Sparkle and Shine

Glittery and sparkly infused makeup products are always quite like marmite in the beauty world. You either love a little sparkle or you really don’t. I for one definitely love it! Although at Christmas time it really is the excuse to drown yourself in glitter and sparkly stuff and no one will even bat an eyelid. Glitter might seem a little scary for some but there is some easy ways to add a little sparkle to your look. I’ve rounded up some of my favourite ways to add that sparkle and shine to your festive beauty routine…

Base Products 

Adding anything glittery or sparkly to your base is always a bit intimidating but there is easy ways to do it without looking like you’ve used one of those glitter roller-balls (remember those!?). Highlighters are a completely obvious one. When it comes to going out or particularly at Christmas time I always look out my most intense highlighters. I am currently loving the Mary Lou-Manizer which adds a gorgeous sheen to the cheekbones without adding large flecks of glitter. If you want to see more of my highlighter picks check out my edit here.

Blush is also a great way to add a little glimmer to your cheeks without overdoing it. Nars Orgasm is a classic, a gorgeous rose pink shade with gold shimmer running through it. A lot of people find the gold shimmer off-putting but it isn’t really detectable on the skin, it adds a beautiful glow to the cheeks. The Hourglass blushes are also another great pick as they have highlighting properties to really brighten your appearance.

Eye Products 

Eyeshadow is one of my favorite ways to add a little shimmer to my look. I am forever a shimmer over matte kinda gal when it comes to eye products so I have quite a lot of products that fit the bill. One of the best products to really get your glitter on is Pigments. They always appear like they are a right hassle although after trying a couple from Mac I am totally obsessed and don’t really find them too much bother! Mac have a great variety of shades and they look super beautiful and intense on the lid. I talked about my pigment set here. I totally now have my eye on Mac Copper Sparkle and I also so need Vanilla, what a gorgeous inner corner highlight!

I also have a couple of gorgeous sparkly shades from Nars. The first being from the Steven Klein collection, Stud, a gorgeous pewter bronze shade which is one of the most beautiful eyeshadows I have ever seen. I spoke about it here but it is definitely a must have and a fail safe option when in doubt! I also picked up one of the cream eyeshadows from Nars last year, the shade Interstellar which is a gorgeous metallic silver shade which is great if you are more into your silvery shades rather than gold tones. The formula is also super creamy and the shade is greatly pigmented too!

Nail Polish 

A completely fail safe option for adding glitter, probably my favourite too! I love a good bit of glitter on my nails whether its all over as a top coat or as an accent nail for just a subtle hint of sparkle! I spoke about the Nails Inc x Alice and Olivia set here which holds one of the most beautiful gold glitters.  The shade Gold Goddess is perfect for the festive season and can be built up to a fully opaque finish. Another great glitter option comes from Essie who have a great range of sparkly shades. I picked up Summit of Style which is from last year’s winter collection although can still be picked up from Amazon. This is one I know I will be wearing over the Christmas period as an accent nail teamed with probably something berry toned!

How do you get your glitter on?

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Blogger Enabled Purchases

Looking at my entire makeup collection, a very large percentage of it was some way or another enabled by other beauty blogs. Usually every-time I plan on buying a product I turn to other blogs in hope to find out if I should really be spending my money on a certain product. Basically I am a sucker for hype and my collection proves that. I have gathered a small bundle of products that I own that I basically bought because blogger hype. Although as I say this is only a small quantity so if anyone wants a round 2 then let us know! Warning: long post ahead, get a cuppa!

Anyway on to the beautifully hyped products. First up is the base I have been obsessed with lately. BareMinerals launched their Complexion Rescue earlier this year and was soon featured in so many favourites posts of many bloggers/YouTubers. Since I started to find a new love for light coverage bases I had wanted to try this out. This definitely lived up to the hype. Easy to apply, weightless on the skin and the most perfect radiant skin. A favourite of mine for a long time to come! Check my full review here.

Continuing with base products I’ve also got a concealer from Maybelline, namely the Anti-Age Eraser Eye. Now this product got a lot of loving from Anna (Vivianna Does Makeup) and being a drugstore product there was no guilt in picking this one up. Now this concealer was so popular that I couldn’t even get my hands on it for such a long time. I went to every Boots/Superdrug in my city and could not find the shade Light in any of them. It was also sold out online everywhere. Until luckily it came back in stock on Feel Unique and I quickly snapped it up. I bought this concealer for under the eyes as I did have a gap in my collection for a good under eye concealer. Although sadly I don’t think this has filled the gap. The shade range (in the UK anyway) is atrocious. Two shades both of which are too dark for my skin but neither of them are incredibly dark either. So the shade ‘Light’ is basically too dark for me which doesn’t help when trying to lighten up my under eye area. Nevertheless the concealer is ok and I do quite like the spongy applicator which everyone seemed to dislike. Honestly it’s not any bit less hygienic than a doe foot applicator.

