The Maybelline collaboration with Gigi Hadid was highly anticipated in the drugstore beauty world but unfortunately received mixed reviews. After watching many YouTube reviews and reading others, I decided to just try out the lipsticks. I chose a nude and a classic red – Taura and Austyn.
Left – Austyn, Right – Taura
Taura is a classic nude lipstick, I would describe it as a ‘my lips but better shade’. Probably a bit more subtle than I wanted, but is nice for ‘no makeup’ looks and easy days. The formula itself is very nourishing and doesn’t dry out my lips at all. It’s described as a matte, but I’d say it’s a semi-matte.
Taura
Although this lipstick is nourishing and quite pretty, for £8.99 it is a bit of a disappointment. It is not very long wearing at all and comes off as soon as you drink/eat/kiss. I’m so sad about this!
Taura on the lipsNow, Austyn on the other hand is a lovely little lipstick. It is a bright, bold red with great pigment and much better staying power than Taura. It too is nourishing which I need in these cold months.
Austyn
The red is super bright. I love the undertones of orange which make it a true festive red.
Austyn on the lips
Both these lipsticks are available as lip kits and also with matching lip liner pencils. You can purchase them in Boots and Superdrug for £8.99.
When I saw the launch video of the new Jeffree Star Family Collection, even I had to admit it was adorable. It was heart-warming to see Jeffree and Nathan in their family home, with their dogs, talking about their reasons for the colour choices and shade names in the collection. My attention was particularly kept by the shade Nathan, of course named after Jeffree’s partner.
Nathan is a beautiful muted terracotta nude shade which screams Autumn to me. If I could describe my perfect and ideal lip colour of the moment, this would be it. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Beauty Bay stocked these so soon after they were released and that they were sold separately. The lipsticks are also available as part of a set (the other shades are BEAUTIFUL too).
I already own a couple of Jeffree Star Cosmetics lipsticks and I already love the formula of them. They glide on, they are pigmented and they stay put for hours. Yes, they are pretty drying on the lips, but just make sure you put on plenty of lip balm before bed and you’ll be fine. The formula of this new lipstick seems even more long-wearing I would say. I’m wearing it now after a pretty long day and two meals in between and it’s still hanging on. I was pretty disappointed that the iconic scent is not as obvious in this one though. I absolutely love the root beer smell of the previous lipsticks but really struggled to pick it up in this one.
This lipstick is vegan, cruelty free and matte.
To buy your Jeffree Star Cosmetics Velour Liquid Lipstick in the shade Nathan, click here.
When I received a box of twelve Bourjois Rouge Velvet The Lipsticks, complimentary of Bourjois and Influenster, I couldn’t have been more excited to try them all out! Every single shade appealed to me and I just didn’t know where to begin!
The packaging for these lipsticks is simple but elegant and they have a very secure closing lid which clicks loudly so you can guarantee it won’t come off on your travels and in your bag.
The Rouge Velvet lipsticks have a matte finish – but the thing I love about them is that they go on in a creamy, almost typical lipstick formula and then dry down to a matte finish. It’s like magic!
After trying the lipsticks for a few days now, I can say that they are non-drying and very comfortable to wear. They last for a few hours but the real test is when you eat. I wouldn’t say that they last very well through a meal, only a small amount of colour remains.
My favourite shade is ‘Brunette’, the darkest of the collection. Watch the video below for swatches and names of all the lipsticks.
I was MUA to Kitty Clements this week, on a shoot with the amazing Oliver Lall and I used one of these on her. We went for the shade ‘Fuchsia Botte’ as Oliver wanted a blue and pink theme (more about this in a separate post soon!). The colour looked fab and here’s a sneak peek from the shoot…
Photo Credit: Oliver Lall, Model: Kitty Clements
To buy these lipsticks for yourself, visit Boots here.
The ABH Modern Renaissance palette is one I can only dream about owning (or hope that someone close to me reads this post and surprises me with it!) so when I saw that the very affordable high-street brand W7 had released this little beauty, I was intrigued to give it a go.
