Amazingly cheap brushes!

Hola!

A little while ago, Fiona had a post about a set of 15 nail brushes that she thought could also be used as make up brushes too, so of course after seeing a Benefit Get Bent brush dupe in there I had to check it out, and at a price of 99p + £1.95 p&p (you do the math!) I thought it was a deal not worth missing out on!

So I think I ordered about maybe 8/9 days ago and as it's coming from Hong Kong expected delivery is 8-15 days. And I was not disappointed -- there's such a variety of brushes and yep, that Get Bent dupe is just perfect!

Look at how many you get! But the following two are the best I reckon, they're great for eyeliner,

I really would recommend checking these out, I had no problems that you might expect from ordering half way around the world, have a look here

Thanks for reading!

Sophie xx

Dazzle Dust Annoying You?

Hey ladies this should be just a quick post, but I've noticed lately a lot of people who just can't use pigment eyeshadow because of fall out and general annoyingness, which is completely understandable. So what can you do about it?

If you've got a MAC Paintpot, preferably in a neutral shade, you can use it for this, or plain old vaseline is just as good :)

Firstly, dab your brush or sponge applicator into your paintpot or Vaseline, but ensure that you just use a little bit if you're using Vaseline so that you don't lose the colour pay off. Then dip it lightly into your paint pot, if you just lightly do it you won't get any fall out. Apply and it'll stay all day!

Why does this work? Well using a Paintpot acts as a primer which of course will make your eyeshadow last longer and Vaseline will turn the pigment into an almost cream shadow (and you know how much I LOVE cream shadows!)

Hope this works for you, have a go and tell me what you think!

Sophie xx

1-2-3 Looks!

Hey ladies!

So the other day I saw a suspicious looking package with my name all over it, and with a self-imposed buying ban it couldn't be anything I'd ordered?

So I opened it, and inside there was the 1-2-3 Looks Mascara, which Rimmel had sent me! This was really exciting, and I got it in the Brown shade.

Ok, I know you all want to see does it reeeally have 3 different looks? Have a look at these;

This is look number 1 which gives '3x more volume, for chic day-time volume' 

Now personally, when I'm doing my mascara I want the most volume, the thickest lashes so this isnt reaaally a look for me. I think it's nice enough, but it's a bit nothingy really.

So apparently if I turn to 2 I'll get 'up to 5x more volume, for more voluptuous volume'

 Now there's more volume for sure, and I think this makes quite a good lengthener too. This is a much nicer look than no.1 but still, not enough volume!

So the look I've been waiting for right? Turning to 3 you're promised 'up to 10x more volume, for dramatic volume'. And to be fair I'm actually really impressed, especially considering that this is a brown mascara.

Hehe you get both my eyes for this one! It's not quite L'oreal Voluminous, but I really really like it, and although the adjustable looks thing is novelty, I'm surprised to say it actually works. However, just one tip guys, if you think you could give up black mascara (even though personally I can't see much of a difference!), buy this in brown! I have the black version and it crumbles down my face throughout the day, by the time I got home in the afternoon I had a rather sooty nose! Not a good look. . 

Comment, follow :)

Sophie xx

Perfect Winged Eyeshadow Trick

I find that this is a great tip to use when creating an eye look perfect for a night out so I thought I'd share it with you :D

You can follow these instructions using the picture below :)

Step 1: Get a credit card, train ticket, ruler (pretty much anything with a straight edge) and align it so that it joins your outer corner of your eye to the end of your eyebrow (you can adjust it depending on what you want your wing to look like, but this is a pretty good way of getting it just right)

Step 2: Smudge your eyeshadow all over your eye and outwards towards the card, I'm using Rimmel Colour Mousse Eyeshadow in Galaxy 

Step 3: Remove the card, et voila, a perfect eyeshadow wing!

Sophie xx

Another freebie!

Ok I'm sorry this is a bit late, but I only just went out to get my freebie from last week's Grazia (if you've got it, seriously go and get your free hand cream!)

So basically there's a coupon in last week's Grazia for the Citron, Honey and Coriander 'hand therapy' (or hand cream to you and me) and I was a bit sceptical. I never go to Crabtree and Evelyn,  my Mum's had the occasional gift from family friends from there, but I thought I might as well, nothing to lose. And I was pleasantly surprised. 

This is what I got;

Now I was thinking, Citron, Honey and Coriander? That's gonna smell disgusting, but it's such a lovely smell, not kitchen-y at all (I was expecting to smell like a pot of herbs) but really flowery. So if you've still got last week's Grazia I'm begging you go get it, it's free, it's gorgeous and I think the coupon runs out 25th June (can't be sure) so go go go! 

Find your nearest store here or visit Grazia's website to see what they have to say about it :)

Sophie xx

PS Rimmel sent me their new 3 looks mascara so review coming soon!

NOTD

I was trying to think of a really inspiring title for this, but I couldn't, so it's just plain old NOTD :(

Ah well, on to the nail!

I was so proud of this, it looks so much better in real life. I basically followed the idea of Leanne's gradient nails, where you apply a base colour (my Barry M blue) and lightly sponge over with lighter shades, using an old eyeshadow applicator sponge! Amazing, I know, I never use those sponges!

These are the nail varnishes I used

That's the Collection 2000 Hot Looks in BMX Bandit (love the name, love the colour), and Barry M Nail Paints in Baby Pink and Cobalt Blue. 

What do you think?

