Fashionista palette review- Blush and Eye shadow

This post is going to be about the Fashionista palettes, available at superdrug. Similar to higher end brands, such as MAC, these palettes allow you to get a palette and choose your own individual eye shadows and blushes. The pallet's are £5 and the eye shadows and blushes are £4. You can fit 4 blushes/eye shadows in your palette and you can mix and match what product you can put in them. This means that overall your filled palette will cost £21, which in my opinion is quite expensive for drugstore make-up. However when I brought mine there was an offer on where you got your palette free when you brought four eye shadows/blushes. I am not aware if this offer is still on.

 The palette itself is very nice and good quality. I have it in black, but you can also get it in red. This is great because you can have one for blush and one for eye shadow and you don't have to look inside to see whats in them. The palette also has a big mirror which I use everyday when doing my makeup because it is a perfect size. the palette is also great for travel because it is very thin and closes shut securely.

Colours: Steel shade 3 (eye shadow), Amorous shade 33 (eye shadow), Blushing coral shade 5 (blush), Rose glow shade 2 (blush)

 I picked up two blushes and two eye shadows to test them out. Firstly the eye shadows, which i was not impressed with. I found the eye shadows did not have very good pigmentation and were hard to blend. Although they are drugstore products I expected more considering that they are £4 and MUA shadows (which are great quality) are only £1! So I would not recommend the eye shadows from this range. However the blushes are fantastic, they are super pigmented and matte which is really hard to find in a drugstore blush. If you are very heavy handed with your blush these may not be for you as you only need a light hand to get great colour pay off. I also love the fact that you can change the intensity of the colour, depending on how much you use.

Pro's...
-The blushes are great quality
-You can put blush and eyeshadow in the same palette
-Good to travel with
-Nice quality palette
-You can have the products in the palette or in single cases
-You can see the name of the product through the back of the palette
-It is easy to pop out the products and change what you have in the palette

Con's...
-The eye shadows are not great quality
-The price adds up quite quickly when buying the complete palette
-If you are heavy handed you will not get on with the blushes
-There is not a great shade range

Overall i think these palettes are a great idea, I was just disappointed with the eye shadows. I will definitely get two more blushes to replace the eye shadows in my palette because they are fantastic! I hope they will extend the shade range and maybe create new products to put in the palette such as lipstick and cream products. definitely check these palettes out when you next visit superdrug!

No7 Vouchers- What I would recommend using them on

Hi guys, The No7 vouchers are out again and I thought I would share some recommendations of what to use them on. The vouchers out at the moment are valid until 25th March 2012 and are worth £5. If you have never heard about the No7 vouchers they are money off any No7 product in Boots, you get them when you spend over a certain amount in any Boots store.

My first recommendation is one of my favourite products from No7, it is the Metallic eye pencil. This pencil is fantastic and in my opinion it is as good as the Urban Decay 24/7 glide on pencil. It goes smoothly onto the water line and lasts for a good majority of the day. The only downfall to this product is that there are only 3 colours available green, blue and purple. I have the green one and i am definitely going to get the other two with my No7 vouchers. This product is £7.75, which means if you use your voucher it is just £2.75 which is an amazing deal!

My next recommendation is the eyeshadow blend and contour brush. This is said to be a dupe for the MAC 217, however i do not own this brush so I cannot say if I agree with this. But what I do know is this is an amazing brush for applying shadow to the crease. It does shed a little but nothing drastic, it also cleans well and keeps its shape. This is usually £7.25 which is a good price for a decent brush, but with the voucher it is £2.25! It is hard to find any brush for that kind of money, let alone on that is good quality.

This one is for the nail polish junkies! No7 have brought out a mini nail kit with 4 limited edition nail polishes inspired by precious metals and gemstones. All the shades are beautiful and a great deal at £8.00, that's £2 per nail polish! But again if you use the voucher it will cost £3, which means you are getting each nail polish for less than a pound each!

My final recommendation is the beautifully balanced purifying cleanser, I have only tried the one for oily/combination skin. I really like this cleanser because it is really gentle but still leaves your skin feeling clean and very soft. I also like that it left my skin matte but not dry. This product is £8.00 but will cost you only £3 with the voucher.

Here are just a few of my recommendations for what to use your No7 vouchers on. I have tried other products from No7 but haven't been too impressed with them so if you would like me to do a post on them products then please let me know! They also have a new 'beautiful skin' range which looks very nice, but u haven't tried anything from the range so i cannot tell you if it is good or not. Please let me know what products you recommend i use my No7 vouchers on!

E.L.F cosmetics- product reviews, swatches and overall opinion

This post is going to be about E.L.F (eyes, lips, face) cosmetics. If you haven't heard of them before they are a brand of cosmetics that sell many items at very low prices. They have three different collections, the first is the basic collection. The majority of the products in the basic range are £1.50, however it can vary slightly depending on the product. then there is the studio line and the mineral line, these lines are slightly more expensive however they are still great value for money! I have made a couple of orders from E.L.F and I have mixed opinions on the products. First I will share my thoughts on the products I own from E.L.F.

