Top 5 Mascara Favourites: Lancome, Avon, Miss Sporty and MUA.

Today I have a top 5 post for you, and it features all my favourite mascara. I'm going to do these posts every so often because my mascara loves are always changing because I'm a bit of a mascara floozy! 

Lancome Hypnose Star link, Avon Super Extend Extreme link, MUA every lash link, Avon Super Shock Max link, Miss Sporty Studio Lash link.

Lancome Hypnose Star Mascara

This is my number one mascara and would highly recommend it. It stands the test of time, it stays on through tears of laughter and it doesn’t smudge or flake throughout the day. It curls, adds volume, lengthens and just makes your lashes look the bomb.com.

Avon Super Extend Extreme Mascara

I got this free in a magazine, and didn’t expect the world but it’s amazing. I have one tiny issue that stops it being my all-time favourite and it’s the size of the wand. When I think of a lengthening mascara, I don’t think of big fat wands and this isn’t thin in the slightest. But it adds just enough volume to lift your lashes but adds gorgeous length to them. It also makes them super black which is brilliant for those of us with super blonde lashes.

MUA Every Lash Mascara

This is a dupe for Benefit They’re Real, but only about £3. It’s got a nice plastic wand with a ball on the end which helps separate lashes and get those pesky little lashes that you can’t get with the regular want. It curls nicely, and adds a little volume. It coats the lashes super well, and lasts all day. Nothing gets this off, which is another reason it’s similar to They’re Real.  Unfortunatly, this is discontinued now which kills me because it was a killer mascara and a total bargain. 

Avon Super Shock Max Mascara

I don’t know what I think this is similar to Max Factor False Lash Effect/Cover Girl Lash Blast because it’s not that similar but it adds volume and coats the lashes like nothing else. Little lashes are a little hard to get with the GIANT wand that you get but if you’re careful it’s a lovely effect on the lashes.

Miss Sporty Studio Lash Mascara

This is my top cheap mascara. It’s £2.99 and worth every penny. I’d pay more for it to be totally honest. It has a nice sized want, with a tapered tip. It’s so black it’s unreal, and it coats your lashes in one swipe. It gives your lashes some lift, and adds volume and lengthens them like nothing else. 

Thanks for reading and have a lovely day, 

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Top 3 Bargain Bronzers | MUA, Fashionista and Solait

Fashionista Bronzer in Paris (£1.65-£4), MUA Bronzer in Shade 3 (£1) & Solait Bronzer (£4.99)

I am becoming a little obsessed with bronzing powders. I used to avoid things like that like the plauge because I just assumed that with me being about as pale as Casper the ghost I would just look like a TOWIE extra or like I'd been tangoed if I wore it. 

Well, let me tell you fellow pale friends bronzer is nothing to be feared. You just need to find the right one for you and your skin tone. It is slightly harder to find in the drugstore because they tend to only offer one shade per brand but it is getting better.  I've found a few bronzers from the drugstore, all under £5 in fact, that work with my skin without looking muddy, dirty or orange on the skin. 

  

1. Fashionista Bronzer in Paris 

Price:  £1.65-£4.00

About: This little pan of prettiness is a great bronzer that I think works well for light to light medium skin tones. If you are exceptionally fair, this works really well with a light hand and a duo fiber brush like the Duo Fiber Face brush from Real Techniques of the ELF Stippling brush.  It blends nicely over the skin, is decently pigmented and has just enough of  satin finish that it doesn't look to unnatural on the skin. I use this both to warm up the skin and to contour when I want, so it's a great investment.  You can pick it up for £4 in Superdrug stores or here. It's also on offer at a bargain price of £1.65 here on the MUA website. 

2. MUA Bronzer in Shade 3

Price: £1

About: The MUA bronzer is the biggest bargain of the bunch. The packaging isn't flashy or anything, and can tend to break the more you use it but for just £1 I don't care. It lasts well enough for me, and I'd repurchase this over and over. This, as far as a I know, is the matte shade out of the MUA £1 bronzing line.  It can appear quite dark and scary, but it is great for quite a wide range of skin tones. If you are very very pale, then use a light hand but I find just using a stippling brush/duo fiber brush works well. For a more intense look or for darker skin tones a heavier hand, normal brush or layering works with this bronzer. You can get it in Superdrug stores or here for just £1.

