Revlon UltraHD Matte Lip Colour - Review

For some time now I have been really into liquid lipsticks, especially matte as this is the big trend at the minute and being a make-up lover, I have to jump on the band wagon and embrace it. So when I seen that Revlon had released a new lip product, I had to get my hands on them and I'm so glad I did.

These retail for £8.99 each and they have 7 shades - as Revlon was on offer in Boots for 3 for 2 I decided to only picked up 3 of my favourite shades.

The packaging of these products is lovely - its a frosted glass bottle with silver detailing so it looks and feels like very good quality. 

The product itself is a dream, it has a slight sweet scent which I love, the formula is very moisturising and velvety - even when it dries to a matte finish, it doesn't dry out my lips or make them uncomfortable which is a big plus. It also doesn't go patchy or rub off around the inside of my mouth which is great, and it lasts all day/night long! The colour payoff is amazing also, with one swipe you get a very opaque colour so this will last me a very long time.

Overall, I think this product is great and as it's from the drugstore, its widely available and affordable so go check it out! :)

Freedom Pro Strobe Cream Kit

Coming into the winter months, you want your skin to look it's best and for me, using creams gives me that. I especially love using cream contours as it adds natural definiton to the face which is perfect for everyday wear and to achieve this I have been using the Freedom Pro Strobe Cream Kit which is available at Superdrug and retails for £10. 

Included in the kit you get the cream contour palette which has three cream highlight shades and three cream bronzer shades as well as their strobe brush

I absoloutely adore this kit - the creams are so pigmented and creamy that they literally glide on and blend like a dream and still have the pigmentation to give a defined/highlighted look with little product, as a little does go a long way. The brush is also really, because of the shape, I wouldn't use it with the highlight shades as its a bit too rectangular, but it is perect for fitting into the hollows of the cheeks, the bridge of the nose and along the forehead.

It also lasts all day especially when set with a powder - it doesn't budge - which I was wary off when I first applied it because they are so creamy.

From Top to Bottom - Highlight Shade, Yellow shade, Pink Shade, light contour shade, dark contour, medium bronze shade

My Favourite Mascaras

Mascara for me, isn't that big of an ordeal, I do tend to like each mascara that I buy because my lashes are pretty decent, they don't tend clump easily and have a natural curve which means less hassel with curlers etc. But there are two mascaras - drugstore ones - which I really love and these are... 

Rimmels Extreme Black Wonder'full Mascara with Argan Oil & No7 Dramatic Lift Mascara
Both of these mascaras are amazing, the length and volume they both give is amazing. Neither of them smudge, they don't weigh my lashes down and are both easily removed - so if your looking for a good, inexpensive mascara that gives everything you could want from a mascara, then I highly recommend these two :)

Retails for £7.99

Retails for £13.50

Sleek Highlighting Palette - Precious Metals

I got this palette ages ago when it first came out in Superdrug - and I don't know why it's taking me so long to actually review it... weird. But I do really like this product - I think when I got it it was £9.99 which to me is a bargain for the quality of the product. 

You get three cream highlighters and one powder, you also get a wee brush to apply them but I'm not really fond of it, I just like to use my fingers to apply the cream and my realTechniques to apply the powder.
 The packaging is shiny and sleek, and it also closes magnetically which saves the hassel of trying to work it open like so many palettes. The products themselves are lovely, the cream highlighters are smooth and creamy and very well pigmented and the powder is also smooth and easy to blend.

From left to right - Platinum, Royal Gold, Renaisance Gold (Cream) and Antique Bronze (Powder)

St. Tropez Gradual Tan in Shower

I am not a fan of this product.

I bought this when it was on offer in Boots for £9.96 or something like that and I thought, this is a bargain - I'm going to get it and I'm going to love it because as everyone knows, St Tropez is one of the best selling and most well known tanning brands - because their products are amazing......... minus this, one for me anyway.

The directions are too apply in the shower when the shower is off, to wet skin, allow to sit for 3 minutes and then rinse it off with just water - no soap. As I rarely have my legs out, I usually only manually tan the top half of my body - so I tried this method out on my legs and in total I have used it four times - my legs have no changed colour - which is a little to be honest because I am so pale I honestly thought there would have been some kind of noticable difference but sadly not. I'm not sure why this is the case, maybe it takes to different areas of the body differently or maybe it's just my skin, who knows...

Drugstore Self Tanners

I have used a lot of self tanners from a wide range of brands, and I now think I have found my favourite ones - from Superdrug. I'm all about that natural sun kissed glow and these two tans definitely give that.

