Illamasqua - Cream Pigment in Hollow - Review

Hi lovelies!

If Illamasqua are on your radar and you're a pale lady like me, Hollow is something that already heard a ton about (sorry!). I can't remember a day where I've done my makeup and haven't attempted to contour, its just finding that perfect product that is really a pain in the ass. Now I've purchased quite a few bronzers (i hear makeup artists weep at the thought of contouring with bronzer) and ultimately most are just too warm. I've been using my trusty Laguna and MAC Sculpt powder for a good year or more and thought it was about time to switch it up!

Illamasqua cream pigments are multitasking products that come in a variety of shades to be used on the eyes, lips or cheeks, or really wherever the hell you want them to go! Hollow is such a special shade as its been deemed by many as the perfect contour shade for paler complexions, and I totally agree with this statement.

Please excuse the messy pan pictures as i have committed the number 1 blogging sin.... I played around with it before phographing *gasp*. I've been using my Real Techniques contour to brush to apply this and I've found this SO easy to work with for contouring! It applies beautifully and you have to build it up to get a real defined look which is perfect for heavy handed me. Being cream in texture i find it wears longer on the skin, i do tend to set it with a swipe of my regular contour colour for extra definition and lasting power

Priced at £17.50 it isn't the cheapest product on earth but Illamasqua offer an extremely generous pro discount and often have sales, i picked this little gem up in their 50% off sale. If i ever get through this, i'll be repurchasing it in a heartbeat, i love it that much.

Overall i think this is a fantastic find for the paler population. If like me you struggle to find contour colours that are not too orange or muddy i really suggest checking this beauty out. You won't regret it!

You can find Hollow on the Illamasqua website here.

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xox

FOTD: Winter Is Coming

 Hey Lovelies!

 My blogs been choc full of hauls lately, so i thought I'd change it up a tad and share the look I've been wearing quite a bit over the past few weeks. I love the whole rock chick trend at the moment and I've been obsessing over anything studded and bold, berry lips! Its a simple look as I've been pretty lazy on the eyeshadow lately, which needs to change soon. I've not been brave enough to try a black, burgundy smokey eye, but that's next on my list!

Eyes:

MUA - Eye Primer

Elf - Black Liquid Eyeliner

Almay - Get Up And Grow Mascara

Anastasia - Brow Powder Duo

Lips:

Jack Black - Lip Balm 

Revlon - Kissable Balm Stain in Crush

Face:

 Darling Girl - Face Primer

Tarte - Amazonian Clay Foundation in Ivory
Maybelline - Dream Lumi Concealer in Radiance

Laura Mercier- Secret Brightening Powder

Nars- Laguna Brzoner

Mac - Lightscapade
Tarte - Amazonian Clay Blush in Flush

  

I really need to get some more stain like products, i love the Revlon Balm Stains, even though they are on the drying side! But i don't fear having clown mouth with them and they have superb wear time, love them!

Have you cracked any "wintery" shades out of your stash yet?

xox

Current Favourites & My Everyday Face

 Heya lovelies! My favourites posts are few and far between, but as I've been loving a whole load of new and rediscovered products i thought I'd share the best of the bunch with you lot! I'm never going to be a monthly favourites kinda gal, i just don't change up my routine enough so those posts would be pretty samey, but from time to time i love to show off the bits and bobs in my collection that have been getting a lot of love recently...

Royal and Langnickel - Flat Top Kabuki Brush
I picked this little beauty up at IMATS. Now if you've watched a lot of IMATS videos you'll have seen these pop up quite a lot over the years, normally to be never seen in a video or post again but lately i have been LOVING it. This had been sat on my shelf for a good few months without use, so after cleaning all my brushes i hooked it out and was determined to give it a fair ol' use. I've been using it to apply my Dream Matte powder, its perfect for setting foundation by just pushing the powder in to the skin. Its ridiculously soft and only cost me around £6 with the IMATS discount, but can be found on the Royal and Langnickel website for about £12.

Natural Collection - Apple and Lime Body Spray

I was introduced to this one a month or so ago by the bestie and I've got to say other than being a teenager and drowning myself in the vanilla version I'd been a bit of a snob about these. After a girly night i could smell DKNY Green Apple, so being nearly out of mine (and about four other favourite perfumes, sob) i asked her if i could have a squirt of hers, turns out it wasn't DKNY at all, but this little beauty. Now on further inspection it isn't an exact dupe as it has a lime element to it that the DKNY doesn't have and it isn't quite a sharp, but its pretty damn close. At £2, its a real bargain if you're not in the position to splash out on the real deal, and if you have an unsophisticated nose like me, you may not even be able to tell the difference! It obviously doesn't last as long on the skin, but for the price difference, who cares?!

