Maybelline Eye Studio Mono in Iced Fudged (Satin Taupe Dupe)

Maybelline Eye Studio Mono Eyeshadow in 720 Iced Fudged, £4.09 link

I love a good eyeshadow! It's probably one of my favorite items of makeup. I rarely go out without eyeshadow in some shape or form. The Maybelline Eye Studio mono shadows are amazing quality, and only £4.09 a pop. You get a sponge applicator thing which can be of use somethings, and you get a pretty decent amount of product too. 

The shade that I picked up is called Iced Fudged (which is really bad English) and its a taupe-y brown colour with a silver shimmer running through it. The shimmer isn't glitter as such but it is slightly more chunky than shimmer that you see in higher end shadows like MAC. It blends out really well though and it's amazingly pigmented. 

I love this for use either in the crease in the day, or all over the lid for a darker night time look and it works both ways. The silver shimmer makes is a cool tone shade, rather than something that brings warmth to the eyes. If you like warmer tones, this might not be for you but I think anyone can make all tones of shadows work for them so it doesn't bother me. 

On to the dupe part!  It's very, very similar to MAC Satin Taupe which is something of cult classic. It's not exactly the same, and as I type I don't have them to swatch next to each other.

I love a good MAC shadow, but being a student I cannot afford to buy them all the time. I do have a few shadows from MAC, and finding dupes for those gives me a little giddy feeling. It's nice to know that when I want to repurchase something, I can get the same thing (or almost the same thing) for a cheaper.

The main difference in the texture of the shadow. While the Maybelline shadow is really good qualitly, it just doesn't have the creamy smoothness of a MAC eyeshadow. Its slightly more chunky and I think that has something to do with the shimmer. It's not quite as subtle as the silver sheen in Satin Taupe but the end results are pretty much the same. This can come of a little more brown in some lights, compared with Satin Taupe but for the price difference I'm willing to deal with it being a bit more brown rather than taupe/grey. 

If you like depotting things, these can be depoted quite easily but I haven't got an open palette so I've left mine in the casing. 

It might be worth a look at if you like these kinds of shade, and were thinking of getting Satin Taupe. It's about £10 cheaper than the MAC version and it's just as good in my opinion. 

Follow Me
twitter | bloglovin | hello cotton | tumblr | pinterest | youtube

My Favourite Makeup Products at the Moment | Face, Lips and Eyes

Some of my favourite makeup products right now!

I really wanted to do a favourites post, and I thought about doing a 2012 favourites, but I think it's just too late to do that now.  I then thought I'd leave it until the end of January, but I'm too impatient to wait that long, so I just going a random favourites post.

MAC Cream Colour Base in Hush link, MeMeMe Beat the Blues in Sunbeam link, & Soap and Glory Hocus Focus link.

  I've been all about highlighting recently, and these have been my favorites at the moment. 


MAC Cream Colour Base in Hush - £14.50
The MAC cream colour base is something that I've owned for quite some time, use pretty regularly and it's still going strong. It's a nice pink toned shimmery highlight that looks great on pale skin. It blend really easily and it doesn't look cakey or make my foundation go cakey which is a total bonus.

MeMeMe Beat the Blues Highlighter in Sunbeam - £5.25
This is a really new find for me and I'm glad I gave it a try. I got this in a set of all the MeMeMe products like the Benefit products. If I'm ever going for a bronzed look, I will grab this because the golden undertones compliment those looks so well. It's just a nice change from the pink highlighters that usually suit my pale skin.

Soap and Glory Hocus Focus - £13.00 
This is possibly my favourite find of 2012, and now I will never be without a bottle. You can use this as a highlighter on your cheekbones and down your nose or you can mix a pump or two in with foundation/moisturizer to give a gorgeous all over glow! It's a white liquid, but blends out to almost no colour just a slight pink iridescence to give that 'glow' everyone craves.

 

MAC Lustre Glass in Sinnamon link, Revlon Colour Burst Lip Gloss in Peony link & MAC Lipstick in Lovelorn link

MAC Lustre Glass in Sinnamon - £13.50
 This is my go to lipgloss when I don't fancy wearing a lipstick, or I want something to go with a nice nude! I tend to always go for brown tone nudes so I don't look dead wearing them, and this goes amazingly well with most of them. It's beautifully pigmented, and the shimmer is viable but you don;t really feel it. I love that it's a smooth formula, because bits of glitter stress me out a little. 

