason I make this statement as it is quite often sold out online and the shop where I buy it from in Durham (the Mugwump - one of my favourite shops) hardly ever has them in because as soon as they get stock in they sell out really quickly so it's best to grab them when they are there as they will soon be gone!

Burn time is around 35 hours, and it has the most fantastic smell nothing of which I have experience before in candles, it's sweet but not sickly and is rich and quite powdery in it's smell and makes the room you are burning it in smell delicious! You can also get Fairy Dust in a room spray and a reed diffuser (I had one of those in the bathroom and it smelt subtle and divine).

Do you have a favourite candle??

Extreme Lashes

Illamasqua - False Eyelashes 013

I've never tried false eyelashes before (crazy I know as I love dark black eyelashes), I was always worried of them falling off mid day or evening, or the whole applying the lashes thing always looked tricky. Anyway I am now a convert after buying these from the Illamasqua website in the sale (£5 bargain). I had a practice try session with them before wearing them out and I love them!!!

I wore these at the weekend for Birthday drinks in Durham and I think they looked fantastic! They give you fantastic dark eyelashes, they do feel a little heavy on your lid but you get used to it. The glue that comes with them keeps them on really well as well (although had a minor worry because I thought one was coming off but it didn't).

This is me with the lashes on in Whisky River in Durham (a lovely bar down by the river), as can be seen the lashes look lovely and dark and are great if you are wanting high impact lashes! Definitely a preoduct worth checking out!

Make-up Box - Product of the Week - No 4

Benefit Dandelion

I have been favouring Dandelion this week as my blusher of choice. I don't have much to say on this other than I just love it and it just gives me an understated nice pale pink flush!! I did a review on Dandelion here so do check it out. I do just love Benefit's paler blushers such as Georgia and Dandelion, but I have yet to try one of their darker ones such as Coralista or Dallas as I'm not sure they would suit me but I may pay a visit to the counter to check them out!


Anyone else loving Dandelion??

Eye's that smolder!!

Bad Gal - Smoldering Black Eye Pencil

This was one of the Benefit goodies by Sister got my for Christmas and as a lover of black kohl pencil and Bad Gal mascara I was desperate to try this.

It is quite a hard pencil when you start to use it which made me hesitate in liking it as I prefer eye pencils to be soft so they don't drag, however it has softened up the more I've used it giving me a lovely eyeline.

I have used this along the waterline as well as along the lashline and it gives a lovely soft black line and blends well if you want to smoke it out a bit.

Now I'm not sure if this is a discontinued product, but if not if you like a kohl eye pencil this is one worth trying.

Finishing Touch!

Bourjois - Mineral Radiance Pressed Powder in 02 Vanille

I go through stages with Bourjois of loving it and then going off it, however I am absolutely loving this mineral pressed powder from them! It even made it to my make-up box product of the week last week!!

The packaging is typical Bourjois and is the same as the eyeshadow and blusher pots but larger. The powder comes with a sponge applicator as can be seen in the photo above (it's taped to the mirror), but I got rid of that and I use a powder brush to apply it as it's better to sweep it over your face or for an increased matte effect buffing it into the skin.

As it's a mineral powder it has a lovely texture and is good for the skin, it also has the most fantastic smell which reminds me of powders years ago my Gran used. the colour is 02 Vanille which is a peachy/cream tone so when you apply it to your face to set your make-up it gives you a warm radiant look rather than an ashy tone which some powders create.

It's a great powder for setting make-up, as well you could just use it as a very pale blusher just to add a little warmth to the cheeks which is a nice look. If you are looking for an intense matte finish for your make-up you can use a brush to buff it into the skin in swirling motions, and it's not heavy on the skin.

Overall an excellent product and for less then £10 it's well worth checking out!

Make-up Box - Product of the Week - No 3

Bourjois Mineral Radiance Pressed Powder

I don't know what has happened to my skin this week, it seems to have taken on a life of it's own!! It's decided to be extremely oily and I have had a number of continual breakouts as well so I'm not a happy bunny! However in the face of my petulant skin I have been loving this pressed powder from Bourjois as it has been helping me to combat the oiliness and shine throughout the day.