The palette comes in simple cardboard packaging with a mirror inside and includes a brush. The brush is also a replica of the ABH one too, with a fluffy brush one end and a smudging brush the other. There are twelve eyeshadows inside – 4 shimmers and 8 mattes. Upon swatching, I found some to be much more pigmented than others. The palest shade is pretty much non-existent on my skin, so isn’t visible in the swatch photo. Some of the colours are also quite chalky. However, upon using the palette, I was impressed with how pigmented the darker colours were and how well they blended.
Here’s a simple tutorial for an every day look using the palette –
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And here’s the finished look!
The shadows lasted very well throughout the day and are still going strong now. I used my MAC Paint Pot in Painterly as a base/primer and the shadows have stayed put without creasing.
Do I think this is a decent dupe for the ABH palette? If you’re on a tight budget like me and can’t justify spending so much on some eyeshadow – then yes, this is a brilliant substitute! When it’s on your eyes, who’s going to know the difference, hey?
I ordered this palette direct through the W7 website here and it cost £12.95.
When I watched Shaaanxo’s new makeup line announcement video last week, I was so excited by the beautiful colours and quality of both her liquid and regular lipsticks. I was especially excited by the matte lipstick in the shade ‘Philocaly‘ and settled on just this one. It arrived today – just a week after it was posted from New Zealand!
Shaaanxo is by far my favourite YouTube Beauty Guru. I first discovered her when scouring the web for a wedding makeup tutorial. I actually used her one for my own wedding makeup (yes I was brave enough and mad enough to do my own makeup!). She always manages to achieve pure magic with any eyeshadow and her makeup tips are useful and achievable. I was extremely excited to see that she’d actually signed the card that came with the lipstick too – I had a extreme fan-girl moment when I saw it!
The lipstick came packaged in a cute white box with grey polka dots on it. Inside, the tube of the lipstick has a chrome/mirror effect which is just so classy and pretty. The lid clicks into place over the lipstick, so there’s no need to worry about it coming off in your handbag.
I did a swatch of the lipstick on my arm first and it swatched beautifully. It has a very creamy texture which glides onto the skin. The colour looks even more beautiful in real life and I think I picked well for my skin tone. It is a stunning pinky nude – my fave!
Swatch – xoBeauty Matte Lipstick in Philocaly
When I put it onto my lips, I was first impressed by the gorgeous smell of crème brûlée – don’t worry if you don’t like strong smells in your makeup, this is a beautifully subtle scent. The lipstick went smoothly onto my lips and didn’t cling to patches as matte lipsticks have a habit of doing. It feels very nourishing on the lips too. I’ve had it on all day and my skin doesn’t feel dried out at all. It also really stayed put! There was very little transfer when kissing Baby J and the hubby and it stayed on very well during meals.
Overall, I’m very happy with this lipstick. I’m so pleased that it has been lovingly designed and created by a brilliant YouTuber, who has worked hard to get to this stage. You could tell from her announcement video how much this collection really meant to her. Philocaly also really reminds me of MAC’s Brave in colour – but I actually prefer this formula! It has better staying power and is much easier to apply.
To buy your own xoBeauty Matte Liptick in Philocaly, click here. To check out the other lipsticks in the range, click here.
Makeup Revolution released the beautiful Renaissance palettes last week, including this Night version, a Day one and a glow palette. The Day palette contains all matte shades and the Night one a mixture of one matte and four shimmer shades.
This palette came beautifully packaged in a gorgeous black box with rose gold decoration. The palette was inside a gorgeously soft pouch inside the box, which adds an extra element of luxury. The palette itself has a matte black case and a beautiful rose gold clasp, which I’ve never seen on a palette before.
Inside the case lid is a mirror – I love Makeup Revolution for this – and a double-ended brush. The shades themselves are beautiful. The matte colour is a white, perfect for highlighting the brow bone, as I did today. The pink and bronze tones are intensely shimmery and pigmented. The final two shades have reflective glitters in them and are stunning.
I created an eye look today using a majority of the shades in the palette –
Use the matte white to highlight the centre of the brow bone
The lighter brown on the outer V and slightly into the crease, also along the lower lash line
The copper tone over the rest of the lid and along the inner part of the lower lash line
The light pink on inner corners as a highlight
The shades in the palette are very easy to work with and blend. I experienced little to no fall out. The shadows are of a very high quality.
Overall, I’m very pleased with this palette. The packaging is stunning and compact enough to travel with. I also think this palette would make a brilliant gift.
