Month: April 2016

Rimmel Sculpting Palette – First Impressions

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Hello my little buttons!

Here is my first impressions on Rimmels first sculpting palette. I bought the shade 002 Coral Glow for £6.99, from what I could gather this was the lightest shade avalible from the two they had.

The mini palette contains a blush, a contour shade and a highlight. I love the packaging, each product is easy to dip your brush into without touch other colours and the rose gold is a nice touch. Although I don’t think it’ll last long as after a day in my handbag some of the rose gold had chipped off, but in all fairness I wasn’t expecting for £6.99 it would be solid rose gold!!

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I adore the shades, so versatile and soft they are perfect for my pale skin. I was suprised of the formula, soft, creamy and really finely milled, i knew straight away they were going to blend into my skin with ease. When swatching there was some slight fall out but when I used brushes to apply the powders to my face there was none at all.

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The blush is so complimentary to pale skin tones, the perfect pinky peachy mix this would go with any makeup look which makes the palette very appealing to take on holiday or to throw in my bag day to day.

When I swatched the contour shade I was suprised to see a slight shimmer, my first thoughts were “what a shame I’m never going to use this now!” well I really shouldnt of been so quick to judge as on the face you couldn’t see the shimmer at all but it gave the skin a lovely glow, which we all know is super fashionable right now. It’s hard to describe but it looks gorgeous. The shade wasn’t too warm or cool and muddy, it was perfect. As predicted, it blended out beautifully and was buildable but still very subtle looking.

The highlight has a gold shimmer and is also wonderful. I dusted it lightly across the tops of my cheek bones as well as on the cupids bow, and spend about 3 minutes just looked at myself. It highlights without a crazy metalic shimmer, its noticable but natural. I think you could even take a big fluffy powder brush and cover your whole face for a dewy effect and it would still look good.

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Over all I’m so impressed with this little palette, it’s a total bargin and I find it quite rare to love every shade in a sculpting palette. The only thing that is a shame is that it’s only avalible in two shades, which is highly unlikely they’ll  match absolutely everyone. Apart from that this is my new go to sculpting palette! I’d love to hear in the comments below, which is your go to palette?

Becca xxx

Rimmel ‘Brow This Way’ Styling Gel – First Impressions

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Hello my little buttons!

Here’s a quick first impressions on Rimmel Brow This Way styling gel. It is avalible in 4 shades including clear, I bought the shade blonde and it cost £2.99.

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The packaging itself is a small mascara style tube with a chunky bristle brush. Once opened I noticed the brush had quite a lot of product on it, which on my small brows was going to get messy. So that was a bit disappointing as I didn’t feel I had as much control as I would of liked without wiping off the excess. On application I noticed a few lumpy bits sticking to my brow hairs, and the more I tried to brush them out with the wand the more product got stuck to my brows which created a big heavy mess!! Second time round I was armed with an extra spoolie which did the trick with the excess product and occasional lump. After lightly running the product through my brows I left it 10 mins to set before I had a good look and I have to say they didn’t look half bad! Most of the hairs were smoothed down and they looked lightly filled in for a natural look.

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The colour is quite a good match too, there was a touch of red in it before it set but that seems to have gone now it’s settled down thankfully!

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As you can see from a distance once the gel has set they look natural filled in, which for “light makeup in a hurry” days is perfect. You don’t get the same results as you would with a brow pomade for example, but from what I’ve read about the ‘Brow This Way’ line the brow gel is the most natural-looking brow product. Designed to smooth and lightly fill, which is something this product does do!

Overall I have to say for £2.99 it’s not a bad product at all. I think once I’ve used it a few times I’ll find it easier to distribute the product evenly and get quicker on application. This is perfect for those days I’m in a hurry or want a light natural brow. I’d love to hear what you think of this product in the comments below.

Becca xxx

The secret life of blogging – Insecurities and Hard Work

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Hello my little buttons!