 

3. Solait Maxi Bronzer in Golden Glow

Price: £4.99

About: The Solait Maxi Bronzer is a Superdrug branded product perfect for warming up the skin and for some light contouring. It's not too orange or muddy, it blends like a dream and can be built up if you want more a bronzed look. It is absolutly huge, so would be perfect if you like to take some bronzer down the neck onto the chest area or even over the body. It lasts forever and has a "real" quality to it on the skin. It isn't shimmery or glittery, but offers a finish similar to Nars Laguna by give the face a natural  and subtle glow. It's only £4.99, and you can get it here. There is another, darker, shade to this but it isn't nearly as good and doesn't blend well at all.

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My Fashionista 6 Pan Palette: Eyeshadow, Blush, Highlight and More

I am so late with this Fashionista Custom Palette review. I picked this 6 pan palette and the refills up when MUA started selling the Fashionsita brand on their website, which I think was about (or over) 6 months ago). 

The palette is really good quality, and the pans fit into the slots nice and securely. The closure is very secure, which means I am totally comfortable throwing this in my bag if I want something for on the go touch ups or taking it traveling with me without fear that it will open or break.   The huge mirror within the palette also makes this great for on the go because you can see everything without any struggles.  

I opted for the white, 6 pan palette and decided to fill it with 2 blushes, a bronzer, highlight and two eyeshadows. Not having tried the brand before, I wanted to give the whole range a good go so I have a mixture of the regular formula and the "baked" or "merged" blushes/bronzer/eyeshadows. 

Juicy Apricot is an orange/coral blush with gold glitter running through it. I adore  this blush and find it great for everyday wear. I must admit the glitter did put me off a little but on the cheeks it gives the skin a glowy look rather than the disco ball look.  You can notice the glitter on closer inspection though, so if you don't like glitter I would say try "Lolly" from MUA which is similar in colour but matte (review here). 

New York is a blusher from the baked line that Fashionista offer. It's a gorgeous medium pink with a cool toned shimmer running through it. Whilst it does have shimmer, it is free of glitter. It has a nice pigment to it but the great thing about this blush is that it can be sheered out easily for a subtle look or built up for something a little more intense. For me, it's one of those blushes that is near impossible to mess up. 

Paris is a deep, matte bronzer. It's not to orange or anything, but because it is so highly pigmented it can be hard to blend leaving it looking a little muddy. Used with a duo fiber of stippling brush, it works really well because the brush applies the colour lightly. I think it would be better suited to a tanned skin tone, rather than my ghostly pale complexion but I can make it work.  It is great to find something that can work and isn't tango orange. 

Barcelona is another bronzer, but it is in fact a highlighter shade. This is one of a baked option, like New York and is free of chunky glitter. It does have a shimmer running through it making it great for highlighting the eyes or cheeks. The light, golden colour is for pale to medium skin tones depending on how heavily you apply it. It is nicely pigmented, like the other products and the lasting time totally depends on what foundation I'm wearing. 

Bliss is my miss of this little palette. It has nothing to do with the quality of the product because it's really great quality but it is more to do with my stupidity in choosing a colour. Bliss is a barbie, pearly pink shade that is BRILLIANTLY pigmented. It is very similar, in formula, to the MUA  singles but I find it slightly more buttery with less fall out. I would use this so much more if the colour wasn't quite so pink, so I think I'll check out the other shades in this line. 

Finally, we have Double Take which is a baked eyeshadow. It is shimmery with gold glitter as well. It's a gorgeous golden, bronze brown shade that, like bliss, is gorgeously pigmented. My only issue with this is that the glitter falls out like crazy. You can get around the issue but putting your foundation or concealer on later, but I just cannot get used to doing my face after my eyes. I do need a primer underneath this, and the other shadow, to make it last all day without creasing but they don't fade without a primer it's just the creasing I have an issue with.