The first tan is by the brand Sunkissed which I got when I was over in Birmingham for only £3.99. It has a yummy coconut scent even when rinsed off.  It is very moisturising on the skin and feels lovely as well. Colour wise it is very golden as it has more of a yellow undertone than any of the other tans I used, but once it has developed after a few hours it deepens into more of a natural tan colour.

The second tan is one I have been wanting for ages as I've seen it so much on social media - especially Instagram, and it is  Bondi Sands The Australian tan. I got this the other day when it was on offer for £9.99 and I love it. It also has a yummy coconut scent to it even when rinsed off and depending on how dark you want the tan, you can rinse it off after one hour. The colour itself is very natural, as i you were on holiday - it's not too yellow or orange, but the perfect shade of brown. It's very moisturising on the skin and makes my skin feel and smell lovely

Revlon Photoready Prime + Antishine

I love Revlons Photoready section, I think for the price, the quality and results are amazing! And this product is no different, any time I have used it, I'm matte and stay matte, it keeps my make-up on for a good few hours before I would need to touch up, if even and in pictures I look flawless. 

But what i also love about this is that you can use this as a primer and also to matte your skin before you apply your make-up, but you can also apply it after your makeup is done, if you happen to think you look a bit shiny you can just apply it like you would with a powder and it doesn't disturb your makeup in the slightest! 

Overall, a really great product which I would highly recommend! 

NARS Sheer Glow Foundation

Here I am wearing my NARS Sheer Glow Foundation and my skin just looks wonderful and healthy with a lovely glow. On my lips I have Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet in Don't Pink of It (10) which is a gorgeous muted matte pink shade

I have wanted this foundation for ages and unfortunately no where in Northern Ireland sells it and to be honest, I didn't want to buy it online in case it came broke or something, so I decided to wait until I went to Birmingham to get it. 

I got the shade Punjab which is Medium 1 and it was £31...... pretty expensive I know, but that's around the standard price for a high end foundation and it was totally worth it.

The coverage is really nice, I would say it would medium to definitely buildable, it gives the skin a really nice luminosity/dewy glow making the skin look lovely and healthy. It blends really nice into the skin as well and doesn't appear cakey even when I build it to full coverage.

Overall, this foundation is everything I wanted it to be and I will definitely be purchasing it again, maybe even online! :)

Sleek Face Form

I'm going to be honest and say I haven't tried that many Sleek products, I only have two of their lipsticks but I have heard so many good things about them and their products, and when I seen that they had this product in the shade I wanted (Medium) I knew I had to get it.
This product retails for £9.99 and can be found in larger Superdrug Stores

The first thing I fell in love with was the packaging, I love the matte black with the shiny Sleek on the front, it makes it look and feel expensive and sophisticated.

The pigmentation of this palette is wonderful, as they are powders I was a bit weary that they might be a bit chalky, but they are very smooth and glide on and give a wonderful pay off. I will be honest and say that I don't really use the blush shade, as I don't think I would be able to pull it off, at least not until summer where I want to look very bronzed and sunkissed, but other than that, I really do love this palette and for £9.99 you can't go wrong!

L'Oreal Infallible 24H-Matte Foundation and Primer

As you can see, my skin is very matte in the areas where I don't have a highlighter which is my nose, cheekbones and cupids bow

L'Oreal is fast becoming my favourite drugstore brand yet, they're products are absolutely amazing and the quality of each is superb. I bought the Infallible 24H Matte foundation and Primer a few weeks ago when they were on offer for £6.99 each in Superdrug and I've been trying them out for quite a while as well, I actually have two shades of the foundation - Porcelain and Sand Beige but for the purpose of this review I decided to do Porcelain as I don't usually show my pale foundations.

The foundation and Primer are fabulous together! The Primer has a very light texture and smooths onto the skin like a dream giving it a matte appearance. It doesn't feel greasy or sticky and doesn't leave any kind of residue on your skin.

The foundation matches me very well which is a bit surprising because usually I can't find one that does. It has quite a thicker texture/feel to it without it being too heavy, my skin still feels natural and like it's able to breath. The coverage is fairly high and is definitely build able without looking cakey - and it also applies matte onto the skin.

The staying power is also incredible, I wore this for a few days from around 8am to about 6.30-7pm and it did not budge, at all. It lasted well around 10.5 hours without a touch up, though that could be contributed to the fact I have dry skin, but even without that I'd say this would last a decent amount of time on any skin type

I do have dry skin so I was a bit wary when I first picked this foundation up, but I can honestly say I haven't had any problems with this foundation clingy to any dry areas or making me look patchy and I think it is mostly down the the fact I moisturise before I apply primer/foundation and also because of the Primer itself, helping to smooth out my skin - so even if you do have dry skin, I would highly recommend this duo, they are brilliant!

