Sleek Rose Gold Blush

I love this! Was so hard to get hold of but I eventually found one in one of the Superdrugs near me! It was around £4.29 or something, I cannot remember exactly!

It is the second Sleek powder product I have tried. The first was Sleek's contour kit, which I still love but unfortunately the highlighting shade has shattered! :( But I still use the contouring colour, mainly as a bronzer though as I don't like to make my face look any more angular than it already is! So hopefully this one will not shatter, touch wood!

The name is kind of misleading, I would call it more of a coral shade. It isn't really a traditional rose colour. When applied it does appear more red-pink toned than it looks in the pan though, so bear that in mind. It is very shimmery though. It has gorgeous gold shimmer running through and I find that I don't really need to use a highlighter with it. If you have large pores on your cheeks I would be wary of using it as shimmer makes large pores a lot more obvious! I always try to use the rule of not applying blush any further in to my face than my pupils as it can look unnatural, but it also helps me not to get it on the larger pores around my nose and the centre of my face!

I prefer this applied on top of a bronzer to enhance the colour of it and help create a glow! I can't wait to wear this on holiday, I think it will look absolutely stunning on bronzed, sunkissed skin! It is highly pigmented so I think it will last a long time!

 Here it is lightly swatched.

 And heavily swatched.

Here it is on, photographed in natural light

And artificial light.

Has anybody tried this blush or any of the other Sleek blushes range? What do you think?

No7 Nourishing Lip Shine

So I've heard that this is supposed to be a dupe for the Clarins Lip Perfecter, but as I haven't tried that I can't tell you if it is. However, I can tell you how much I adore this lip shine!

I originally saw this featured in Lisa Eldridge's candy colours make up tutorial. To watch it click here. She said it was like a balm with a little bit of tint to it, and I completely agree. It is not gloss like at all. She featured the pink colour but I thought that the peach colour would compliment my skin tone more and would be more fresh for the summer.

The applicator is soft and plush and helps smooth the product across the lips well. I like that there is no wand to fiddle around with. The product simply squeezes out of the end by either squeezing the tube or pushing down the white inner lid.

This is the colour swatched. It is a gorgeous peachy colour and has no shimmer to it. You could wear a very small amount to give a boost of moisture to the lips without looking obvious that you have product on them or you could layer it up to achieve a more glossy finish. However the feeling of the product is not slimy, it is definitely more of a balm texture.

You can see how in different lights it can appear more natural or more gloss-like.

It wears very well and leaves no sticky residue on your lips but just seems to wear down evenly until it has all gone. I'd say I get 3 ish hours out of it, but it only stays looking perfect for an hourish. It has no taste which I prefer as I may end up licking it all off, and as I constantly have chewing gum I often find flavoured lip products interfere with the minty goodness! I really like it! It costs £10.50 and is sold at Boots. I bought mine with my £5 voucher, and as I have another I am tempted to go back and purchase the pink shade! They are limited edition summer collection and are currently sold out online, so if you are thinking about getting one I'd head to a store and try to get your hands on them!

My wuffa!

Ok, so I thought I'd do an impromptu post of my wuffa! She is called Meggie and as I walked into the kitchen today she just looked so adorable that I couldn't resist taking a snap of her! How she is comfortable I don't know but it's cute none the less. :)

Natural, everyday makeup look.

So I thought I would show you the make up look that I wear pretty much every day.

Tres easy and simple to do :) I tend to go for the au natural look!

Do you like the organised chaos going on in my bedroom? :)

So I start by moisturising my cheeks with Clinique dramatically different moisturising gel. Then I apply the Benefit the Porefessional to my t-zone as that's where my foundation struggles to stay put. Then I make my own tinted moisturiser with 2 blobs of Chanel VA in B10 and B20 (I am between those shades) and Clinique moisturising gel. I use equal parts of foundation to gel. I apply this using my fingers to the centre of my face working outwards. 

I do my brows next. I brush them through with the eyebrow brush into an arched shape and then using Maybelline colour tattoo and the ecotools angled brush fill them in sparingly. I love this for brows as it is not warm toned at all and I don't like reddish brows! It has a grey tone to it so this cancels out any warm tones going on!