Just A Note: The compacts that the refills come in are actually quite poor quality, so I would recommend picking up a palette if you are going to invest in something from this Custom line. 

You can check out the palettes and refills here and they start from just £1.65 a piece.

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Top 5 Blushes: Drugstore and Highend

Blush is slowly becoming my favourite think in makeup. I go through stages of loving specific categories in my collection and blush is now taking over my lip product obsession. So, in light of that revelation, I thought I would bring you a post on my current top 5 favourite blushes.

B. Cheeky Blusher in Candy Cane 

I've raved about this since the first time I used it. You can read my full review here if you fancy giving it a peek, but in short it's just a great blush for  my pale pals out there and it's one that is impossible to over do which is great for my heavy handed ways.

You can get it here for just £5.99 or in selected Superdrug stores. 

MUA Blusher in Lolly

This was the blush that turned my onto coral/orange blushes. I used to avoid them like the plague  but after trying this I've found they really suit my skin tone. I have really red/pink skin so the orange tones don't emphasie that and I love it. You can read my full review of  the MUA blushes here. 

You can pick these up in Superdrug store or online here for just £1. 

Bourjois Cream Blush in Nude Velvet 

Bourjois are kind of famous for their little round blush pots, and the cream blushes are the latest addition to that line. Nude Velvet is a gorgeous nude/coral/orange shade, and is actually quite similar to MUA Lolly but in a cream form. You can read my full review here if you fancy. 

You can pick it up in places like Boots and Superdrug or online here for £7.99

Illamasqua Powder Blusher in Thrust 

I won this gorgeousness in a giveaway from Aqeela Keela and fell in love with it pretty much on first sight. It's insanely pigmented, long wearing and great  for fall makeup looks. I didn't wear it too much in the summer but the deep purple/pink tone looks great for a more dramatic makeup look now we are hitting the autumn/winter season. 

You can pick it up here or at Illamasqua counters/stores for £18.

Fashionista Blush in Juicy Apricot 

I've wanted this for quite some time, and when MUA took over Fashionista and slashed the prices I took the opportunity to snap it up. It's a peachy coral shade with gold glitter running through it. I usually prefer a matte blush but this give the skin a glowy quality without making you sparkle like a 21st century vampire.

You can pick it up here for just £1.65. 

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Top 3 Powder Highlighters: Bronze, Pink and White

When the colder seasons start to come around, I go highlighter mad. In the summer the heat and love of dewy/glowy foundations means highlighters aren't all that essential to give your skin a glowing quality.  In the fall and winter however the more matte and heavier foundations can make the skin look a little dull so I break out the highlighters to help perk the skin up. 

Today, I wanted to share my top 3 highlighters for the autumn and winter.  I have chosen something more golden toned, something pink and something white based. 

 Fashionista "Bronzer" in Barcelona

I hate when people label highlighters as bronzers, because this is far to light to be used as a bronzer, and far to shimmery too. Barcelona is a lovely golden highlight that is great for enhancing that fading summer tan or for people with a more yellow toned skin.  It looks great applied lightly for the more pale skin tones, and a heavier hand can make it work for darker tones. 

You can pick it up here for £1.65, instead of the £4  it would be in selected Superdrug.

MUA Undress Your Skin Highlighter 

I reach for this highlighter when I want something more obvious. It's not the most subtle highlighting powders, and it really does look like you have something on but it still looks gorgeous. The pink tone really suit my cool skin tone and the super shimmery finish is great for super strong impact when you want more dramatic makeup. 

You can pick it up here for £3 or in selected Superdrug stores. 

MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Lightscapade 

This creamy/ivory toned highlight is my everyday pick because it suits my pale skin tone, gives a glow to the skin but doesn't look really obvious or dramatic. In the pan it looks like an ivory powder with swirls of pastal colours running through the base. On the skin it blends perfectly into my foundation/base leaving my cheekbones popping just a little bit more  than normal. 