Revlon - Kissable Balm Stains

I want more of these and i want them now! Near enough the only thing on my lips for the past month, i just wish they had more shades! For someone who isn't a fan of creamy lipsticks, this is perfect for me. It adds gorgeous colour without me feeling conscious of smearing it across my face, win! The stain lasts a good few hours for me and the chubby stick like packaging makes it ridiculously easy to apply. I'm planning to get my paws on a whole bunch of these while I'm in the USA next month.

Origins - Drink Up Overnight Mask
I'll keep this short and sweet. Gorgeous mask, leaves my skin feeling soft and moisturised without feeling greasy. 100ml for £20, so not bad at all price wise! I've recently reviewed this beauty here.

 China Glaze - I'm Not Lion

I'm Not Lion is an absolutely STUNNING shade. Its a beige, champagney glitter that would work beautifully for both warm and cool toned skin. I've been wearing it for every night out over the last few weeks! Its opaque in two coats and in any form of light sparkles like an absolute dream. Me and my amateur camera skills haven't been able to capture its full beauty yet... But google swatches... Do it NOW! If you don't have this, you need it!

Maybelline - Dream Matte Powder

 Another product that had been sat in my drawer for quite some time, i think i have faaar too many of those! Up until recently I'd preferred quite heavy coverage and had been loyal to setting my foundation with either Elfs HD Powder or Mac Studio Fix, but as HD isn't really travel friendly and Studio Fix is on the heavy side i hooked this out of my collection. Its matte without looking heavy and powdery, its not the longest lasting powder but its easy enough to shove in your handbag and reapply on the go.

Milani - Corallina Baked Blush

 My only coral blush, although I'm still eyeing a few! After seeing these all over American blogs and Youtube channels i caved and eBayed one of the Milani Baked blushes. Its a gorgeous orange coral with quite large silver shimmer. Now at first the silver shimmer REALLY put me off, but it buffs away to be mostly unnoticeable, so i can live with it. I think these cost around $6 but i payed a little over £8 with delivery which isn't too bad. The only downside is that my Mother has taken a shine to this blush, so i am constantly having to steal it back from her!

Mac - Cream Colour Base Pearl

Possibly my favourite highlighter ever! Stunning goldy, pearl, cream highlighter. Gives the face a real radiant glow! I absolutely love it! And taking into account how little product you need to use, I've actually hit pan on this which says it all really!

Wow this post is getting lengthy! I've worn this look for about 75% of the last 4 - 5 weeks, i should really change it up soon but I'm really loving to easy it is to apply in the morning. And as it involves quite a few of my current favourites i thought I'd share it with you!

Eyes:
Makeup Forever - Smoky Lash Mascara
Mac - Omega Eyeshadow (brows)

Lips:
Revlon - Kissable Balm Stain in Rendezvous

Face:
Missha M - Perfect Cover BB Cream
Maybelline - Dream Matte Powder
Mac - Cream Colour Base in Pearl
Milani - Baked Blush in Corallina
Nars - Laguna Bronzer

What are you're current favourites?

xox

FOTD: Chinovi Neutrals

So i have finally gotten around to playing with my Chinovi Cosmetics goodies from my recent haul, hurray! And lets just say, i am not disappointed! But i wont go into that as my next post will be my full review and swatches, I'll just share a quick FOTD with you lovelies!

I've been on a real neutral kick lately, even my Naked palette is getting a bit of love, although on a whole its still far too warm for me. After swatching my new Chinovi shades i fell in love with a couple and have finally found a day time, smokey, neutral combo that doesn't pull too warm on me, yay! Just as per usual, ignore the brows, I've still not mastered those...

Eyes:
MUA - Eyeshadow Primer
Fyrinnae - Pixie Epoxy
Chinovi - Smoke Out
Chinovi - Nude Pearl +
Chinovi - Speechless
Elf - Black Liquid Eyeliner
MUFE - Smoky Lash
Mac - Fling Pencil

Face:
Estee Lauder - Double Wear Foundation
Bare Minerals - Blush (shade update later)
Nars - Laguna Bronzer
Inglot - Makeup Base

Lips:
L'occitane - Lip Balm

They were a dream to apply and such an easy look to do that i think this will be getting a lot of wear over the next few months. Also, I've managed to finally get my skin somewhat clear, I've changed a few things in my routine, like using non abrasive exfoliators and adding a few drops of tea tree to my toner and my skin is seeming to LOVE it! But again, another post on that soon!