Revlon Colour Burst Lipgloss in Peony - £7.99
This is my go to lip gloss if I'm wearing anything pink on my lips, and it works especially well with lovelorn. It's a gorgeous pink/coral colour with golden shimmer running through it. It's amazingly pigmented, and looks good alone or in combination with other products. I like to dab a little of this in the centre of my lips for the fuller looking lip look.


MAC Lipstick in Lovelorn - £14.00 
This is one of my favourite lipsticks from MAC, and it's something I'm 100% going to repurchase when it runs out. From the picture you can see that it's well loved. I think the pink would look great with any skin tone. It doesn't dry out my lips, and it's pretty long lasting for the finish it has.

Barry M Dazzle Dust in Pink Ice link, Benefit Ceaseless Cream Shadow in Foiled link & MAC Paint Pot in Constructivist link

Benefit Ceaseless Cream Eyeshadow in Foiled - £14.00
This is a gorgeous taupe colour that blend out beautifully. It can be used alone, or 'set' with a powder shadow, and I use it both ways. I often use it as a base for the Barry M Dazzle Dust, but if I want a nice cool toned eye look I'll  use this. It lasts all day without creasing or fading. 


MAC Paint Pot in Constructivist - £14.50
 I brought this because I was on a Paint Pot kick but this is just a bit to dark for everyday use as a paint pot. I have, however, been using this lovely colour as an eyeliner. It's dark enough that I feel I can leave my black off, and the chocolate brown colour with slight bronze shimmer makes my blue eyes pop a little more than black.

Barry M Dazzle Dust in Pink Ice - £4.59 
This is gorgeous! It's messy, but it lasts forever and brightens up your eyes so well. I use it all over the lid or a highlight and it looks great either way. It's quite cheap and the slightly pink tone to the white makes it a little less harsh that a plain shimmery white colour! 

Bourjois Bronzing Powder in 51 link, Bourjois Blush in 34 Rose d'Or link and New CID Pressed Powder in Extra Light link.

  Bourjois Bronzing Powder in 51 - £6.99
I put off getting this for a long time. I was a bit weirded out by something that was meant to smell of chocolate, because I generally hate the scent. I can't use anything like Palmer Coco Butter because the smell grosses me out but this doesn't smell to strong and when you use it, the scent if gone! I acutally didn't buy this for myself, but I got it in a blogger Secret Santa from the gorgeous Kym. 


Bourjois Blush in Rose d'Or - £7.49
This was also a present from Kym, and I love it. I'm just learning to love blushes with shimmer, and this is a great way to ease yourself into shimmer. It's hard to overdo the colour, and it's not too shimmery. It's a nice rosy pink colour, and the backed formula makes it pretty sturdy. I'm soo clumsy,and often drop my makeup and this baked formula doesn't smash like regular powder blushes do. 
 
New CID i-Powder compact in Extra Light - £21.50
This has been my go to powder for so long, and I still haven't hit pan. I got it in TK Maxx, and love that it's in Extra Light. It's the perfect match for my skin. It doesn't really offer all the much coverage, but it's not translucent either. It keep my makeup in place, and is a super handy light up mirror as well as the powder. IT's quite expensive, but keep your eyes out in TK Maxx because it was £7.99.  

Bourjois Flower Perfection Primer link, George Face Primer (not online) & YSL Touche Eclat Foundation link

 Bourjois Flower Perfection Primer - £9.99
This was also a present from Kym, and it's as good as the other products. I don't know why I haven't tried more Bourjois products because they seem really good. It's a brand I overlook quite a lot but after this little present exchange I will be looking at them more. This primer leaves my skin feeling silky smooth and my foundation applies really nice over the top of it. It doesn't mattify my skin to much because I love a dewy look, and it keep everything in place longer then bare skin would. 


George Face Primer - £5 (ish)
I got this so long a go, and have recently rediscovered it. It's a great primer for those with normal/dry skin. It leaves the skin silky smooth, and keep makeup on all day. It's a skin colour when you squeeze it out but it goes on translucent. It doesn't dry my skin out or make it oily, and it leaves a great base for foundation to go on to. 