You can pick this up here or at your local MAC store or counter for £22

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#30in30 Lips Edition: MUA Lipstick in Shade 1

Shade 1 from MUA is possibly my favourite of the collection, and it's the deep red shade that MUA offer. The red is comparable to Topshop Hazard, and free of any shimmer or glitter.  The creamy formula ensure the lipstick goes on smoothly, but you do need to be careful when applying this because it can get messy. That is true for most reds though,  so it says nothing bad about these MUA lipsticks.  It's nicely pigmented, long lasting and not to drying on the lips.

I've found these to last about 4 hours on the lips before you see any significant fading and need to touch up. Eating and drinking do take off some of the colour, but because of the intensity of the red it does leave some staining on the lips so you can still see the colour.  With a lip liner, they last all damn day! 

The packaging isn't the greatest ever, but it's also better than some. The tube is really simple with black casing and silver writing. the writing does rub of pretty quickly if you use these a lot or carry them around so they can look a little grubby.  

You can pick these up in Superdrug stores, or online here for just £1 a pop and they have a colour for everyone.  

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PS: Pictures to follow soon! My camera is FAILING at the moment

MUA £1 Mascara | Blue, Pink and Black Lashes

The £1 range from MUA has been mostly a hit for me. I adore the blushes (review here) and the eyeshadows are comparable to those offered by high end brands. I picked up a few of there £1 mascaras after seeing that they contained fibers within the liquid, which is something you usually pay quite a bit of cash for. 

They have a nice range of colours which is great for the current coloured mascara trend. Maybelline have just brought out some coloured mascara, but if you want to test the idea of blue lashes before paying out over £6 for a mascara you could pick up some of these. 

I have the pink, blue, teal and waterproof black from the range but I know they do have a brown, regular black and clear mascara for those not so into the coloured lashes. 

The formulation of these mascara isn't groundbreaking, but for the price they are pretty decent. You aren't going to get huge volume but if you need length I would try these. They fibers stick to lashes pretty well, but some do tend to fall by the end of the day.



The colour takes some time to build up when you use the coloured formulas. The black is the easiest to apply. It goes on very naturally at first but after another layer it really lengthens and darkens lashes.


The coloured mascara really lengthen lashes too but it takes three or four layers to get a decent colour pay off. 

Overall, I would recommend giving these mascaras a try if you fancy trying a trend before paying out more pennies or if you like lengthening mascaras.

You can pick them up here now for just £1 a tube or in most superdrug stores. 

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"New" MUA £1 Blushes | Review and Swatches

When the new MUA blusher shades hit stores I snapped them up right away. I love MUA blushers, and the thought of new shades had me doing a little "winning" dance!  I thought I'd blog about the right away, so everyone could know about the fabulous new shades, but that didn't happen. I've had this post sitting in my drafts since they released and for some reason I just didn't finish it up. 

So, as a storm of epic proportion brews outside I'm finishing off the post in hopes that is distracts me from the apocalyptic weather.  

Bubblegum, Lolly, Marshmallow, Cupcake & BonBon, £1, link

The packaging is really simple, and really slim so it's great if you don't have much space. The clear lid allows you to see the colour in the pan without having to open and they are clearly labelled so you can see the names easily too. My issue lies with how flimsy the packaging is. The little "booble thing"  that holds the blusher closed is easily lost, and once that is gone, the rest pretty much falls apart. But, I suppose for £1, I really can't complain that much.  
 
I thought I picked up all 6 new shades, but got a double of one so I only have 5 of the 6. The shades range from bright pink shades right up to a light orange/peachy shades, so I think there is something for everyone and most skin tones. 

 
The blushers do not disappoint in the quality department though. I found the powders to be almost buttery, only kicking up a little excess powder when I dip my brush in the product. They are extremely pigmented, meaning just one tap of brush gives you enough to apply and they blend over the skin beautifully. 