This is a slightly different blog than I’d normally post, I’m not sure how well this will be received but I was recently inspired to write from the heart about something real, so here it goes. I write about skin care and makeup, what I like what I hate and what I genuinely think of products. Don’t get me wrong I LOVE reviewing and blogging but it’s not always a walk in the park. It requires you to try and test many many products, this involves wearing makeup…a lot of makeup! Making time every day to put my ‘face on’ while constantly checking the mirror for smudging, faded, makeup breaking down etc.

Then there’s the selfies and photos for my blog , this all involves time and looking at my face far more than I ever did before embarking on this bloggers journey. It also takes me ages to write my blogs, I’ll write it up in note form, then type it up, then reread and correct, reread and correct until I am 100% happy with how I’ve wordered everything and if I’ve gotten my point across.

Oh and I can’t forget the skin care aspect, if I have even 3 lazy days where I’m not on top of my cleanse tone and moisturise routine as well as serums and facemasks my skin texture starts to change and I get pimples which shows up in all the photos and makes me feel like crap! I never use skin smoothing apps or play with my photos too much. I might use the odd filter but I always state when I have, I don’t ever want anyone to be under the illusion that, how I look with a filter on, is real life. Because it’s not.

This nicely leads onto Instagram, oh Instagram how I love you, but how you can twist reality. There are so many stunning girls, and I mean stuuuunning, with perfect lighting and photoshop skills that could compete with the creators of Transformers or Jurassic World, that you see day in day out on your news feeds and no matter how hard you try you just can’t seem to look as perfect. In lots of ways I don’t want to look like that, it’s an unrealistic expectation that is not healthy to yearn for. Logically I know this. But there is, of course, that small part of me that thinks, wow I’d kill to look like that! As I’m heavily into the online beauty community it is something I see daily and have battled with as I’m sure we all have. I’m proud that I have stayed true to myself and that my biggest crime is the occasional cheeky flattering angle or a colour enhancing filter.

Everyone has insecurities about themselves and this blog has really led me to at least try to get over some of mine. I am not perfect, nor will I ever be, nor would I WANT to be. Yes I’m over weight, I have a chubby face, as I’m getting older my eyes are a lot more hooded than they used to be, my nose is quite nobbley and I get hormonal breakouts across my chin. Despite all this, I can still look in the mirror and think, you look ok today, or even, you look good today. There has been positives I have realised about myself, I actually like my lips, I hadn’t really paid much attention to them before although I’m pleased to say I’m happy with them! Yes my eyes are starting to droop, but I have adapted my eyeshadow skills, put on my big girl pants and let it go. When I look after my skin I’m quite pleased with that as well, over all life is not that bad! It’s the comparisons we make on ourselves that makes it a whole lot harder. I am now at a stage I can appreciate a highly edited photo for its skill and over all effect but I understand it’s not real, it’s a beautiful illusion on reality and that is one important thing I have learnt.

For those of you that don’t know I have two children, an 8 year old girl and a 3 year old boy. As my daughter is getting older I am more and more aware that she is watching and learning womanhood through me. I want her to grow up to love herself inside and out and realise that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and everyone is magical in their own way. How can I teach her this if I feel down about myself all the time? This is partly what pushed me to put myself out there online, I want her to see that even though im not perfect I’m proud of who I am and in my own way I am beautiful. I’m still not fully there yet, but day by day I feel better and more excepting of myself.

Blogging has been a big confidence booster for me, surprisingly I’ve not receive any hate what so ever through instagram or my blog. Everyone online and in the ‘real world’ has been so supportive and it turns out there are some people that really value my opinion, which to me is a huge compliment. So I guess I’m trying to say although blogging takes up a lot of time, thought, money, effort and occasional emotion trauma, it’s worth every second and is one of the best things I’ve ever been brave enough to do. This was a rather ranty emotional blog but I feel better for it and I hope that if there’s something you want to do in life, take the leap and go for it.

Becca xxx

March beauty favourites 2016

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Hello my little buttons!

