The Highlighter Edit

If there is one type of makeup product I have always had a strong love for it is highlighter. I just love that glowy and sparkly look. With Christmas time upon us, there is no time better than present to get that highlight on ‘fleek’! I’ve gathered quite a few highlighters in my collection and thought I would give you a little look at some of my favourites. I’ve split my highlighters into categories due to their formula so you will find cream-based, liquid and powder highlighters in my edit as well as a mix of drugstore and high end products. Time to get that highlight on!

Cream Highlighters 

Cream based highlights are great for the warmer seasons and are a great convenient way to highlight. Both my picks are from Topshop and are two of my all time favourites.

Topshop Glow Stick in Play-up – This was probably my first ever highlight purchase if I can remember rightly. It is also my most used with only a tiny amount of product left. The shade is a gorgeous pearl-y champagne colour and is great for people with fair skin. The wind up stick is super easy and great for on the go as you can simply swipe it directly onto the cheekbones and pat in with your finger. The formula is super creamy too and sits beautifully on the skin. It is also a total bargain at £10.

Topshop Glow Pot in Polished – A very similar highlighter to Play up although this is in a pot form and more creamier. This is one of my all time favourites, it offers again a pearl-y white highlight shade which is much more intense. I like to apply this highlighter using my fingers and just dab it on to my skin for a gorgeous radiant glow.

 

Liquid Highlighters 

Similar to cream products, liquid highlighters offer a gorgeous glow perfect for the summertime. I have a high end favourite and a more budget friendly alternative.

Nars Illuminator in Copacabana – I am a huge fan of Nars as a brand and nothing has seemed to disappoint me so far so this highlighter is no exception. It offers a gorgeous pearl-y pink shade that looks super dewy and fresh on the skin. It is a great one if you are looking for something natural and glowy. With a 30ml size tube, it lasts for ages as you only need a tiny drop.

Seventeen Skin Wow! Primer – This drugstore highlighter is a great dupe for the Nars option. It offers a very similar product although I would say the Nars one is slightly more pigmented whereas this is more of a subtle sheen. Although this highlighter is marketed as being a 3 use product by being a highlighter, primer or mixed in with foundation. Applied as a highlighter it offers a gorgeous natural healthy glow.

 

Powder Highlighters 

Probably my favourite type of highlighter from the bunch. I love the intense look on the skin that a powder formulation offers and my two picks definitely offer that.

The Balm Mary Lou-Manizer – One of the most talked about highlighters in the beauty world. Surprisingly one I only picked up last month! This is totally worth the hype though! A gorgeous gold-y champagne shade that is super intense on the skin. The formula is super smooth and applies beautifully! It also isn’t too badly priced either so definitely one I suggest picking up especially if you have fair skin!

Becca Skin Perfector Pressed in Opal – Becca highlighters are also another well hyped product and one I had only tried recently. As part of their Christmas offering this year I picked up a little mini in the set I spoke about here. Opal is very similar to The Balm option although it is slightly more Gold-er  and peachier in colour. The formula of these though are unbeatable, super buttery and smooth. They really are a dream to apply and one you have to try! I also may have picked up Champagne Pop last week…

What is your favourite highlighter?

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Contouring and Highlighting With Seventeen

Contouring and Highlighting has took the beauty world by storm in the last year. Whilst it’s been a popular technique with make-up artists for years, it’s only now became a mainstream method with most major beauty brands launching their own products to help give that chiseled look. Whilst many higher end brands seemed to latch on to the contour/highlighting trend pretty quickly it took the drugstore a little while to really catch on with the latest beauty trend. Although one drugstore brand has served up a duo of products to help you nail the look. Seventeen have a couple of products from their range that I’ve been trying out, both of which can help create that sculpted and glowy look on a budget.

I am without a doubt a lover of the glowy look. The Seventeen Skin Wow 3 Way Highlighter* is definitely a product well up my street. Essentially a three-in-one liquid highlighter, it works as an illuminating primer for under foundation, an extra glow mixed in with foundation or a highlighter to add to the tops of the cheekbones. Personally I prefer this as a highlighter over the top of foundation to add that extra glow. The highlighter is super lightweight and blends beautifully on the skin. It isn’t overly shimmery or glittery but appears as a natural glow on the skin. At £5.99 it is such a bargain especially considering the 30ml size. A easy convenient product that I will love for a long time to come and a product that could easily rival many high end counterparts.