YSL Touche Eclat Foundation in B10 - £28.00 
This is the best foundation I have ever used. It just does something for my skin that nothing else does. It lasts ages, give it a great glow and takes out the horrid redness that I get. It's not that great of coverage, but as I said before it just does something for my face that I adore! It's brilliant, and while a little expensive it's not as bad as some higher end brands are for pricing. The packaging is gorgeous too. Simply, elegant and classy. 

Follow Me
twitter | bloglovin | hello cotton | tumblr | pinterest

Collection Cover & Go | 1 Ivory

Collection Cover & Go Foundation and Concealer duo in 1 Ivory £5.99

So, I broke my spending ban. I’m sorry, but I got some pretty awesome stuff. I saw this on the Collection stand in Superdrug and just couldn’t leave it behind.  It’s a new product from the brand and is called Cover and Go. It is a foundation and concealer duo and it is probably the only thing of its type that I’ve seen in the drugstore. 

The product obviously contains a foundation and concealer, with the foundation in the tube and hidden in the cap the concealer lays with a mirror as well. The mirror isn’t all that functional because of the size but it’s a good idea. The packaging is well designed and compact which I love. 

The concealer doesn’t have the greatest coverage but if you only have a little darkness under the eye it would cover it. I did test it out on some blemishes as well and it really didn’t work great. It did cancel out some of the redness but only for a short time and the blemish was still very visible. It does have a slightly tacky texture, which is strange to me but it blends out quite well. It can settle into fine lines but if you set it, it doesn’t. 

The concealer and foundation are exactly the same colour which is good in theory but I was hoping that, since the concealer is meant for under eye circles, that it might have a slight salmon/peach tone to it to cancel out the darkness. That is a personal preference though, and not a complaint in any way. 

The foundation is actually quite thick, and to me the texture is very comparable to that of the Garnier BB cream (the original one). It’s lightweight and blends really well over my skin. It leaves a beautiful natural finish, and gives a light to medium coverage. I love how it feels on my skin, and it out ranks any other Collection foundation I’ve tried before.  It doesn’t have the best lasting power, but with good powder or setting spray it will last about 6 hours or so.

Follow Me
twitter | bloglovin | hello cotton | tumblr | pinterest | youtube 

p.s: Can anyone tell me why some pictures upload without the horrid black corners, and some do? Blogger, sort it out! I edited the picture to have rounded corners on Pic Monkey (exactly the same for both images) and only one will upload the way its meant to! 

OOTD: An Attempt Anyways!

Dress _ Primark £13

Leggings - TU at Sainsburys £6

Shoes - Primark  £6

Cardigan - New Look £10

Belt - New Look (It came with another dress)

You will have to excuse the terrible pictures but I want to attempt to do an OOTD. The pictures were the best I could do. You can see what I was wearing but I don't think it was the best attempt was it? 

Anyway, I won't say too much but this was just an outfit for everyday errands and dinner with the mother. I can't link the things because Primark isn't online, and I don't think Sainsburys is either. The New Look cardigan isn't online either. 

So I think we call all agree that this is a bit of fail post, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway. 

Sorry!  

Top 3 Highlighters | Soap and Glory, New CID and L'Oreal

Soap and Glory's Hocus Focus £13.00 link, New CID's i-Shimmer in Marshmellow £18.50 link and L'Oreal Lumi Magique Pure Light Primer £9.99 link

Recently, I've become a bit of a highlight maniac. I  never used to bother with it to be honest, but I've seen how great it can be and now I don't go without it. I have a fair ol' few in the collection of makeup I've been stashing for a while now and these are my top 3! 

I prefer something that is white or pink toned, and liquid highlighters have been favored over the powder ones I've tried. I'm not going to go on too much in this post but I will talk a little about all three. 

Soap and Glory Hocus Focus

This is my top, top highligter. It gives me a really nice glow, it lasts for ages on the skin and it has a lovely pink irradcense to it that makes it great for my skin tone. It looks great if you just use it as a highlight on the cheeks and down the nose, and it also looks amazing if you mix it with foundation to give an all over glow. It is about £13 but it lasts forever and it's so worth the money.