I realised I hadn’t written a favourites blog in quite a while, so thought I better get back on track. The past month I’ve really been enjoying playing with makeup, I’ve got some fab products I just can’t put down that I’d love to share with you! I think I have reviewed most of these products but I can still give u a mini break down of why I think they’re awesome. I’ve tried quite a few eyeshadow palettes this month, I’ve really been feeding my addiction lol, so I’m going to do a separate post on my favourite palettes from the month.

Product number one had to be Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow in the shade blonde. This stuff is incredible, it’s the perfect shade for me and is so easy to apply. Personally, I line the outside of my brows with a thin slanted brush, over drawing them slightly giving myself more of an arch. I then use the remainder of the product on the brush to fill the rest in. It’s so quick and easy and I love the end results. I’ll add a photo below. It lasts the whole day with zero touch ups which is fantastic, even in the rain there’s no smudging what so ever. Don’t get me wrong I’m not claiming to have perfect brows or to be a ‘brow queen’ but this definatly helps! It’s priced at £15 and I bought mine from Beauty Bay. If you are after a cheaper alternative Freedom Makeup London also do a brow pomade which does exactually the same thing for only £5!

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Next on the list is eyeliner pens. I tend to prefere a wet liner with a small brush but recently while looking at my eyeliner stash I realised I have quite a few eyeliner pens I’ve not even tried. So this month really has been the month of the pen, I’ve actually found it a lot easier to use than I used to. A few favourites have been Elfs new liner pen (it’s lost in my house at the moment it’s driving me insane not being able to find it) the formula is super dark and the nibs long and flexible with a super fine tip which is great for winging it out on the upper Lash line.

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Another range I totally forgot existed is Avon super shock liners, I have 3 colours and all three are easy to use and last really well throughout the day. I wouldn’t recommend the dark green although it looks gorgeous on it stains really badly!! I’ve found the pens that are the best to use are the ones with a long nib and fine tip, you have more control and they glide over the lids a lot easier.

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I do own a Rimmed Scandal eyes pen which has a short flat applicator, I found this a lot more challenging to glide across my aging eyelids lol they’re not as smooth as they used to be!!

Highlighters, highlighters and more highlighters. I just can’t get enough, highlighting and strobing is huge right now and I have officially jumped on the band wagon. I couldn’t pick one favourite as I’m rotating my collection but I can definatly recommend a few. I have a several highlighters in stick form that are super quick to apply, the one I’m reaching for most is Collection ‘Speedy highlighter’ in the shade ’01 Pearl Sheen’ it’s a beautiful peach pearly colour which is really flattering on my skin tone.

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For the creams I’m loving Makeup Revolution Ultra Strobe balm, I have the shade Euphoria which is a pinky toned highlight. An old favourite which I’ve mentioned many times is Essence Soo Glow which is a gold highlight, the cream to powder formula feels like a dream. Both apply evenly and blend in beautifully over makeup.

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For the powders I’m reaching for my Elf baked blush, which is a pinky toned blush but I also double as a highlight as it has the prettiest rose gold shine.

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I would also highly recommend the Makeup Revolution highlighting trio palette, it contains 3 huge pans of product including a gold pink and purple highlight. They last all day and look stunning. They also have individual baked highlighters if you wanted to stick with a certain colour.

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I’ve been reaching for my Freedom Makeup London Setting Spray a lot too, it helps my makeup last as well as De cakes my face if I’ve over powdered. I like that it’s not a huge bottle it’s great to throw in my hand bag to freshen up through the day.

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L’oreal Infallible matte Foundation is giving me life right now!!! I love the coverage, a little goes a long way and it makes my skin look amazing. It’s a great Base for any contouring or highlighting I feel like doing that day. It’s stays matte through out the day and doesn’t dry my skin out, it will forever be in my top 3 favourite foundations so I just had to mention it.

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So there we go, there was quite a few bits in this month’s favourites but I really couldn’t leave any out. All amazing products and none that break the bank. Total win win. What’s your monthly favourites I’d love to hear in the comments below.

Becca xxxx