Whilst the contouring trend may conjure scary thoughts, there is no reason to be afraid of a little contour. The Seventeen Define and Conquer Contour Kit* is the perfect everyday contour kit. The kit comes with a contour shade and a highlight shade both with a matte finish. As a pale skinned gal, I only need to use the contour powder light-handedly to create a sculpted look on the cheeks. The powders are super fine though and blend really flawlessly. As I do prefer a more sheen-y finish highlighter, I prefer using the liquid highlighter for highlighting on the cheekbones rather than using the matte formula. Although the matte highlight shade works really well to add a little glow all over the face and under the eyes rather than a full-on highlighter. Again at £5.99 it is a bargain and the contour shade alone is worth a lot more.

*pr samples

Are you a fan of Seventeen products?

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5 Beauty Products Under £10

You may recall my 5 Beauty Products under £5 post? Well now its time for another, although this time with a slightly bigger budget at £10. The drugstore really have some gems and these particular products are favourites of mine and best of all they can be each be purchased with just one £10 note.

First up are the gorgeous Max Factor Creme Puff blushes. I have one in the shade Gorgeous Berries and gorgeous really does sum it up. These swirly baked blushes are said to be a dupe of the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blushes which are stunning but expensive so these make a great alternative. Drugstore blushes are never really that appealing if I’m honest but Max Factor have really delivered with these blushes making them one of the best drugstore launches in a long time! Great quality, gorgeous and affordable!

Another great pick from Max Factor is their Excess Shimmer Eyeshadows. These are the perfect drugstore cream eyeshadow with a whipped like creamy texture and bold pigment. Similar to the Maybelline Colour Tattoos but with a much easier and creamier formula. I have two shades, Bronze and Copper which are two gorgeous shimmery shades. The name ‘excess shimmer’ may put people off but seriously there is nothing overly shimmery here, just the perfect amount of shimmer that can be worn on an everyday basis. A really beautiful formula worth picking up!

The Queen of Drugstore Eyebrow Products is of course Soap and Glory. They have a great selection of brow products that could easily rival Benefit and put other drugstore brands to shame. My favourite is of course the Archery pencil which is supposedly a dupe for the Anastasia Brow Wiz? This pencil comes with a pencil end (obviously) and a spoolie end. It is a super quick and easy product to use and creates a much fuller brow but still leaves your brows looking natural and soft.

I finally caved into buying one of the much hyped Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet Lipsticks a while back and I am forever lusting after more. As liquid lipsticks really have their moment, Bourjois stole the show with their affordable but quality version. I picked up the shade Hot Pepper, a bright red which has strong pigment and superb lasting power. These have a really nice formula too which glide on smoothly without any stickiness and dry down to a smooth matte finish. Now what shade to get next…

Lastly, I couldn’t do this post without mentioning one of my favourites. The Topshop Glow Pot Highlighter in Polished. Highlighters are one thing that the drugstore has been rather slow at delivering but Topshop have set the bar high and really have produced some glowy gems. This is my favourite from the collection, a creamy based pearly coloured highlighter that gives such a fresh radiant glow. Pressed along the cheekbones, this is just perfect and one you need in your collection.

Are you a fan of any of these products?

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The Spring Edit 2015

Looking out the window just now, it’s safe to say Winter is far behind us. Enter Spring, warm(er) weather, cherry blossom, excuses for ice cream and lighter nights. When it comes to beauty, its all about the light glowy radiant look with gleaming highlighters, fresh radiant bases and coral cheeks. In other words here is the bulky spring edit for 2015.

Starting with the base, I have a newbie in my hands! If you read my blog regularly you may recall me lusting after the Nars Sheer Glow foundation for far too long well as you can see now I have finally picked it up! While BB/CC creams and tinted moisturisers are all the rage for spring for the fresh light coverage look, my skin needs a little more cover. This foundation has pretty darn good coverage but still offers a radiant look perfect for spring. To add that extra light and glowy feel, a swipe of the iconic YSL Touche Eclat under the eyes is great for brighting any dark circles.

Onto the cheeks. I couldn’t resist mentioning this one again, Benefit Majorette Blush. This cream-to-powder coral blush is the perfect boost of colour for the cheeks in Spring. For a bronzed look, a sweep of Nars Laguna round the face and in the hollows of the cheeks for a subtle contour. To top it off, a light sweep of the irresistible Nars Copacabana illuminator on the cheekbones to achieve that extra glow.

For eyes, I have been loving rosy and lilac shades on my lids. Maybelline Colour Tattoo in Pink Gold (swatch here) is the perfect soft pink and has such a beautiful creamy formula. In addition, L’oreal Colour Riche Mono Eyeshadow 601 is such a pretty shimmery blue-toned lilac shade. To finish, Benefit Bad Gal Lash gives the most prettiest natural fluttery lashes.

