Tuesday 23 August 2011

Anastasia by Beverley Hills!

I've never been entirely happy with my eyebrows. Through senior school my eyebrows were quite unruly, half moons that were dangerously close to uni brow territory until my friend got her tweezer happy hands on them. As you can imagine two giggling fourteen year old girls, armed with sharp tweezers, an eyebrow razor and hyped up on sugar - it was never going to end well. I ended up with very thin brows that I, for some reason attempted to maintain for a few years until the 'bushy brow' craze came around and my perception of eyebrow beauty changed. I now wanted full, thick brows and as I had plucked away the majority of my natural shape I decided eyebrow pencil was the way to go. Skip through a year or two of college, sporting over-drawn *cringe* too dark, bordering on clown-like brows I then decided I needed to tone things down slightly. Nowadays I use a powder to draw in my eyebrows and ATTEMPT to make them as natural as possible but I'm still not 100% happy with the result. Which is why when I heard the celebrity eyebrow groomer extraordinaire Anastasia was releasing her own line of products, including a brow kit I jumped at the chance to trial it out. Within the next few weeks I'll be popping up a review!

The Beauty Express Eyebrow Kit comes in two shades, blonde and brunette and inside you get two shadows, an eyebrow wax, a highlighting powder, stencils and a slanted eyebrow brush. As well as brow products, there are plenty of other products in the make-up line, here's a few examples as well as a video featuring Anastasia herself using the brow kit!

Matte Red Lip

As many of you will of noticed I usually favour a nude lip, pale pinks or red lipstick. By far the easiest of the lot I would say is the red lip, this may come as a bit of a suprise to most but for me - matte is the way forward. Matte colours tend to adhere to the lips and therefore have less movement, last longer and in my opinion - attract less attention and require less maintenance. Ideal!
This is the combination I sported recently on a night out in town and to Latitude festival, I really feel like colourful lips add a touch of drama to your make-up when you don't have time/are too lazy to focus on the rest of the face. My two favourite products for a perfect matte red lip is NYX lip pencil in 'Cabaret' and ELF lip stain in 'red carpet' - which also has a gloss on the end if you feel you need it. Both are affordable and great quality, the liner allows you to get a precise shape - I always emphasize the cupids bow - and the lip stain I use to fill in as an all over colour.

Thursday 11 August 2011

Good Things Five Minute Facial Mask


 
★★★★★
£5.99 - Boots/Superdrug'Good Things Facial Skincare has been developed by Award-Winning Beauty Writer Alice Hart-Davis using her years of expertise in the Beauty'

I'd been looking for a good face mask for a while so when I was sent this to try out I couldn't wait to slather it on and see what happened. The first thing you'll notice is the packaging which is well designed and eye catching, as well as the mention that it's 'FREE FROM: Parabens, Mineral Oils, Sodium Laureth Sulphate & Animal Ingredients' which is always a plus! One of the huge positives for me is the scent, it smells fruity and delicious so if you like fragranced products - this is one for you.

The mask itself has quite a thick consistency making it easy to apply an even layer to your skin, be sure to avoid the delicate eye area though! I found this dried and hardened after 3-4 minutes which I love as it feels like it's actually working. The most interesting thing I found was that you end up with little dots around your pores, for me it's mainly on my nose, where it appears to almost be extracting the oil. (Attractive, ey?) I remove the mask with warm water and muslin cloth so my skin gets a gentle exfoliation at the same time. Afterwards my skin feels really soft, clean and the pores around my nose look clear and improved. I do find it leaves you with a bit of a tight feeling but nothing a bit of moisturiser can't fix!

For me, it gets the thumbs up!

Thursday 4 August 2011

NOTD; Milani Jewel FX

I mentioned the Milani Jewel FX nail polish in a previous post here but thought I'd pop this similar NOTD post up to show how it looks when it's built up in a few layers.

The varnish itself doesn't smell too bad, dries relatively quickly, layers well without smudging and has amazing staying power. I expected this to chip like no-ones business but you can literally scratch at your nail and nothing will come off - I never use a top coat either! Only downside is that it does take a little while to remove.


It's certainly bling-tastic but not to the extent of being tacky, it adds a bit of glamour to nude nails and just makes your hands look really feminine!
It took 3 coats to get the nail completely covered in the little 'jewels' but I also used Gosh 'Holographic' as a base so if I missed any bits it wouldn't show and gives an almost mermaids tail effect.
I'm wearing short false nails in the photos, Sinful Colours 'Easy Going' is the nude shade on the rest of my fingers!

Wednesday 3 August 2011

ELF studio matte lip colour


'Natural' - Top, 'Coral' - Bottom

'Natural'

'Coral' is slightly brighter than it shows up on camera.

What they say:

'This convenient jumbo sized lip pencil creates exact colour application with twist up ease so you never have to sharpen. The pigment rich colour glides on effortlessly and easily to provide long lasting matte colour. The enriched Vitamin A, C & E formula moisturizes and hydrates lips for beautiful healthy looking lips.'

What I thought:

The packaging is quite sleek and streamline making them perfect to chuck in your handbag and take up minimal room. At just £3.50 they're affordable for all price ranges and prove that sometimes quality doesn't always equal a hefty price tag. Both pencils were very pigmented and smooth which allows you to fill your lips in with the colour incredibly quickly. As stated, they're completely matte but don't leave you with dry, flaky lips - I wouldn't say they're hydrating exactly but you aren't left feeling uncomfortable, they're a good happy medium. Overall I've been really impressed with the colours and formula, my favourite by far is 'natural' and I'd definately try out the other two shades at some point!

Do matte lip colours interest you?

NYX Rouge Cream Blush 'Glow' & 'Rose Petal'


Sorry to bombard you all with post upon post featuring NYX cosmetics but I promise these are the last products to show off from my CherryCulture 'Haul'.
At $4.75 these only cost me about £2.90 each - I know, bargain!
I'd had my eye on 'Boho Chic' for the longest time so when I found out it was out of stock I was slightly gutted and opted for 'Rose Petal' and 'Glow' instead. Of course I instantly compared these to my Mac blushcreme in 'LadyBlush', both are highly pigmented, creamy, easy to blend and have a dewy finish. The Mac blushcreme's have slightly more product (2.5g more) but that's reflected in the price, and the packaging is very similar except Mac is sturdier and more expensive looking. The consistency is pretty much identical, if anything I'd say Mac 'LadyBlush' is slightly tacky on application.
The only real difference between the NYX and Mac cream blushers is the price, at £17 Mac is a nice luxury item but if you've looking for a cheaper alternative the NYX cream blushers are just as good!


Rose Petal is a gorgeous, very flattering cool toned pink shade which is a very close match to 'ladyblush
Glow is a true deep pink, that reminds me of the classic 'English Rose' look


Topshop 'Flush', NYX 'Rose Petal', NYX 'Glow', Mac 'LadyBlush