I have yet to review this product but I have it on my to do list so it will probably be posted this week, but in a quick nutshell it's a lovely powder which brings warmth to the skin (the colour is no 2 Vanille), and it has the most fantastic smell which reminds me of my Gran and the powder that she used to wear. Loving the packaging as well which follows the same format as the blushers and eyeshadows that bourjois do.

What's your make-up box product of the week??

Sparkly Bright Eyes

Liz Earle - Eyebright

I discovered Eyebright when I was wearing contact lenses (I don't wear contacts anymore, just my glasses) and found it a complete saviour against tired scratchy feeling eyes. For anyone who has ever worn or wears contact lenses they will know that they can become scratchy if your eyes start to dry or they can tire your eyes out as the lenses are more soft focus compared to glasses lenses. For that reason this is a great product for when you take your lenses out of an evening and want to refresh your eyes, this obviously can be used for non-contact lens wearers as well, and it is also a very gentle eye make-up remover as well so very multi-tasking.

This product completely battles against tired eyes and leaves them feeling fantastically refreshed and has a cooling effect to relieve puffiness as well (for extra cooling store it in the fridge). You basically soak two cotton wool pads with the clear lotion and place them over closed eyes for a few moments and relax, it's almost the lotion equivalent of putting a slice of cucumber over each eye. It's very gentle and being Liz Earle it is made from natural ingredients and so is great for sensitive skin.

This is my complete saviour for tired eyes, contacts lenses or no contacts lenses and is on my Holy Grail product list for skin care!

Illamasqua Eyeshadows = Excitement

Illamasqua - Cream Eyeshadows in Wail and Crumble

Cream Eyeshadow - Wail (Pale Grey)

Cream Eyeshadow - Crumble (Pale Pink)

So I got these lovely purchases courtesy of the Illamasqua sale :-)!!! They were £5 a piece so an absolute bargain, and who doesn't love a bargain??? I had always wanted to try Illamasqua and I have to say I am totally won over by it, first the skin base foundation was a fantastic purchase and now these gorgeous little pots have added to my joy!

These are cream eyeshadows which I don't often wear, but I thought would be great as bases for layering and I loved the chicness of the colours. They are both really pale colours which again I don't really do, but I absolutely love them. Wail (the pale grey) was the first purchase I made along with the skin base and the pure pigment (review to follow), and I got it to go with the pure pigment purely for layering, but it is gorgeous by itself so because of that I decided to revisit the sale and buy a couple more things and Crumble (pale pink) was one of them.

The only really down side to these, and I think it goes for a lot of cream eyeshadows, is that they crease quite quickly which is a shame. I am thinking I may opt to get a primer for my eyes to wear under them to help with this, however they are a lot better if you then layer up another shadow or say the pure pigment over the top of them, and because they are cream shadows they blend fantastically!

Here I have used Wail, layered a pale grey eyeshadow from one of my Sleek Palette's and applied some eyeliner, really simple to do and a great day look!

Make-up Box - Product of the Week - No 2

Select Cover Concealer from Mac

My product of the week this week goes to my Mac Select Cover Concealer. I have had persistent blemishes on my chin for a couple of weeks now, particularly bad this week and this has covered them right up no problem at all, so for that reason it has been my absolute saviour!!!

I have done a previous review on this which is worth checking out as it is a fantastic concealer and because of it's consistency it is fantastic for covering up the odd blemish, as well as concealing up those dark circles that so many of us have problems with.

Excellent product of the week :-)!

Pretty and Sleek Part Deux

Sleek Make-up - Au Naturel Palette

I was impressed with the Storm Sleek Make-up palette that I decided to buy another, I had looked for this in a couple of Superdrug stores and eventually clocked it in the one in Darlington. They are fantastic value for money (at just over £6) for the amount of eyeshadow's you get in them.

As explained in the Storm palette review, the eyeshadow's are strong in pigment and all the colours go well together to create lots of different looks. All can be used either on their own, the paler shades are great for a no make-up make-up look and the darker shades are great for creating dramatic dark eyes, and equally they pale and dark shades blend really well for a smokey eye, all of which are great for day or evening looks!

Overall another success from Sleek and definitely worth checking out!