 

New CID Cosmetics i-Shimmer in Marshmellow

I picked this up in TK Maxx a little while a go and I'm so glad I did. I got it for about £7.99, and apposed to the full price. I'm not sure if they would still have in some TK Maxx's but you can get it on Feel Unique. It's just a great cream highlight that almost looks like a solid Benefit High Beam. It's pink toned, obviously and it looks great on my pale skin tone. 

 

L'Orel Lumi Magique Pure Light Primer

This is a pure white liquid primer that is a terrible primer but amazing highlighter. It's about £10 and it lasts a really long time. You can mix it in with foundation like the Hocus Focus but I think this works best on the cheeks and down the nose for a brilliant highlight. It's slightly more intense that the others, and stands out a little more but it's still great and blends amazingly well. 

Disappointing Products #1

Disappointing Products #1: Botanics Pore Perfecting Deep Clean Mousse, Maybelline Fit Me Foundation 125, Maybelline Fit Me Concealer in 10, Kerastase Soleil, Clinique Take The Day Off Makeup Remover, Angels on Bare Skin Cleanser, Tresemme Keratin Smooth Hair Masque, Simply Pure Aqua Hydrating Eye Gel, MUA Cream Blush in Blossom & Dior Eyeshadow Palette in Corquette.

I have been wanting to one of these posts for a while. I'm not one to shy away from giving something an honest (and if it's bad) and bad review. I think it's important to share a certain balance of good and bad things when you have even the littlest influence on someone spending their money on something. I love reading/watching things like this because I know what to avoid, alongside things that I think I'm going to love. 

With that said, bare in mind that these products don't work for me personally and may well work for you. I have dry, dyed and curly hair along side normal/dry skin with occasional breakouts and huge pores. If you have another hair/skin type these products might work for you. 

Kerastase Soleil Brume Nuit & Tresemme Keratin Smooth Hair Masque

Kerastase Soleil Brume Nuit Link

I picked this up from a little salon shop ages ago for something stupid like £2. I thought I would give it a go because I've heard amazing things about the brand. It wasn't even worth the £2 to be honest because it does nothing for my hair. It doesn't make it worse, so that's a good thing but it doesn't make it any better. 

 

Tresemme Keratin Smooth Hair Masque Link

This isn't nessesarily bad, but it's very strange. It's not so much the outcome of this that is disappointing or something I don't like. It's a reasonable hair mask, not the best from Tresemme, but it gives some nourishment. It's the texture that freaks me out a little bit! Its got the texture and consistancy of PVA glue. Weird, right? 

 

Botanics Pore Perfecting Deep Clean Mousse, Clinique Take The Day Off Make Up Remover, Angels on Bare Skin Cleanser & Simply Pure Aqua Hydrating Eye Gel

Botanics Pore Perfecting Deep Clean Mousse (Discon)
I picked this up in hopes that I can sort out the crater in my face that most people call pores! They are getting out of control and I need something to help them. I am trying something at the moment that seems to be helping them out but this did nothing for my skin. Sure it's a nice enough face wash, but it does nothing for my pores. Not really what I wanted, so it's a bit of a disappointment. 
 
Clinique Take The Day Off Makeup Remover Link
For the price, this was rubbish. I managed to pick up a makeup remover from Garnier that was about £2, that was 100 times better than this. This is was a whopping £16 and it works well enough but not good enough for that price. I used it because I didn't want it to go to waste but there are better things out there.  
 
Angels on Bare Skin Cleanser Link
I don't get this. I hear people rave about it all the time so I picked it up but I just don't like it or really get it. It doesn't feel like it really cleanses my face and mixing it up intoa paste is messy and just not nice. If anyone wants this, let me know because it's yours if you pay the postage! 
 
Simply Pure Aqua Hydrating Eye Gel Link
I don't like this which is a shame because I love the Aqua Hydrating range from Superdrug. This just doesn't do anything and it's really tacky when you put it on. It doesn't hydrate my eyes and I can only really use this at night because of the texture it leaves on my skin. It's cooling I suppose which can be quite nice on the eyes, but it just didn't live up to expectations.
 

Maybelline Fit Me Foundation in 125, Maybelline Fit Me Conceler in 10, MUA Cream Blush in Blossom & Dior Eyeshadow Palette in Corquette.