Next I blush and bronze. I use the Ecotools blush brush for bronzing and sweep the Elf bronzer across my cheeks, forehead and temples. I have a really angled face anyway so I don't need to do any countouring, and just apply bronzer where the sun would normally catch me. This is quite pigmented so you don't need a lot. It is quite "muddy" as opposed to "orangey" toned. I refuse to look tangoed! Then I use the little blue brush to apply the Sleek blush to the apples of my cheeks. Its a gorgeous colour, lots of shimmer running through it though so stay away if you have large pores on your cheeks.

Then using the angled brush again I take MUA shade 19, a lovely matt brown colour and apply this to the top lashline, but not on the tightline. This gives the illusion of thicker lashes and is a lot less dramatic than using a gel liner or kohl. I like to stay quite natural for the daytime :) Then I curl my lashes and apply mascara, bottom lashes first. Then you don't blob it on your eyelid whilst it's still wet. Not a huge fan of this mascara as it smudges terribly on the bottom lashes but I am trying to use it up!

Then I slick on some No7 nourishing lip shine, which I bought as I heard is a dupe for the raved about Clarins lip perfector. I have never tried the Clarins before but I am very impressed with the No7 product! I hate lipgloss and the main reason I bought this is because I had the Boots £5 voucher for No7, I'm not sure whether I would have otherwise bought it as I am not a fan of lip glosses at ALL! I hate feeling gloopy and sticky. But this is more like a smooth tinted balm. It's really lovely.

So there we have it! I hope you all like!

The face behind the blog!

Please excuse my jeggings still around my legs! I had been shopping all day, and I was getting tired of taking my boots on and off so I left them on ha ha! Does anybody else do this? :)

Thought I would have a break from the nail posts! I was shopping in Newlook and saw these gorgeous dresses. I wasn't sure whether or not to get them so I snapped a few pics and sent them to Mumma B! She said she liked them, so I bought them both, muahaha! I thought they would be lovely for on holiday, either in the day as a sun dress or to wear in the evening and dress them up with some heels and accessories for a nice meal out. They were £22 each but I got 10% with my NUS card. Ahh, being a student has its perks! I don't know what I will do when I leave! 

What do you guys think? Any suggestions for what to wear them with? I was thinking tan handbag and sandals :)

DIY rainbow nails!

So I was feeling happy and summery, despite the weather being miserable! So I decided to do something fun and summery on my nails. In hindsight though, rainbows are when it's sunny AND raining, so I guess the idea was quite appropriate! Anyway, onto the nails!

 The blurred photos makes them look way cooler than they actually are! They look a lot more seamless.

 Here you can see all the imperfections.

These are the colours I used, in order from base to top!

Red - Rimmel "Double Decker"

Orange - Rimmel "Tangerine"

Yellow - Barry M "Lemon Ice Cream"

Green - Opi "Mermaid's Tears"

Blue - W7 a blue jelly-creme colour. The label has come off so I don't know the exact name! Sorry about that!

Purple - Revlon "Rock"

Pink - Ciate "Jelly Bean"

(I know it should be indigo and violet for the last two but I figured purple and pink would be easier!)

To create this look I used a triangular sponge and a plastic plate. I poured a drop of each nail colour onto the plastic plate, dipped the edge of the sponge in and dabbed across the nail, and then "ombre-d" the rest of the colours over the top. I was hoping they would blend together better to look a bit more like a graduation of colour but it didn't work too well. To get the effect I was aiming for I would have probably needed to mix each colour together to blend them better. Maybe another day, that would be so time consuming! I still like this though! I went shopping and got quite a few compliments!! :)

Hope you all like, will any of you try this one yourselves? :)

Gemstone Overcoat with George at Asda's Deceit!

This is a polish called Deceit by George at Asda. It's a gorgeous charcoal colour with shimmer running through. It cost £1.75. This was two coats, layered with Andrea Fullerton's Gemstone Overcoat.

 With flash. The flakies don't really show up to well.

Without flash. You can see the reds running through the flakes. Lovely!