Make-up Box - Product of the Week - No 1


Make-up box product of the week is a new thing that I will be doing on the blog every Sunday. It's basically what I rate as my product of the week and the reasons why it has made it to the top spot. A product can make to product of the week unlimited times, so it will be interesting to see by the end of the year which product comes out as product of the year!!! Quite excited about this!

So for the first week I'm doing this the product of the week title goes to *drum roll*.................

Georgia Blusher from Benefit

I love this blusher and have used it every day this week for work, I haven't had it that long as I got it for Christmas from my Sister as I put in my review of the product, but it has fast become a staple for my make-up. I even used it for my New Years Eve make-up which shows how in love I have been with it. Expect to see this lots!!!

Close contender: Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation - purely for it being the best foundation I have tried to date!



Mak

1st Brush Review

Daniel Sandler - Waterbrush

I bought this fantastic blusher brush off Amazon as it was £5 down from £15.50 (bargain alert!!). This brush is specially designed (made with synthetic hair) to be used with the waterblush that I reviewed in an earlier post, hence why it is called a waterbrush.

This has the softest bristles and feels gorgeous on you skin. As I hadn't mastered the waterblush I thought I'd get this to go with it and see if it gives "perfectly flushed cheeks with ease" as stated on Amazon.

I'd say yes it does work and is brilliant for applying the waterblush because it is so soft and applies it really well to the skin. Again I had to buff it out as I put too much blush on the brush, but overall I'd say that it's definitely worth buying especially if you have purchased the waterblush as the two go hand in hand basically.

This is me wearing the blush on top of my new fave foundation Illamasqua skin base. The blush has buffed into a lovely pale flushed cheek which is nice against my skin tone.

Possibly the best foundation????

Illamasqua - Skin Base Foundation in No 02

After hearing great things about this foundation I decided to give it a whirl, partly because there was a sale on Illamasqua and I got over excited and thought while I'm on I'll try the foundation and kill two birds with one stone so to speak.

As I said in my post about my Illamasqua purchases I am weary of buying foundation online if you haven't had a colour match from a counter previously, however the website does give you guidance on the shades and what they match against other premium brands. I knew I was porcelain for Bobbi Brown foundation from a colour match so it matched me to this shade which is No 02.

I don't really have anything negative to say on this foundation, it applies well, the colour matches almost perfectly (may be on the tad bit lighter than my skin tone (a statement you won't often hear me say) but I love it), it gives fantastic coverage and lasts really well on the skin (better than any foundation I have tried). The only thing negative to say is that when applying it you have to really buff it in with your foundation brush and my foundation brush is not that great (I am on a hunt for new brushes, fancying some Mac and Real Techniques ones), but i have succeeded with it and buffed it into the skin to give lasting coverage. I have also found that I didn't need as much concealer as I would normally use because of the excellent coverage it gives, I only needed more on where I have a couple of blemishes but other than that none really needed. For any one with pale skin this a must foundation to try for good pale shades and I think this could be a major Holy Grail product!!

This is a picture of me on New Years Eve wearing the foundation and my Georgia blusher, you can't see very well but I am also wearing the Illamasqua eyeshadow cream and pure pigment which are great and reviews will follow!

My Make-up Box




I have a couple of boxes that I use to store my make-up, two of which are empty Glossybox boxes which I thought would be perfect storage, and the other is the above which is a fantastic vintage Barbour's box, complete with folding mirror on the inside of the lid!! I cannot express how much I love this box, it's quirky, unusual and perfect for storing lots of items in, I have had jewellery in it, nail varnishes and now it's been allocated my Make-up to look after :-), I love anything that is unusual for storing things in, it makes something ordinary seem more interesting and whimsical if it's in interesting storage do you not think??

Do you keep your make-up in anything unusual, special or funky???

Anyway the make-up box is going to be part of a new item on my blog which will happen weekly and I hope you will like it and join in on the posts :-)!

A Healthy Glow!

Pixi - Flawless Beauty Primer in No1 Even Skin

I have had this product for about a year now, hence the dishevelled looking packaging and since taking this photo it has depleated rapidly as I went through a phase of using it almost everyday! I got it from Boots (one of my favourite shops) in Newcastle as they along with the Metro Centre Boots have more Brands than my local store in Durham. This is basically a skin primer which can be used under foundation, on it's own, mixed in with foundation or even as a highlighter so very multi-tasking which is good if you are looking for value for money in a product.