Unlike some blushers, they sit on top of foundation really well without pulling it away from the skin when applied and they last nearly all day on bare skin or over foundation. 

BonBon is described as an Apricot shade by MUA, but I would call it more of  neutral dusky rose shade with very slight (if not no) shimmer running through it. I can see this being a favourite in the autumn when I've put my brighter pinks and peach colours away. 


 Bubble Gum is a described as a coral rose pink, and that's not horribly wrong. It more pink than coral, but on the skin you can see hints of coral popping out. I'm not entirely sure if this is matte, because it does look there is some kind of shimmer in the pan but on the cheeks it looks totally matte.  


Cupcake is the most nude toned blush in the new shades. It's described as  a soft peach on the website, is a nude peach more than anything else. It's got hints of really fine glitter in the pan, but on the skin they aren't visible. 

Marshmallow is the brightest of the bunch. It's simply labelled pink on the MUA website, and obviously that it a true description. It's a nice blue toned colour that can quite easily compare to something like Stay Pretty from MAC in the pan, but actually comes of more pigmented when swatched.

Lolly is the orange blusher I never thought I would adore but do. This has fast become my everyday blusher for the summer, and I can see myself repurchasing this over and over again. It's not matte, and there is some glitter to be seen in the pan and on the cheeks. Don't let that scare you though, it's nicely fine milled glitter, meaning it just gives a nice shimmer to the cheeks rather than making you look you've dipped your face in glitter. It's a soft peachy, orange colour that just gives a nice change to the usual pinks I go for. 

So, that is the new MUA blusher shades! What do you think? What is your favourite? 

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Top 5 Foundations for Dry, Pale Skin: Estee Lauder, MUA and more

 
Foundation is something that is quite selective to the individual. Everyone has their own skin type and look for different things in the foundation, for me I look for something dewy or glowy and something that covers redness really well. I do get hormonal breakouts on occasion so decent coverage over those is a bonus, but concealer is my best friend then so it's not a requirement. 


So, with that in mind, today I'm bringing you a top 5 list of my favourite foundation for my dry skin. And, just before I start I am going to apologize for the terrible picture! 



MUA Undress Your Skin in Porcelain
This is the best inexpensive foundation for pale skin. The shade is really light (possibly the lightest I've found in the drugstore) and it offers a light but slightly buildable coverage. I looks really natural on the skin, and is a total bargain at only £5 a tube. You can purchase here. 

B Radiant Illuminating Foundation in LinenI love the B range from Superdurg. They offer a nice range of products, and the ones that I've tried are brilliant in quality. This foundation is brilliant for people with dry skin. It leaves a nice dewy effect on the skin, hide what you want it to hide and offers a medium coverage. The dewy effect isn't greasy like some (Revlon Nearly Naked Foundation, I'm talking to you), but it just gives you a healthy appearance. You can read my full review here if you want to know more!

Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum in 52 Vanilla 
I'm sure I don't need to say to much on this because this, and it's original counterpart, are cult foundations in the blogging world. They are brilliant quality at a pretty decent price. This one isn't as long lasting as the original foundation, but the effect on the skin is great. It leaves the skin feeling moisturized, covers redness and flaws well and lasts well enough if you set it with a powder or setting spray.   You can purchase this here.

Please excuse the TERRIBLE photo!

 Chanel Vita Lumiere Aqua in B10
I have a love hate relationship with this foundation. I adore it sometimes, and other I hate it but at the moment I'm having a love affair with the beaut. It's a luxurious, light coverage foundation that blend into the skin well and lasts on the skin. It's not going to cover everything in the world on your face, and it won't last as long as something like Double Wear but it will leave the skin looking healthy and with a hit of concealer it will give you a nice flawless look. Read my full review here from when I first fell in love with this!

Estee Lauder Double Wear in Cool Bone
This is my favourite EVER foundation. I've been in love with this since the first moment I put it on my face and will repurchase it until the end. It's a long lasting foundation that really lives up to it's claims. It lasts all day on the skin, blends really well and isn't a cakey matte mess on the skin. You can read my full review here

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