That stuff was like gold dust to get hold of! I probably waited about 6 months before I finally found a bottle! It's a flakie that shines from green, yellow, orange and red. There are probably some other colours in there too but it's been a while since I wore it and those are the ones I remember! :) It was £4.99 from Superdrug.

Hope you like! Have you tried any of the Andrea Fullerton range? What do you think?

George at Asda - Ultra-Violet!

This colour is spectacular! I love it! I believe it was £1.75. It is sheer though so I layered it over the top of a blue jelly-creme colour by W7. It also looks gorgeous over darker colours but I prefer it over blues as it makes the blue to purple duochrome more obvious and has an overall brighter effect. I took these pics probably a year ago and I am disappointed to say that within a few months of use the polish had turned completely gloopy and was unusable :( the same also happened to another charcoal glitter colour I had called Deceit. The bottles say the products have a lifetime of 6 months, which is nearly accurate so I cannot complain! But the range is cheap and cheerful and I wouldn't hesitate to buy more!


Enjoy!

Gosh Holographic!

Ok. So the next few posts are going to be very nail-heavy. Why, I hear you ask? Because I love nail polish! :) Hope you like them!

About a year and a half ago I managed to get my hands on the elusive Gosh Holographic! I was on the lookout for it for about 2-3 months before I came across it. I actually found two but didn't buy both of them, which I now regret as whenever I use it I'm worried I'm going to run out! It was half price so I believe it cost £2.50 ish at Superdrug. It takes about 4 coats to get an even finish! And as everybody says, it's a nightmare to apply. It's a streaky mess but the formula dries rapidly so you can apply the coats practically one after the other. Lasting power is terrible but as it is designed as a party polish, we can't really complain! I took a few snaps to try and catch the beauty of it but it's truly something to see in person! I may have also found a more long-wearing dupe for this, so watch out for that as a post will be coming up soon!

Hope you like!

Rio Rosa Mosqueta

This is going to be a joint review on 2 products I was kindly send by the company Rio Rosa Mosqueta!  The products they sent me are their Oil, and Organic Day and Night Cream. I received them about a week before Christmas and have been using them most days since. I haven't seen many in-depth reviews, so I thought I'd do a huge one to compensate! Enjoy!

Rio Rosa Mosqueta Oil

Rio Rosa Mosqueta claim that the oil works for scars, stretch marks, fine lines, crow's feet, sun damage and dry skin. 

The oil comes in a frosted glass bottle with a silver pump and lid, which is perfect for dispensing the right amount of product, especially as it is an oil. With oils, I think that less is definitely more! The 20ml bottle will last me an age! It is a yellowy shade. Like a thinner, more transparent and liquid olive oil. It retails at £10.49.

So a bit about me...I have combination skin. Pesky dry patches, normal cheeks and an oily T-zone! It’s an absolute nightmare trying to find a moisturiser that can help combat all these problems!

I have actually used the oil before (I pinched Mumma B’s bottle!) and found it perfect for in the winter, or during times when hormones play havoc with my skin! I use the oil underneath my eyes most evenings and sometimes if it’s feeling very dry, before I apply my make up. During the winter I had been using it a lot more regularly to try and pre-empt any dry areas! I find that for me personally, on a day to day basis that the oil is not suitable for use all over my face and can leave me feeling a little greasy. That is just my preference – I really dislike feeling a product left on my face, and for the young, oily skin on my t-zone it is just a little too intense! I LOVE how well this moisturises any dry patches though. It is like an au natural alternative to the Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream! The only other facial oil I have ever tried is Miaflora Moroccan Argan Oil. I actually use this mainly in my hair (another potential use of Rio Rosa’s oil!). The argan oil is wonderful too, however it has quite a distinctive smell which some may find somewhat unpleasant! It smells quite earthy, almost...(dare I say it…) manure like?! Not intensely so, but it does have a certain note of pong in there! This is why I much prefer the rosehip oil, it is completely odourless and for any people with sensitive little schnozzes out there, you won't be offended! Some people may be reluctant to use a pure oil product, however it's important to know that this is a dry oil, which soaks quickly into the skin leaving it silky soft.