Now I don't often use things with bronze/gold undertones on my skin as thye don't suit my skin tone, however this product is quite nice to give a nice healthy glow to my face (rather than pasty paleness aka my normal face!). I favour it mixed in with a foundation rather than underneath as it tends to work better like that, I have as well used it on a couple of occasions used it on and then concealer for coverage in certain areas but I think this is better for Summer rather than Winter for me personally anyway.

The product is easy to apply, you don't need a lot to cover the whole face but it is buildable if you wish for more glow in certain areas than others such as cheekbones. Overall it sinks into the skin well and leaves you with a nice youthful dewy glow and like I said is perfect for Summer skin as it has a slight bronze undertone, so if you have a darker skin tone or like to fake tan this would be a lovely product for to add shimmer to your tanned skin!

I'd say it's a product that is well worth a try!

Rosey flush

Daniel Sandler  - Watercolour Blush in Flush

I bought this a while ago using some points on my Littlewoods account, I got it as I have never tried Daniel Sandler products before and was intrigued by this product being a watercolour blusher which is different to the normal cream or powder blushers that are normally on the market.

I like the product and the concept of it but I have yet to master the art of applying it to my cheeks properly. I have been too heavy handed with it the couple of times I have tried it and I had to quickly blend it out so as not to end up looking too Aunt Sally which wouldn't be good at all!

Due to the product being water based you have to shake the bottle up for the colour to mix and then squeeze a tiny amount out onto your hand, I used my finger to apply it to my cheek, a brush may work better if you have the right one to hand. I blended it again using my finger, and then resorted to my foundation brush to try and blend the colour out so it wasn't too bright. Because it is water based it does blend brilliantly into the skin which is great if you are too heavy handed, and also good if you like to layer products up for more lasting make-up. I like the colour once it is blended in and does give a fresh rosy glow which is especially nice on my pale skin tone, however if it is not blended in it is too bright for my personal taste anyway!

It's a good product if you are wanting to try something different with your blusher, and if you are a master of cream blushers this may be the product for you as it's along the same lines but not as heavy. It does come in other shades apart from Flush which is good if you are not an overly pink blusher fan.

Sale Purchases :-)

Illamasqua - Skin Base, Cream Eyeshadow and Pure Pigment

I have wanted to try Illamasqua products for ages, even more so since watching pixiwoo tutorials and they often use Skin Base Foundation and rate it really high. Seen as how I am on a quest for a good foundation I decided to give it a whirl and check out the illamasqua website and was very suprised to see they had a sale on (excitement :-)), hence lots of ooohing and aahing a deliberating over what to buy!

I obviously got the foundation which I will review for you in a later post, what was great was they have a comparison page, so if you know what shade you are in certain other brands then it will tell what shade is best for you in their brand which I thought was really good as a first time buyer of their product. I knew what shade I was in Bobbi Brown (even though I haven't bought a Bobbi Brown foundation I have had a skin match at one of their counters) so this made it better for finding my shade as buying foundation online without trying is not necessarily a good idea unless you know which shade you are!

Then came the impulse sale purchases of the cream eyeshadow (£5 down from £15.50) and pure pigment (£7.50 down from £15.50) absolute bargains! 

I also got a free sample of their perfume (below) to try as well which was an added bonus.

Reviews will be posted soon, happy sale shopping :-)

x 

As pale as a peach

Benefit - Georgia Blusher

This is the lovely Georgia blusher that I got for Christmas from my Sister. As can be seen it's a lovely pale peach colour which is absolutely perfect for my skin tone! It's very soft and quite sheer, it's basically the peach equivalent of their Dandelion blusher which means that it is subtle and perfect for day wear.

You can probably see from the picture that it has a very subtle sparkle to it as well which helps to reflect light and highlight your cheekbones when it is applied. You can probably see my finger print in it as well as I couldn't resist trying it on the back of my hand before I took the above picture!

I used the brush it came with to apply it to my cheekbones and it went out smooth and blended well and didn't feel OTT at all, it's a completely different look to what I normally wear blusher wise of which I am really happy with and will be using a lot for my work make-up, and it's a possible contender for my wedding make-up as well so double bonus!