MUA Cream Blush in Blossom Link

I brought this with high hopes. MUA is a brand that almost never fails to impress me, but unfortuantly, this blush did. It had almost no colour pay off, and I couldn't find a good way to apply it. I usually apply cream blushes with a stippling brush, but they didn't work. I hate applying things with my fingers but I gave that a go and while I did see some colour on the cheeks it was really patchy. To top it off, I've had this about a month and it's totally dried up already. Not a fan, sorry MUA. 
 

Dior Eyeshadow Palette in Corquette (LE)
As you can expect, I thought these eyeshadows would be good quality. The palette is about £40 and while is had gorgeous Dior packaging the shadows are not up to par in my opinion. They don't have a good colour pay off and they just aren't as good as some cheaper brands. I didn't buy this from Dior, but off a blog sale but I still regret the money I spent on it and would have been really disappointed if I had paid full price for it. 
 
Maybelline Fit Me Foundation 125 Link
Amazing foundation! Crap colour range. This was the lightest shade they had in my local superdrug, and it's soooo orange it's unreal. I love the finish and how easy it is to apply but I cannot deal with the colour. I saw there was an ivory shade but I saw a swatch and that was super orange too. 
 

Maybelline Fit Me Concealer in 10 Link
This is a shade thing as well. This concealer is amazing, if the colour matches you. This is the lightest shade that they do, and it doesn't match me. I thought it would because Maybelline light shades usually do but this is too dark and I can't get a away with it. I wish I could because it covers like a dream
. 

Follow Me
twitter | bloglovin | hello cotton | tumblr | pinterest 

Top Setting Powders

Collection 2000 Sheer Loose Powder, £2.99 link. Collection 2000 Pressed Powder, £1.99 link. YSL Semi Loose Natural Radiance Powder, £38 link. Maybelline Fit Me Powder, £5.99 link. Natural Collection Loose Powder £1.99 link. New CID i-Powder Compact, £21.50 link.

Even though I have really dry skin, I always use a powder to set my foundation and create a matte look. I don't really like a super dewy look, and I like that powder can give a little extra coverage. These powders work amazingly well for me and my dry skin, and are my favorite of all powders I've tried myself.

New CID Cosmetics i-Powder Compact Pressed Powder in Extra Light, £21.50 link
Maybelline Fit Me Pressed Powder in 120 Classic Ivory, £5.99 link

New CID Cosmetics i-Powder Compact

I adore this powder. I didn't pay the full price for it because it was in TK Maxx. I think I paid £7.99 for this, which is a hell of a lot cheaper than the full price. I would pay the full price for it though because I adore it. You get 9 grams of product which seems to be lasting me a long time, and it claims to give a "flawless, velvety matte" finish to the skin. I'm not sure I would call the finish flawless but it leaves a nice, natural matte finish to the skin and sets my foundation amazingly well.

Maybelline Fit Me Pressed Powder

This is a new addition to my collection, and I think I'm in love.This is my go to powder at the moment. It's great for winter because it gives a great amount of coverage, a beautiful matte finish and lasts all day.I love the compact because it has a space for a powder puff and it has a nice big mirror too.

Natural Collection Loose Powder in Neutral Translucent, £1.99 link
YSL Semi-Loose Natural Radiance Powder in Translucent, £38 link
Collection 2000 Pressed Powder in Ivory, £1.99 link 
Collection 2000 Sheer Loose Powder, £2.99 link

Natural Collection Loose Powder

This is a brilliant budget powder, and I would use this almost everyday if it wasn't so messy. It's a great, light weight powder that doesn't offer that much coverage but gives the skin a nice natural matte finish that doesn't feel cake-y or heavy.  It's only £1.99 and lasts a lifetime.

YSL Semi-Loose Natural Radiance Powder

This is a beauty, but a tad on the expensive side. It's £38 a go, and it's not exactly compact. The product more than makes up for the awful packaging and the price, in my opinion. It lasts a really long time, it combines the convenience of a pressed powder with the finish and feel of a loose powder. It gives the skin a  beautiful matte finish without making it look flat or dull. It is also silky soft and smooth, and but wows me when I use it.

Collection 2000 Pressed Powder

If you want a simple, cheap go to powder, this is for you. They offer quite a large shade range and it's only £1.99 a go. It lasts for ages and it offers a decent coverage. I use Ivory, which is great for my Casper white skin, so pale girls this will work for you. It isn't cakey or anything like that but it does set my foundation and it contains vitamin E and UVA/UVB sunscreen. 