For the lips, my first ever MAC lipstick is back out to play. MAC Shy Girl is such a gorgeous nude peach shade which looks even prettier with a coat of clear gloss on top for a natural soft look. To finish, Chanel Tenderly (which I reviewed here) on the nails for that perfect spring look or a pastel shade from my Nails Spring Edit will do the job!

How have you changed your beauty routine for Spring? 

 

 

Disappointing Products

I like to think I remain pretty positive particularly on my blog but sadly some products just don’t impress me much (apologies for the Shania Twain connection). Speaking of which, today I am going to talk a little on some of those products. Now when it comes to beauty, everyone has different preferences and some things suit others better so I am sorry if I am about to slag off your holy grail product! Anyway here are my picks of the not so impressing products (for me anyway).

Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation – Now I have mentioned this one before and I know a lot of people love it but sadly it just didn’t work well with my skin. Sometimes it would sit okay and others it just failed on me. It seemed to stick to my dry patches, it didn’t last long and I felt like it was slightly difficult to blend in to a good finish.

Bourjois Delice de Poudre Bronzing Powder & Highlighter – Again I know this bronzer is a favourite of many but again I just didn’t get on with it. I don’t know whether I got a bad product or its always like this but I found this pretty unusable. Both the bronzer and highlighter are really stiff in the pan. My finger doesn’t pick up the bronzer at all and while it does for the highlighter, my brush doesn’t pick up the product. Other than that it smells pretty damn amazing which is probably the reason why I haven’t chucked this one yet!

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer – I’ve spoke briefly on this one too here and again its a pretty hyped up favourite by many. It just didn’t offer me the coverage I needed for my heavily blemished and red skin. It was really cakey as well in my opinion and just stuck to dry patches and the lasting claim never really happened for me either.

Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser – Sorry for the repetitiveness as I know I have mentioned my dislike for this one too. I love my primers but this one just didn’t quite cut it. It felt really greasy on my skin and never did anything for my pores. I didn’t really feel like it helped pro-long the wear of my makeup much either which is what I look for in a primer.

Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner – Being a lover of eyeliner pens like the style of this one from Eyeko, I was pretty excited to receive this in the Latest in Beauty box. However after first use attempt I was pretty disappointed. It’s not easy trying to master the cat flick with eyeliner so I always felt using pen style liners were much easier but this one left me in a struggle. It was so difficult to apply that I actually had to swap back to my trusty Soap and Glory Supercat to finish the look. It didn’t apply smoothly and felt like it was dragging my eyelid, I wanted to like it but it was just far too difficult to apply.

Benefit They’re Real Push Up Liner – Yep another eyeliner and pretty much the same reasoning. I absolutely love Benefit, they hardly ever let me down and being a huge fan of the mascara from this line I got quite excited to receive this in one of the Christmas gift sets. I have heard many reviews of this one saying its a bit like marmite, some love it and some hate it. Sadly, I’m in the latter category, I just couldn’t work this, it was too difficult to apply and it wouldn’t give me the smooth line I was after.

The Body Shop Tea Tree Pore Minimiser – Another disappointing primer. Again I couldn’t really see what this did for my pores at all and I don’t think it really did much to help improve the base of my makeup. The tea tree scent does feel fresh on the skin but it wasn’t quite what I was looking for.

Are you a fan of any of these products?

 

 

March Favourites

Happy April Fools Day! I would make a joke but its after 12 now and I’m no good at jokes so yeah I will pass on that one! Anyway can you believe its already April! Where has time gone!? I am so excited for the warmer spring weather and the chance to wear lighter and glowy makeup. So its time to look back at some of my favourites from the month of March…

MAC Soar Lip liner – First on the list is this highly-coveted-hard-to-get-a-hold-of lip-liner from MAC. Since the Kylie Jenner nude lip craze happened basically MAC nude lip-liners were no were to be seen. I had my eye on this one for ages to pair with my MAC Twig and I spotted a single one left on a trip to the MAC store and obviously had to buy it! MAC lip-liners are the perfect quality and this just looks great paired with Twig.

Benefit Gimme Brow – You may recall seeing my review here I did this month on this beauty. I picked this up in a bid to give my brows a quick fix and there is no turning back on this one. Its fab but slightly expensive.