Now I have purple-ish scars on my skin from picking spots as a naive little teenager! Naughty naughty! However these are on my t-zone where I find the oil a little too intense for my liking so I haven’t seen any fading properties...as I haven't used it there. Duh!

However, for as long as I can remember I have had small red bumps on the backs of my arms. I see a lot of people out and about with them also, and after trying many different moisturisers with no avail I had just decided to accept that they were here to stay. I don’t know what prompted me to use the oil on my body but one day I did for a few weeks, and WOW. The bumps pretty much disappeared! They haven’t reappeared either so I have had no reason to reuse the oil on my body.

In my opinion, it is definitely suited to people with skin on the more normal, dry or mature side. My Mum loves this. She’s probably quite irked that I pinched her bottle of it, but I can return it now that Rio Rosa Mosqueta kindly send me a bottle out! Being 19 I can't really comment on the anti-ageing benefits (it can’t hurt though, right? Mother nature ain't giving me no wrinkles!) but the clinical trials research done by the company suggests that it is worth a try if you are interested in anti-ageing elements. This is due to the high content of fatty acids, which are beneficial to the skin, but the body cannot make them itself and must rely on other resources to receive them, cue Rio Rosa Mosqueta!

The Organic Day and Night Cream

The Day and Night Cream was the one I was really excited about using because I hadn't tried it before. The company claims it rejuvenates and protects naturally, helps prevent the signs of ageing, renews tired looking skin, boosts moisture levels, protects against UVA damage, and is certified organic. It retails around £14.99.

This also comes in the same style of packaging, a frosted glass tub with a silver lid. There is also a plastic “inner” lid, I presume this is to prevent mess inside the lid or product leakage and to stop the cream drying out. The cream itself is white, and of a thick consistency. On an everyday basis I used to use Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing gel. I love that the gel soaks completely in and leaves no residue, it just removes tightness in my face after washing. I used to be satisfied with that, but it just doesn’t have the ability to really deeply moisturize the dry patches on my chin and around my eyes – but that is where the Day and Night cream comes in! It’s fab! I can also use it on my cheeks because they are normal and don’t over produce oil like my t-zone tends to. Around my eyes and chin I first sparingly apply the oil, and then “seal it in” with the Day and Night Cream. I also put the cream on my cheeks, and the on my t-zone! It sounds like a faff, but I have three different skin types on my face at either end of the spectrum and I am yet to find a product that will combat all three of them!

At night time I enjoy using the cream all over my face. It feels so silky and luxurious; it feels a lot more expensive than it is! (what a treat!) It plumps, and I didn’t know my skin could be plumped, I’m young, I thought this was as plumped as it was going to get! It softens and I have noticed that my skin tone has looked a lot more even since using this.

Over winter I went away skiing to the French Alps, which was absolutely stunning! However, the weather did nothing for my skin! My normally combination skin became sensitive, wind-chapped and dry all over within a few days. I also had a cold so I was blowing my nose non-stop. I luckily had brought along both these products, and using them combined together worked wonders. I actually took the oil up the mountain with me most days because the weather was so windy that my poor nose was stinging and needed some TLC! I used the oil on my lips too which stopped them from splitting. As soon as I got back I would slather the cream over my face (a little does go a long way!) and head to the sauna to open up my pores and let it really do some good for me! This leads me to think that this cream would work wonders for you if you live somewhere cold. Give it a try! The cream also protects against UV damage so was ideal for being on the mountain where there was a high risk of burning your face on a sunny day!

The cream is marketed to be suitable for all skin types, however if you have oily skin all over then I would recommend only using this at night.

I have genuinely really enjoyed using this duo and will probably purchase the cream when I run out. I am not sure whether I will ever run out of the oil! I hope that this review has been helpful to some of you! If there is any other information you wish to know that I haven't covered, I recommend you visit their website, I found it très informative!

That's all folks!

Have a nice day!

*disclaimer*

These two products were sent to me after entering a competition. It has been my choice to review them as I enjoying using them so much! I am not being sponsored to write this post and I am not affiliated with the company Rio Rosa Mosqueta in any way.