Moving on as I realise how long this post is going to become, sorry guys! Back to a bit of product loving. I recently picked up the Body Shop Honey Bronzer which was basically enabled by Estee (Essie Button) who raves about this all the time. This is just such a lovely bronzer. The shade range is perfect. For a pale kid like me it’s spot on. The shade isn’t too muddy or orange on the skin, its just the perfect colour that warms up the skin beautifully. I think this one will become a long time fave!

On to lip products. Two very similar lip liners gained a lot of attention in the blogging world lately. First up the Rimmel Exaggerate lip liner in Eastend Snob, a dusky pink my lips but better shade. Now this got a lot of hype due to its similarities to the also well hyped Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk which also makes my list. The shades are very similar but the Rimmel counterparts edge just that little bit darker. Although If I am honest the CT version pips this to the post by a large margin. I really am not a fan of the Rimmel liner, in fact I’ve hardly used it but have so little product left as it keeps breaking each time I use it. I also much prefer the smoother finish of the CT liner in comparison to the Rimmel one which I find a little too waxy on the lips. Another hyped lip product was the Clinique Lip Pop range that basically every blogger spoke about for weeks on end. A new lip range boasting a moisturising finish with good lasting power and good pigmentation. Basically these were meant to be the top dogs. I picked up the shade Melon Pop, a gorgeous summer appropriate coral shaded pink. The moisture with these lipsticks are definitely there, they feel super comfortable on the lips. Although one thing that does let it down is the lasting power. I have heard better for other shades but this shade in particular doesn’t tend to last very long on the lips which is a shame as it’s such a pretty colour.

Another highly hyped product that I couldn’t wait to get my hands on was one of the By Terry Ombre Blackstar eyeshadow sticks. After seeing Lily Pebbles and Tanya Burr sporting the ‘Misty Rock’ shade on several occasions I couldn’t resist any longer. The mauve-plum-silvery indescribable shade is truly gorgeous and a super unique colour. The formula of this eyeshadow stick is unbeatable. Super smooth and glides easily over the eyes without tugging but with all the colour pigment. See my full review here. I need more!

Finally! Probably the most naivest purchases I could ever make although not regrettable. The Nars Laguna Bronzer and Nars Orgasm Blush are two of the most hyped products around and of course I had to have them for that reason. I bought these two back last year when I first started getting into makeup but honestly I had no idea what I was doing. At that point I probably had no idea what bronzer was for never mind spending nearly £30 on one and a blusher when blush wasn’t really my thing and the shade wasn’t even particularly me either. Although step forward a year and as you can see that bronzer has been well loved although thats because I used it everyday after buying it then when I hit pan I stopped, true story *fear of repurchase*. The blush as well is truly gorgeous, with specks of gold shimmer it really makes your complexion glow and doesn’t sit flat. Even if I never bought them last year then let’s be honest I would probably would have picked them up sooner or later cause hype… ya know.

Did you get sucked into the hype with any of these products?

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The Spring Blush Edit

If there is one thing I am loving at the moment, its a bit of blush. Just a touch of pink on the cheeks is enough to add a little life and energy to a rather dull complexion. With Spring here (or not considering the weather lately) I’ve been stashing away my darker berry blushes in favour of light pinks and corals and I am loving it. In fact I am getting pretty blush obsessed recently and I could totally do some damage in the beauty aisles searching for some newbies for my collection… *hides bank card* Anyway here are some of my picks for Spring.

MAC Ripe Peach – Its pretty damn dreamy, am I right!? Now if you seen my full review on this one here, you may recall I was slightly disappointed with the formula of this pretty blush. The pigmentation isn’t great and it does take a bit of building to get any colour pay off but for this time of year the subtle peachy tones just add a little warmth to the complexion. It has a slight shimmer to it but not too much, this is a blush I can see myself reaching for during summer for just a little boost of colour.

Rimmel Stay Blushed Sunkissed Cherry – A cheap and cheerful choice from Rimmel. I love this liquid blush. When I say liquid, its more of a creamier thicker consistency but not too thick. The great thing about this blush is you only need the tiniest amount and it creates such a beautiful flush of pink on the cheeks. Due to the liquid/cream formula it also appears super natural on the cheeks, perfect for Spring.

Nars Orgasm – Lets try get over the weird name. I have spoken about this one briefly here. Its a classic. When I bought this I wore it religiously and then as Winter approached I turned to darker shades but now its back out. Its a beautiful shimmery pink without being overly shimmery. The pigmentation and quality of this blush is fantastic and I really am lusting over a couple more from Nars. Again you only need a light-handed sweep of this to achieve a pretty and natural flush of colour.

Benefit Majorette – Of course if I had the chance I would mention this one again and again. This really does have Spring written all over it. A beautiful coral peach shade and in a great workable cream formula. You can use this as a blush booster (under another blush) or by itself (which is the option I do). Alone it creates such a beautiful pop of colour on the cheeks. I love it, you can see my full review here.

What blushes are you reaching for this Spring? 

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