Rimmel Kate Moss Lipstick 107 – A blast from the past! This was the coveted berry lip everyone needed to get their hands on and it still is. I’ve turned to this one several times this month before I say goodbye to the dark lips in time for spring. I keep getting reminded how much I love this lipstick, its creamy, pigmented and super long lasting as well as being such a gorgeous shade!

Topshop Glow-stick in Play Up – Another old favourite. I picked up this highlighter a while back from Topshop but have been using it on a daily basis lately. It is incredible. As a big fan of highlighters, I highly recommend this one and for £10, its fab! It so pigmented and glowy on the skin without looking sparkly or glittery. Its great for daily wear use without looking overboard and even know I haven’t tried either it look like a dupe for the Clinque chubby stick highlighter and the Nars Copacabana Multiple?

The Body Shop Coconut Body Mist – Last but not least is a lush smelling body mist from The Body Shop. I have worn this quite a lot recently despite having it for quite a while. Its a great fragrance for everyday wear and I have gotten so many compliments on it. Its affordable, a long lasting scent and smells pretty damn good, what is not to love!?

What have you been loving this month?

 

Urban Decay Naked Illuminated: Aura

I hope you are all appreciating the Urban Decay love this month, I now have realised this is my 3rd Urban Decay related post lately, apologies if you are anti-Urban Decay (why anyone would be I don’t know!). Now if you have read my blog a lot you may know that I love anything sparkly and shimmery so when I seen this highlighter I knew it would be right up my street.

I finally got my hands on it in the Christmas sales after Feel Unique had an impressive deal on it making it just under £14 when it usually retails for £22, how good is that! So of course I had to buy it! I picked up the shade Aura which is a gold champagne toned shade although initially I always wanted the whiter shade however it was out of stock but looking at how gorgeous this is I don’t really mind. It comes in beautiful packaging in a small box featuring a mirror and a lower compartment with a small brush.

I don’t even need to tell you how incredibly pigmented this is, the swatch does the talking. I have been looking for a good pigmented highlighter and this beats what I could have ever imagined. I’m sure you can also see how shimmery this is so if you are not a fan of glitter this is sadly not for you. Being as shimmery as it is, its more suited to being worn for going out rather than daily wear. It creates such a beautiful glow on the cheekbones and is definitely one of the best highlighters I’ve ever tried. Urban Decay: You’ve done it again!

Have you tried the Urban Decay illuminated powder?

Urban Decay Flushed Palette: Streak

If you seen my 2015 wishlist you may recall seeing this gem and as you can see it has successfully made its way to my collection! I was lusting over this palette for a long while and just looking at it I’m sure you can see why.

I picked up the Streak palette which appears to be the lightest of the bunch so perfect for my ever so pale complexion. The packaging is just so beautiful and like my other Urban Decay goodies I kept the actual box because they make such pretty boxes… is that a weird thing to say!? The palette itself reminds me of the Naked Basics palettes even though I don’t own any it appears similar with the compact sized hard casing and the magnetic closure which I imagine it also has.

The palette features a light bronzer, a champagne toned highlighter and a peachy blush. At first I was a little weary of the bronzer, it didn’t seem to work on my complexion well but after another try I fell in love. Its great for creating a subtle contour and for giving a soft bronzed summer glow. The highlighter is were this palette shines. This highlighter is full of pigmented shimmery goodness. It creates the most beautiful dewy look. Last but not least, a perfect summery coral peachy shaded blush! Urban Decay if you are listening: Single blushes please! Overall I have really took to this palette and its so beautiful for the warmer months for creating that glowy and dewy look. I will definitely be turning to this come summer.

Is the Flushed palette on your wishlist or do you already own it? 

The NYE Look

It’s hard to believe in a couple of days time we will be counting down the seconds til the New Year. There is no better time to get dressed up and drown yourself in glitter… yes glitter. And thats exactly what I am doing.

I fell in love with this ever so sparkly patterned jumpsuit from Topshop and just had to buy it. Its very flattering and comfortable although it has covered my floor in a blanket of glitter. It was £38 from Topshop however unfortunately it has sold out.

To match my ever so glittery attire I am going for sparkly shimmery eyes using my Max Factor Excess Shimmer eyeshadow in the shade Copper, serious good stuff here! and also my Naked 2 palette. Yup I finally have my hands on the second palette and its gorgeous! *heart-eyed emoji*

I am also going to add a touch of Benefit High Beam to my cheekbones for a glowy look and to finish off with a sweep of red on my lips. I am going to use my new fave matte red Nars Cruella which I got as part of the Nars Lip Pencil Coffret that I swatched here.

What is your NYE look?