Revlon Lip Butters

I absolutely adore Revlon Lip Butters – although to be fair it took me a while to actually get into them. I bought my first one a way last year and it was in the shade Cupcake 055, and it didn’t really do me any favours – it didn’t flatter my skin tone and made my teeth look more on the yellow side which is not flattering. But the past month or so, I have really been loving them and I have bought 6 shades in total so far, which are (from left to right) Crème Brulee 095, Peach Parfait 025, Strawberry Shortcake 080, Macaroon 096, Berry Smoothie 050 and Candy Apple 035.I love everything about these products, the packaging – it’s simple but effective, the texture is incredibly smooth and moisturising, the colour payoff is brilliant and buildable, even the smell is good and for the price, they’re hard to beat!

I would highly recommend these, if you haven't tried them already!

Maybelline Super Stay 24 Colour - Review

From top to bottom - Always Crimson, Red Alert and Soft Taupe

Step 1 - The colour 

Step 2 - The Balm 

I bought one of these a few weeks ago which I had show in one of my haul posts, and I absolutely loved it. The first colour I got was Always Crimson 575 and I wore it none stop thanks to the beautiful Youtuber Amanda Ensing who sported this kind of lip colour a few times in her videos and on her instagram - it's the perfect deep red/brown shade and it also made my teeth so white. Because I loved it so much, I decided to go for a classic red shade so I got Red Alert 560. And the final shade I have is Soft Taupe 615 which I love love love! The reason I wanted something of this shade is because I have seen so many Youtube videos which hosts Limecrime's Velvetine in Cashmere and I thought this shade from Maybelline was the perfect dupe!

I really do adore these products, they retail for £7.99 in Superdrug and Boots, the colour payoff is phenomenal - and it the product is also very build-able, the lasting power of these is also amazing, I wore Always Crimson the other day for around 9 hours and I didn't have to top up once - it's amazing. I also love how it has the two steps - the balm is so moisturising and feels lovely on the lips without making them sticky.

I would highly recommend this product, it's a 10/10 for me! And below is just a picture of how Soft Taupe looks on the lips :)

realTechniques Silicone Liner Brush Review

I picked this brush up because I love realTechniques, I think their brushes are amazing and one of the best, it was also on sale for £5.00 and I have wanted a new brush to apply cream eyeliner for months so I thought, why not?

I do really like this brush, it's pretty flexible so it is easy to run along the lash line, it has a pointed tip also to help create a very thin natural looking line but you can also use the side if you want a thicker one. It does however take a while to get used too, at the start it is a bit hard to use and get the eyeliner on decent looking but practice makes perfect and I really do love it now, I use it everyday for my eyeliner :)

Book Review - Flight (The Cresent Chronicles #1) by Alyssa Rose Ivy

Sometimes you just have to take flight.

A summer in New Orleans is exactly what Allie needs before starting college. Accepting her dad's invitation to work at his hotel offers an escape from her ex-boyfriend and the chance to spend the summer with her best friend. Meeting a guy is the last thing on her mind - until she sees Levi.

Unable to resist the infuriating yet alluring Levi, Allie finds herself at the center of a supernatural society and forced to decide between following the path she has always trusted or saving a city that might just save her. 

Ill be honest in syaing that I don't really know what drew me to this book, it definately wasn't the cover, I really don't like it... it was probably the fact the blurb mentioned a supernatural society, I have a thing for those and I was pleasently surprised to find that it wasn't the typical vampire/nephilium side of the supernatual spectrum - it was something completely different.

I really enjoyed this book - it was like nothing I've ever read before and that's always a good thing, I loved the characters and I loved the story line.
The plot was paced at a decent speed, it didn't go too fast, where you didn't even know what was happening, and it didn't go too slow, where you were praying for the chapter to end. I really enjoyed the story, a summer away to another city to work for your dad, then you meet a handsome, charming, alluring yet very annoying guy to end up getting caught in the middle of a supernatural power struggle - that's a lot to take in - but Alyssa made it exciting. She made it so that the entire story just flowed, you werent sitting there wondering what in the world is happening and that's one of the main things I loved.

I also loved the supernatural side of it, Pterons. I've never heard of them, but they are very important in this story, and are the main part of it - Levi, his friends, his family, are all Pterons and rule the supernatual society in New Orleans, which no one tells Allie - shocking - and in order to keep peace (so to speak) the heir to the thrown must find a mate, or else the society will be moved to the next city with an heir who has already chosen a mate - that bit was a bit confusing. But I'm sure you can guess where I'm going with this.

Overall I did really enjoy it, the budding romance, the supernatual, the danger and excitment - what more could you ask for in  a book?