What are your favourite neutrals?

xox

Nars Sheer Glow Review & FOTD

Ello lovelies!

Its taken me a LONG time to do, but finally i've gotten round to doing this review. The main reason being my love / hate relationship with this product, which I'll get into later!

I picked this up maybe two months ago at a Space NK, i was REALLY looking forward to being able to see this in person as we don't have one locally. The assistant was nice enough to try it on for me, after battling to get my doublewear off and her applying a smidge too much bronzer i decided i LOVED the finish. So off i skipped with my pretty (expensive) new foundation. We were having a heatwave at the time so we waddled down to the beach for an hour which was lovely! I did have an allmighty shock when i got home and discovered that it really wasn't just a smidge too much bronzer, but i looked pretty tangoed, cringe!

Here's what Nars have to say about it...

"A glowing, satin-finish foundation with sheer and buildable coverage. Replete with skincare benefits and the NARS Complexion Brightening Formula, skin is hydrated, more luminous, softer and smoother. Used daily, Sheer Glow Foundation improves skin brightness, radiance and texture. For normal to dry skin types."

So i've been using this on and off since i purchased it and yes, it is ever so slightly too dark for my skin tone, but blended out its really not that noticeable. The first shade was SO yellow on me it was unbelievable. So this is where my love / hate relationship started... Some days i absolutely LOVED the finish... some days, well not so much. Applied with a damp sponge it gives what the name would suggest, a sheer, glowy finish which i really love.

I had a few fails when trying to apply it in other ways, using a buffing brush it just looked too obvious and even slightly cakey on my skin. Using fingers it applies with much more coverage, not sheer or glowy at all and can be built up to more of a medium coverage without going cakey and more is a bit hit or miss on me. Using fingers is definitely the option of choice if you want / need more coverage. Until the past few weeks i'd be using different primers and i've found that Benefits Porefessional works best for my skin, it makes it SO much easier to apply and actually makes the foundation last quite a lot longer throughout the day.

So that really explains my slightly undecided view on this product. If I'm looking for something quick and easy to slap on, this isn't it for fear of cocking it up. But if i've got a little more time to work with this has been my foundation of choice, using my fingers to work it into the skin. With that method I'd agree with Nars on that it's satin finish, not completely matte, but certainly not sheer or glowy in the slightest as the name suggests. But with its downsides i am enjoying using it and managed to get a few snaps of me wearing it shopping the other day below!

Face:
Nars - Sheer Glow - Monte Blanc
Nars - Laguna Bronzing Powder
Benefit - Erase Paste
Milani - Coralina BlushElf - HD Powder

It’s such a hyped foundation and an expensive one at that, would i buy it again? Erm.... probably not? I say probably because if i manage to have a eureka moment and learn how to apply it properly every time i probably would, although i really dislike spending £30 on a foundation. But if not, it’s a bit too much hassle for me, I'd much rather repurchase my Double Wear or get a new sneaky BB cream, or two.

Have you tried it?
Did you love / hate it or are you still undecided like me?

Nars Sheer Glow is available online at the Nars UK and online and in Space NK stores across the country.

xox

FOTD + New Hair!

 

Ello lovelies!
So today i had one of those impulsive moments and decided to change up my hair. Well originally, i planned to just do my roots and slap my usual red on top but noticed i had a slightly different Wella dye in the drawer and thought, why not?! If i don't like it i can always shove a semi on top!

Well... i kinda like it! 

Giving the porosity of my hair I'm not sure how long it'll last, but if i can find a good gingery semi i might be keeping this for a while. And inspired by my new hair i decided to give my Naked Palette another go. Its been sat unloved since i was first sucked in by the hype. Until now i couldn't never really get the colours to work on my pasty skin, but after today I'm sure it'll get a bit more use!

Eyes:

Benefit - Stay Don't Stray

Urban Decay - Sin, Virgin, Toasted, Hustle.

Urban Decay - Zero 23/7 Liner

Smashbox - Felt Liner

Inglot - AMC 67

MUFE - Smoky Lash Mascara

Lips:

Revlon Lip Butter - Peach Parfait

Face:

Skin Food - Red Bean BB Cream

Elf - HD Powder

Collection 2000 - Lasting Perfection Concealer

Elf - Shimmering Facial Whip - Persimmon

Nars - Laguna Bronzer

   So when this fades do i keep it up? Or go back to my usual red? Or even try blonde, i really know know!

xox