Collection 2000 Sheer Loose Powder

This is,  hands down, the best drugstore loose powder. I used this almost everyday for a month and I still have a bucket load left. It came with a puff but I threw that out because it was rubbish! It is a bit messy because it's a loose powder but I feel like it's worth the mess. Its silky smooth, sets your foundation without having that cakey effect.
twitter | bloglovin | hello cotton | tumblr | pinterest | youtube 

L'Oreal Rouge Caresse Lipsticks | Review

L'Oreal Rouge Caresse Lipsticks, £8.19. link

I love these lipsticks. They are quite unique, and whilst I thought for a moment they would be comparable to Revlon Lip Butters, they are actually quite different. I picked these up see if they would give me a nice colour, as well as moisture for my extremely dry lips. They are very balmy lipsticks, they aren't as moisturising as a plain old balm, they still stop my lips drying out and give them a nice hint of colour. 

I adore the packaging. It's absolutely gorgeous, and I prefer it over high end lipsticks I've got. I think it's very sophisticated, and the gold isn't that tacky gold that it can sometimes be. It feels more expensive than it actually is, and it's nice a sturdy so I don't lose the lid in my bag and I haven't experienced any breakages as of yet.It's also so much better that regular L'Oreal lipstick packaging, so I kind of want all the lipsticks to look like these.

1) Nude Ingenue. 2) Lovely Rose 3) Fashionista Pink

They aren’t the most pigmented lipsticks ever, in fact the Fashionista Pink has virtually no pigmentation what so ever. But, they are nice for a sheer pop of colour, and you can build the colour up a little. They are really low maintenance, can because they are sheer you can put them on without a mirror.

The nude isn't my favorite colour because it's too nude for me. I know that sounds stupid, but with my skin tone, I find that nudes that are true nudes, or a colour with brown undertones make me look dead. I need a pink or peach undertone to bring some colour to my face.

I don't use Fashionista Pink because it is so sheer. I actually gave it to my mum because she thought the packaging was cute, and doesn't really wear lip colours. I think my mum is only a fan of my makeup obsession because she gets all my rejects. I don't think she's brought makeup of here own for about 2 years. 

Lovely Rose is by far my favorite, and I reach for it quite often. It's a beautiful pink, that is just the right amount of brightness for a baby pink. It glides on the lips nicely, and for something that is a balm like texture, it lasts a nice amount of time on the lips. 
twitter | bloglovin | hello cotton | tumblr | pinterest | youtube 

Hot Looks Collection 2000

Collection Hot Looks Fast Dry Nail Polish in Big Hair, Lemon Soda and BMX Bandit, £1.99 link.

These polishes are meant to be bright, on trend, fast drying and highly glossy.That's quite a lot to live up to especially considering they are only £1.99 a bottle. I don't think they quite live up to these claims but they aren't terrible. For the price, they are actually quite good.

The colours are nice, but I wouldn't say they are specifically on trend. They don't tend to release new colours for the seasons. I have the shades Big Hair (red) , BMX Bandit (blue) and Lemon Soda (pale yellow). The blue and yellow separate really easily which was a disappointment but when they are mixed together they, for me, are better than the red in formulation. The red is a lot more liquid-y, while the other two are much more creamy and easy to apply.

The yellow is by far the worst, in my opinion. As with most yellow shades, , not just this one, it takes at least three coats to get a semi-good coverage without a super streaky finish. The first coat looks more terrible that you can imagine but if you have the patients to persevere you can get an okay colour out of it. 

The blue is a little patchy, but you can totally work with it without as much hassle as the yellow. The red, while a little running for my liking, is the best in terms of coverage. Two coats of Big Hair and you're good to go! 

The quick drying claims made by Collection (previously Collection 2000) is semi true. It takes quite a while to dry, but not as long as others. It's quicker than Barry M polishes which I like but it's not a quick as something like the L'Oreal Colour Riche polishes. It's most definitely doesn't take the 60 seconds it claims.  

You get 8ml for your money, and they are quite often included in some kind of offer. The bottles are cute and not to big. I they are great for nail polish hoarders because they aren't to big and expensive that they go to waist. 

Collection suggests that you use a base coat and that two coats will give maximum colour intensity. The two coats is a debatable claim for some shades but, it works for others. 