Brand Review - Technic

 

I'll be honest, I've never heard of this brand before and I only came across it because my work decided to bring in some make-up to help boost sales, and this is the brand they brought it. So far, I've been pleasently surprised, when I swatched the shadows on my hand while I was in work I was shocked, the pigmentation is wonderful and so are the colours in general, I will say though that the shadows may be a tad chalky, and I would guess that there would be a lot of fall out during application, but I don't mind that. For £1.80, what more could I expect? There were three palettes available, Nude, Bronze and Smokey; I got the nude and bronze because I don;t really wear grey/black smokey eyes so it would have just been a waste but so far I'm loving the palettes that I did purchase. I will say though that I would have preffered if the Nude palette had one matte colour as the Bronze and Smokey palettes did, but no matter.

For the nail polishes - I was immediately drawn to this colour, it's in the colour Indian Ocean and to me, it really does look like the perfect colour to represent the Indian ocean. I also love the fact there are two ends, it really adds the polish and I just couldn't help but by it, plus it was only £2.00! bargain! There were four of these polishes in total, but the others didn't really catch my eye, but considering how lovely this one was, I may just have to get them anyway!

Product Review - Bourjois Healthy Mix Concealer

I love the brand Bourjois, I love their foundations, primers, bronzers and lipsticks, but I've never tried any of their concealers and as I've heard good things about the foundation version of this concealer, I thought I'd try it. 

I'm on the fence, there are things I like and things I dislike, nothing too major to be fair but still. 

What I like...

I like the packaging of the product, I love the red, granted there is a lot of writing on the packaging but yet it doesn't look crowded or a mess. 

I like the consistency of it. At first it looks rather thick, but once you start to blend it in it goes on really smooth, it's not cakey at all and it very easy to blend. 

I like the fact that it hid my blemishes well and it didn't take much product to do so. 

What I dislike...

I don't like the smell. I know it has the whole fruit therapy thing going on, but it smelt like artifical fruit so it wasn't very nice at all.

As I said before, it hid my blemishes well, but it didn't hide the redness. The redness still shone through the concealer which I didn't like. It hid my spots, but not the redness... weird.
It's not good as an under eye concealer, as it is a bit thick, I noticed it really clung to the small lines around my eyes especially when I smiled it was very noticable.
I also dislike the applicatior, it does get quite messy - I would've preferred if it had a brush or sponge tip applicator to make the process easier and less messy.

Overall I do like this product, but I don't know whether I would purchase it again.

:)

Product Review - Rimmel Match Perfection Concealer

This is my holy grail product. I love it, not only is it great at concealing my under eye circles, it's great at illuminating the area and highlighting it. Unlike the Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch concealer, this makes my under eye area and any other area which I use it, such as my nose and cupids bow, a shade lighter than my foundation which I love! That is what I would expect from a highlighting concealer, and this one does it wonderfully, my favourite concealer for this by far!

Do you recommend  any concealers that are great at highlighting that I should try out?

Product Review - Bourjois Rouge Edition Lipstick

Initially my sister was the one to introduce me to this particular lip product. I've never tried any of the Bourjois lipsticks before but when she told me how fab it was I had to try it for myself.

I do not have a bath thing to say about this product. 

I love the pigmentation and colour of it, it's a really natural slightly nude, muave/pink shade, so it's perfect for everyday, and one swipe is all you need to get wonderful pigmentation of colour.

It lasts for a reasonably long time, I wore it all day yesterday and only had to reapply once and that was it so that's awesome, a lot of my other lipsticks tend to wear off quite easily especially if I'm eating or drinking etc. but this one didn't.

The texture is really smooth and it's very moisturising which I love, as my lips are always dry it doesn't accentuate it or make it worse, it makes my lips look full and juicy :)

Overall, it's a really great product and is definately worth the money. I'll be purchasing more of these lipsticks in the near future for sure

:)

Product Review - Topshop Powder Blush

I'm not a huge wearer of blush, I think I have enough pink in my cheeks that I dont even need to wear any at all, unless I go full coverage, but that doesn't stop me from buying it and as soon as I seen this one in Topshop, I fell in love.

I only have one other blush from Topshop and it's a cream blush called Afternoon Tea, and even though I love it... I prefer this one more. This one is in the shade Good Girl and is a beautiful baby pink shade. It's not chalky or excesively powdery and the pigmentation is wonderful. It also has a slight shimmer to it so it's really flattering when applied and helps to illuminate the look of your skin. It's now my new favourite blush for summer.

I also love the packaging of Topshop products, it's just really simple, white and black - you can not go wrong with that 

Topshop is quite an expensive brand so I wasn't surprised to find that their make-up would also be around the same price range and Bourjois or L'Oreal etc, but it is definately worth the money, I love love love it :)