First is the brightening eye colour quad, these retail for £1.50. This is a great deal for 4 eye shadows and they have a wide range of colours to choose from. The quality of the eye shadows is ok for the money however I found that the quality of the shadows varied in the palette I had. You can probably see in the swatches below that the blue and cream colour had good pigmentation and were not too chalky, these were the colours I was most happy with. The pink had great pigmentation but is quite chalky and has a lot of fall out. The purple however had rubbish pigmentation!

Punk Funk

The next product is the shimmer eyeliner pencil, this also retails for £1.50. The shade I have is Grassy Green. This eyeliner is nice and pigmented and is reasonably soft. It is great for applying on the lower lash line however it does not apply well to the water line. When I tried to apply it to my water line the colour did not come off. But for the price it is a nice base if you are using colour along the lower lash line.

Grassy green

I was very excited to try this product however i was very disappointed when i tried it. This product is the luscious liquid lipstick. It sounds lovely, I was expecting a smooth creamy gloss. However i find these to be very sticky, thick and goopy. I have two shades of these, strawberry and baby lips. Strawberry is the most pigmented of the two, it leaves a red tint to the lips. Baby lips is a gorgeous colour when swatched but when it is applied to the lips it does not transfer. These are £1.50.

left= baby lips

right= strawberry

The next item was a big disappointment, but don't worry I do have some good products after this. This product is the waterproof eyeliner pen, I had this in two shades coffee and midnight. But I cannot swatch them because I threw them away! It could have just been that I got a bad two but I still am not impressed! They were dry as soon as I opened them, meaning they would not apply well. These are cheap at £1.50 but I wouldn't waist your money on them!

Next is a product that is part of the studio line, the cream eyeliners. I only have one off these in the shade coffee however since I bought mine they have brought out a range of different colours which i am dying to try! Before I start raving about this product I need to let you know that they do not last well on the upper lash line as i find they print onto my upper lid, however if you have never had this problem with gel liners then you may not experience this. I use this product on my water line and it is fantastic! It glides on with great pigmentation and lasts all day, it also does not irritate my eyes which some eyeliners can do. This product costs £3.50, which i think is an amazing price for the quality of the product. The brush it comes with is also ok, it is definitely usable but you may prefer to use another brush.

Coffee

Another product from the studio line is the matte lip colour, this is also £3.50. This is a lovely product as it gives a beautiful matt finish and lasts really well. It is not very drying to the lips however if you are like me and like really moisturised lips at all times you may want to put a gloss over it. This is a nice product and definitely worth £3.50.

Coral

The final product is the eyelid primer, this is part of the basic range and is £1.50. I have also had the mineral eyelid primer but I cannot tell a difference so you might as well save some money and get this one. I have very oily eyelids so I can never go without a primer on my eye. I was using the urban decay primer potion and then I ran out, I couldn't justify spending the money on another one so I desperately searched for ways to get around it. Then I came across a comparison of this and the urban decay primer potion and it said it was just as good. So I ordered it from the E.L.F website and fell in love, it does a great job. My only complaint is that it runs out quite fast so you may need to stock up each time you order. Since then I have been trying the MUA eye primer and have chosen it over the E.L.F one only because I can get it from my local superdrug. But I definitely recommend getting this if you are looking for an inexpensive eye primer!

Overall I think E.L.F is a great brand as it offers nice products at great prices! But if you are new to E.L.F then i would recommend searching reviews of things before you buy them as the quality of the products do vary. Also the swatches available on the website are pretty rubbish to be honest so its best to search for swatches online. I will be making another order from E.L.f in the near future so please let me know what products you would recommend from them. Thanks for reading this post!



Valentines gifts under £15!

Gifts for your valentine dont have to break the bank. You can get some great gifts at low prices! Here are some of my top picks for valentines gifts under £15!

The first and probably most affordable is the MUA Love Hearts range. This range includes a selection of gorgous nail polishes and lip balms. At £2 each they are a bargain and a great gift for valentines! You can only order these from the MUA online store.
Available at www.muastore.co.uk

Next is one for the guys, this is one of the many fantastic deals from boots. This gift set i have choosen is the Gillette Fusion ProGlide elite shaving kit. In this set you get a razor, shave gel, face scrub and moisturuzer. This set was originally £25 but is part of a half off deal so it is £12.50, a great deal!
Available at www.boots.com

This sanctury gift set is a great deal at £10, but boots have an offer on at the moment where if you spend more than £10 on sanctury products you can get this gift set FREE! So you can choose a few items for you valentine and give them this as well! This set includes a Luxury Bath Float, Body Butter, Body Scrub and Moisture Rich Foot Butter.  