Makeup Revolution’s sister brand I Heart Makeup, have just launched this beauty. It’s the Unicorn Love palette and oh my gosh, it has a furry outer case!
Inside you get 16 matte and shimmer shades all with elements of fantasy and unicorn. Each shade has a fairytale name, for example – Fortune, Magic, Wings, Sparkle (my personal favourite name for obvious reasons!). There is a lovely range of shades – not as wild as I’d have expected from a palette named after creatures of the rainbow – but they are subtly beautiful. There are some perfect crease and transition colours, some beautiful, glittery brights and some all-round stunning shimmery shades.
You also receive a double-ended sponge applicator. I would’ve preferred a brush as I find sponge applicators to be the most useless makeup tools known to man – why oh why? There is a large and extremely useful mirror which spans across the whole inner casing lid and doesn’t distort you like something from the House of Mirrors.
I have swatched all of the shades for you below – I took one photo with the flash on and one without. I swatched from left to right, starting on the top row.
Unicorn Love Palette – Taken without a camera flashUnicorn Love Palette – Taken with a camera flash
The shades I am particularly impressed with are –
Flutter – a beautiful peachy shade
Fortune and Gallop – both orangey/pinky browns one is shimmer, one is matte
Story – Gold and so sparkly – just stunning!
Wings – The perfect neutral brown crease shade
Love – a gorgeous champagne gold and white
I created this look with the palette, here’s how –
All over the lid, use Pure to set your primer and create a smooth base
In the crease, use Flutter
On the outer crease, use Wings to add more definition
To create a Halo Eye look, use Fortune on the inner and outer corners and then blend them together along the crease so that they meet there in the middle
Use Fortune again along the lower lash line
To darken up the edge of the outer corner, use Gallop and blend out
Using your finger, put Story in the middle of your eyelid and the middle of your lower lash line – this really adds to the Wow Effect!
As you can probably tell, I am a little bit in love with this palette. I love the range of shades to suit all skin tones and eye colours. There are endless looks to be created with it. The colour pay off and pigmentation is fantastic – particularly in the shimmer shades like Story. I’m wearing this eye look now and it hasn’t moved all day. I do use an eye primer, but it hasn’t dropped down below my eyes or moved into my crease. I am very impressed for a palette that costs only £7.99.
You can purchase this palette from TAMbeauty, but be quick as it does keep going out of stock very quickly! As I write this, there is only 1 left! Here’s the link to buy – Unicorn Love Palette.
Last week I was sent some gorgeous goodies from Benecos to review. Benecos produce natural, cruelty-free and vegan makeup and sell them at affordable prices. They also sell natural skincare, natural hair care and natural body care products which are all 100% natural with organic ingredients. In my package I received the Natural Light Fluid Foundation, Natural Lipstick in ‘Catwalk’ and two eyeshadows – Shimmery Eyeshadow in ‘Rose Quartz’ and Eyeshadow Matte in ‘Mauve Me’. I tried them all out today and here’s my honest review…
This is a lightweight foundation which blends beautifully and evenly over the face. To apply it I used my Kabuki brush. I built up the coverage because I have some redness on my cheeks which I like to cover. The foundation coped very well with this and evened out my skintone effortlessly. I took a photo of the coverage on just half my face for comparison purposes.
The foundation on half of my face (my left side), after applying just one layer
The foundation contains organic, hydrating and nourishing ingredients including Avocado Oil and Argan Oil to keep your skin hydrated throughout the day. It has a matte finish – perfect for me and my oily T-Zone! I also found that it lasted for a good few hours too and only started to cake slightly around my nose (no foundation has ever passed this test – trust me!). To purchase this foundation for yourself, click here.
I received two beautiful eyeshadows, which perfectly compliment one another. I find that Mauve Me is perfect for the crease area, and have been reaching for it a lot.
Rose Quartz is a gorgeous shimmery shade, excellent for brightening up the eyes and I love to use it on the centre of the lid and inner corners for exactly this purpose. This would also make an absolutely stunning cheek highlight.
The eyeshadows are, of course, made from natural ingredients including Macadamia Oil and Sunflower Oil to help care for the delicate eye area. To buy yours, visit the eyeshadow section of the website here – there are lots to choose from!