Overall, they are okay polishes that are great if you want to build up a big collection because they are cheap but they aren't the greatest quality and I would rather pay a little more for something from Topshop or L'Oreal and all round brilliant polish. 

twitter | bloglovin | hello cotton | tumblr | pinterest | youtube 

Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara

Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara, £11.00. link

I have major issues putting mascara on my bottom lashes without messing it up so I decided I’d try this bottom lash mascara. I’d seen it advertised for quite some time and liked the idea so picked it up. 

The tube is about half the size of a normal mascara and the brush is about a quarter of the size of a regular want. It’s the perfect size for those bottom lashes or sneaky individual lashes you can’t get with your regular mascara.

I have one little issue with this mascara and it really is a small issue. When you pull the wand out there is a little to much mascara on it. It just takes a little swipe of the top of the tube to get it okay to use on the lashes! The only reason that bugs me is because it makes the tube dirty.

This isn’t a waterproof formula but it doesn’t budge on me, and I don’t have any transfer through out the day. It’s £11, and I don’t think that’s unreasonable considering the price of drugstore and high-end mascaras. 

Next time I think I might give the ELF Studio Exact Lash Mascara (link) a go though because it’s only £3.75. Even though I don’t think £11 is unreasonable £3.75 does sound a lot better on the small bank balance of a skint student.

twitter | bloglovin | hello cotton | tumblr | pinterest | youtube 

Topshop Cream Blush | Head Over Heels

Topshop Cream Blush | Head Over Heels, £6. link

I'm in love with this beautiful product. I'm a huge fan of cream blushes, and these are by far my favorite of my favorites. Head over Heels is a lovely coral colour that can be used super subtly or it can be built up for a more dramatic look.  

It is a cream to powder blush, but don't let that put you off. I have really dry skin and it works amazingly well and because of the powder finish it works for oily skin to. It is really blendable as well which is a total bonus. 

The packaging is gorgeous too. I think it's quite original and feels more expensive than it actually is. I only have one issue, and it is very minor because the packaging is white the product tends to get everywhere and makes it look a little grubby. 

Overall I like the blush and I love the price.I have all the colour they have in store now because I loved it so much and I would recommend them to anyone and everyone.

Brand Review | Topshop Makeup

Topshop Makeup, link.

I adore Topshop makeup, and if you have read my blog for any length of time I'm sure you know that the cream blushes they offer are my favorite! I discovered the brand about a year ago, and fell in love at first sight. The products feel expensive, are a good quality and are really affordable. 

They offer a wide range of products from Nail Varnish to Highlighters to Lipsticks. I haven't tried everything from the range, but from what I have tried I can quite happily say it's a great brand.

The shade ranges for individual products isn't the best, but there are still a semi-nice variety of colours. They offer some great staple colours like classic pinks and reds, and they offer some great season shades too. 

Cream Blush in Head Over Heels, £6. link.

The prices of all the products I saw were very reasonable considering the quality of the products. The cream blushes retail for £6 which I think is amazing. They are really nicely pigmented, blend amazingly well and last all day on my cheeks. My favorite shade is Head Over Heels, and you can work it in really well for a nice subtle look of pile it on for a more dramatic blush look. 

Lipsticks in Nevada (link) and Innocent (link) , £8 each.

The lipsticks are amazing quality, and I think they are very comparable to MAC. I prefer the packaging of these to MAC because it's not your average packaging, but I still think it feels good quality and look really cute. They are about £8 each, which is pretty much the same price as the good quality lipsticks form the drugstore so I think it's fair. They have a really nice texture to them. They aren't full of glitter or anything like that which I adore, and I would compare the texture and finish to that of the MAC Cremesheen Lipsticks. They aren't matte, but they do have a "velvet" finish which stop them drying out your lips on an insane level but also make them last a very good amount of time on the lips.   

I have tried a number of other products and they are just as amazing and the lipsticks and the blushes but they are the stand out products for me. The nail polish that I have tried seems amazing. It didn't chip too quickly, and the colours I tried only needed two coats to make them look great. The lip markers are great, but I would like to see some more colours. 

 I really want to try the tinted moisturiser and the highlighters they offer because I've heard great stuff about them, so they are next on my list. 

twitter | bloglovin | hello cotton | tumblr | pinterest | youtube