Available at www.boots.com

Another one for the guys, these Jeff Banks purple shield design cufflinks are a wonderful gift. These are available on the debenhams website for £14.80.
Available at www.debenhams.com

Next gift is a Lipsy phone case, both these cases are available on debenhams. The iphone case is £10 and the blackberry case is £12. These are great gift ideas, especially if your valentine has a new phone!
Available at www.debenhams.com

The next gift is this Ben Sherman wallet. this is the perfect simple gift for any guy young or old. It is also a great price, originally £15.00 but now reduced down to £9.00 in the sale. This wallet is available on ASOS.
Available at www.asos.com

This next gift is a simple but beautiful piece of jewllery that any girl would love! It is a Sterling Silver Mini Cubic Zirconia Heart Pendant Necklace from the brand simply silver. You wouldn't beleive this was under £15, at £14.40 its a great buy for your valentine!
Available at www.debenhams.com

The final gift is a very versitile gift and is a great idea if you are unsure about what your valentine would like. The gift is a Love2shop voucher, these are a great idea as they can be used at over 20,000 stores across the UK! So there is very little chance that they wont find something they love! These vouchers are available in £1, £5, and £10 so you can get the exact amount you want.
Available from www.highstreetvouchers.com

Hope you enjoyed reading about these gift ideas, even if you don't have a valentinees to buy for. It doesn't mean you can't check out these great deals!

Soap and Glory 'THICK & FAST' mascara review

In the March issue of ELLE magazine they are giving away the soap and glory 'thick and fast' mascara. This mascara usually retails for £10 in boots, in my opinion it is an ok price for a drugstore mascara. This is my first product from the soap and glory make up range and after trying it I am hoping to get more of the range.

The name 'thick and fast' certainly describes the result you get from this mascara. It gives you volumised lashes with only a couple of coats. I have been using this mascara for a few days and have had not trouble with it smudging or drying up and flaking. It my opinion it is the perfect formula, not too watery and not too dry. Another thing I love about this mascara is the fact that it is not too hard to remove, it isn't as easy as some other mascaras I have tried but you don't have to sit there for ages scrubbing at your eye. As you can see below it is a bristle brush, i personaly prefer plastic wands but this is an exception! The size of the wand is also nice, it isn't too big.

This is the wand

These are my bare eyelashes

These are my lashes after they have been curled

These are my lashes after one coat

These are my lashes after two coats

As you can see from the pictures this mascara really volumises your lashes without making them look clumpy. One complaint I have about this mascara is that it does not hold the curl of my lashes very well and they start to drop throughout the day. But apart from that I really like this mascara and I am looking forward to trying more soap and glory makeup products, so if you have any recomendations please let me know!

MAC Pro Longwear Lipcolour review

When i used this product for the first time I could not believe it was from MAC! The product i am talking about is the MAC pro longwear lipcolour. According to MAC this product is comformatble, kissable and long lasting. This lip product is certainly not confortable and i would not kiss anybody with it! However I will give it to them it is long lasting, you cant get it off! On the website they suggest using a cleanse off oil, which i dont mind if i actually like wearing it.

My first problem with this product is the price, at £17.50 it is quite expensive for a lip product. But it is MAC so you expect these prices, but you also expect to recieve good quality products. The shade i got this product in is Durashell if anyone is wondering. This product cosists of two sections, a long lasting colour and a clear gloss to go over the top.

 Above you can see what the base colour looks like on my lips, it is a very nice colour but feels and looks horrible. At first it is soft and creamy on your lips but then it dries and sinks into the cracks in your lips. It also breks apart leaving an uneven stripey finish.

Above is what it looks like after you have applied the gloss. I wasnt to keen on this either as it was very wet, however I prefer this to sticky. It made the lipstick  a bit more comfortable on the lips, however it spread the bits of dried up product around making it look even worse!


I would definately not reccomend this product and suggest saving your money on something else! To be honest it isnt even the price, I would be angry even if this was a drugstore brand. It is a shame as MAC is a very reputable company and has many great products, however this is definately not one of them!


Sorry for the negative review but i had to let you know about this product! Hope you enjoyed anyway x

Beauty Bargain!!!

Hi this is my first blog post, hope you enjoy!

I had to let you know about this amazing offer that superdrug are having at the moment. As valentines is approaching everywhere is having offers on their fragrances and I thought this one was worth a mention.

The offer is on the Beyoncé Heat perfume. This fragrance is fun, girly and sweet and in my opinion a great every day scent! The top notes in this fragrance are Red Vanilla Orchid, Magnolia, Neroli, and blush Peach. The heart notes are a combination of Almond Macaroon, Honeysuckle Nectar and Crème de Musk. And finally the base notes are giant Sequoia Milkwood, Tonka Bean and Amber. All together these ingrediants make a perfect blend of sweet, fruity and woody scents to make a fantastic smelling perfume.

The best part is still to come, superdrug are selling this fragrance for £19.99 and thats the 100ml version, the largest size you can get in this perfume! This size of the perfume is usually £37.99 which means you get a massive saving of £18.00! This is a great deal, you certainly dont want to miss out! So get down to your local superdrug and have a smell, in my opinion this fragrance would be suitable for many age groups as it is not overly sweet.

Hope you go and check out this amazing deal and make sure to let me know if you like it!