I love this lipstick colour! It’s an orange-toned red and is such a statement lip colour. It is very nourishing on the lips and glides on with ease.
It contains beneficial and kind ingredients including Olive Oil and Avocado Oil to keep your lips feeling soft and moisturised throughout the day. It is just beautiful! To purchase your own, click here or to see what other shades are available, click here.
Overall, I am very pleased with these products and the high quality payoff I get from them. They also have fantastic longevity and didn’t need touching up throughout the day (apart from the lipstick!). I especially rate the foundation as the coverage is excellent and so natural looking. It also made my skin look silky smooth and the colour was a perfect match for my skin tone!
Visit the Benecos website here to find out more about the brand. I just know you’ll love them too!
This beautiful eyeshadow palette has been surrounded by a lot of controversy over the last week, when Kat Von D herself posted a very angry Instagram photo calling out Makeup Revolution for completely copying her Shade & Light palette. The whole reason I wanted this palette for myself was because of the fact it was such an incredible dupe of the ridiculously overpriced original. Of course the quality will be better, but I really can’t justify spending £37 on an eyeshadow palette.
I had been after this palette a while and it had been out of stock on TAMbeauty. I was so happy to find in in my local Superdrug however, and have been putting it to the test ever since! I have to say that I absolutely love this palette. It was a brilliant £8 and there are so many neutral looks to be created with it. The palette is split into three quads of complementary neutrals.
I had a go at putting together a look for you to try – let me know if you give it a go!Firstly, set your primer/concealer with the light shade all over the lid up to the brow bone
Next, I added this very light, almost peachy shade along my crease
This brick red shade was placed on my outer corner and along my lower lash line
I then placed this light brown all over my lid and stopped below my crease
Finally, I used a darker brown as a kind of eyeliner along my upper lash line
Ta-Dah!
This is a very subtle look, suitable for everyday wear.
The palette is still sold out on TAMbeauty, but you can purchase it online at Superdrug (with free delivery!) here.
This beautiful eyeshadow palette was sent to me by Belle’s Beauty, a new and independent makeup seller. The business is run by Jade and Vicky who are both dedicated to finding high quality and most importantly, affordable makeup for everyone. I will be posting a few times about this business as I have to show you some more wonderful palettes accompanied by makeup tutorials showing you how to make the most of your palettes.
Today’s post is about the Glitz Cosmetics 12K palette – stunning isn’t it? It contains twelve shades – 6 matte and 6 shimmer. They range from light nudes, peachy pinks to rich browns and burgundies.
I have swatched the shades, starting at the top row and going down, swatching from left to right.
Top row, natural lightTop row, with flashSecond row, natural lightSecond row, with flashThird row, natural lightThird row, with flash
So let’s get started with this tutorial! I went for a purple theme this time, as requested by my cousin’s lovely fiance, Lucy. As usual, I primed my eyelids with MAC Paint Pot Pro in Painterly.
I began by applying the colour closest to my skin colour over my eyelid to set my primer. I then applied the gorgeous peach shade in my crease as a transition shade.
I decided to create a ‘Halo’ eye look, so applied the purple tone shown below, to my inner and outer lids and blended/joined them together in my crease.
Now for some shimmer! I packed on this beautiful duochrome light nude/peach colour to the centre of my lids and the center of my lower lash line.
To emphasise the shimmer even more I added another sparkling shade over the top with my finger tip.
Finally, I used the pink, shimmery shade on the top row on my brow bone (and well done me for cropping this out of the photo!).
BONUS! This palette doesn’t just have to be used on the eyes! I took the beautiful duochrome nude/peach shade I used earlier and applied it as a highlighter! Subtle and beautiful. It really pulled the whole look together.
TA-DAH!
As you can tell from this review (and my Instagram!) I adore this palette. The colours are perfect for my eye colour – especially the peaches and burgundies, but this palette will work for everyone. There are colours to suit all.
To buy your own, visit Belle’s Beautyhere. The Glitz Cosmetics 12K is an incredible £12.99 – worth every penny! Whilst you’re there, check out their other beautiful palettes.
Keep your eyes peeled for more tutorials featuring Belle’s Beauty palettes in the next couple of weeks.