Sophie x

Freebies :D

Now what beauty blog doesn't have these Benefit goodies at the moment?

Yep, I'm talking about the ones that come free with this month's Glamour, and I kind of bought all 3. I was too embarassed to buy them all from one shop so 2 are from WHSmith and one is from a local newsie, which was a right pain, more about that later.

(Oh and if you're wondering, that nail varnish was also a freebie, it's the Nails Inc London that came free from Boots when I bought two 500ml coke bottles!)

So here are some swatches for you, the first is normal and the second image is when I rubbed them in, as all 3 are designed so that you can rub them and smudge them about a bit)

Ok, so what did I think? The liner is fab, was expecting a bit more colour pay off as I wanted a real 'carbon' black style but when it comes to smudging, it's great! It gives you a real smokey eye in seconds.

The eye brightener? Yep I liked that too. To be honest for me it's not entirely necessary, as using bare study by MAC kind of does that eye brightening job for me, but it makes a good highlighter for the cupids bow and underneath eyebrows. And my goodness the smudging is heavenly, it rubs in like a dream!

And lastly mister It Stick. The one that nobody wants :( I don't see why though, I have to admit that at first the colour put me off, a bit too cheapo-foundation-orange for me. Until I rubbed it in. Again, it rubs in so well, I thought I'd have a play with it and it covers under-eye circles, makes a great eyeshadow primer I find, and neutralises the eyelid.

Go buy all 3 now, it'll only set you back £6!

So anyways, as I was saying the newsagents trouble. . well of course they would only accept card if I spent over a fiver, so I picked up a Grazia and a More as well. I don't buy more any more (hehe), it's gotten too expensive but I realised my purchase was worth it when I got home to discover I could get a free Dazzle Dust and this is the shade I bought, in Chocolate

One word; BEAUTIFUL. I'm in love. I've been wanting to buy Mulch by MAC for a while now, and whilst this isn't really a dupe as such (what do you think?) it does the job!

So that's my freebies for the time being, did anyone else get these? 

Sophie x

How To Thread Your Eyebrows

Just a really quick video for you all, hope you enjoy :) Ignore my voice it sounds really strange

Also ladies, please follow me, I don't mean that in a I need followers kind of way, but I love reading new blogs and if you follow me I can check yours out too :D

Thanks everyone :)

Sophie xx

It's Paint Pot Time!

Ok I've got a new addiction and it's not a cheap one at that. It's the MAC Paintpots and I think they're absolutely amazing. They're so beautiful and really pigmented. You know how I wanted to find something that would do the job of the ELF products? That's these beauties. 

Brown is Constructivism and the other is Bare Study

I dont use them with a brush to apply my 217 is too harsh on them and it leaves dents, I use a finger and then use the 217 to blend. They're 13 pounds each but I know they're gonna last forever, they're £1 less than Benefit's Creaseless Cream Shadows and there's an extra 0.5g in the MAC Paintpots. I can't tell you how much I love them. I did a 4 hour shift at work (I work at GAME so theres a lot of running around to the store cupboard) and by the end they were still there, and holding on to another brown shadow I use (darkest shade in Metro Quartet by NYC make up -- review coming soon) so they make fab primers too.

This is what I knocked up using them, bearing in mind its literally only these two and I did it at 7AM and its now, what, 5.45PM? Pretty good going;

Ooh and can you spy a new fringe there? I got it done today! And even though I had practically the worst hair washer ever (she took half an hour and my face was soaked by the end, how is this possible they wash your hair behind you?!) these amazing eyeshadows stayed in place.

Have you ever used them? Or got one yourself? And should I go for Painterly too?

Thanks ladies  

Sophie x


PS as soon as Youtube starts letting me upload I'll have a threading your eyebrows tutorial posted right here!

E.L.F Haul

A few years ago I discovered the make up brand E.L.F (www.eyeslipsface.co.uk), and it's actually really reasonable with many things costing just £1.50 -- but you probably know all about it already so I won't go on too much. Anyways, I really hate paying postage and packaging, so whenever I see offers where you don't have to pay it I'm there! So last week they had a free P&P when you spend over a tenner so I thought I'd go for it, and this is what I bought.

So what did I think? First of all let's start with the goodies. I absolutely love these:

This is the E.L.F Super Glossy Lip Shine in Candlelight, it suits all skin tones and it's a really pretty colour, it doesn't really last long but it tastes really good. Every time I use it I try and think what it could be but I've still got no idea! I found it good for muting down lips when doing a smoky eye without giving you that kind of my lips are lighter than my skin look that a lot of people go for :)

I also loved this, it's a All Over Color Stick in Persimmon

It really is an All Over stick! I used it to highlight cheekbones (just dab a little on the top of your cheekbones and BLEND! This stuff looks pretty funny unblended, trust me, I went out with it unblended and when I got to the restaurant toilets, dear me it looked quite funny!) but it also looks nice as an eyeshadow, just dab and go! And you can dab it on lips too, dab dab dab I've said that word too many times it doesn't look real now hehe

However, at a price of £1.50 it's not all going to be good. The individual lashes look great, but of course they're very fiddly to apply (goes without saying!) but the glue is a bit rubbish. Saying that, when coming back from a night out, I washed my face and one landed in the sink, I hadn't even noticed one had stayed put!

Another product I wasn't so keen on was this little fella. It's a Luscious Liquid Lipstick in Pink Lemonade. Now you all know I love lipstick, but this is no lipstick! It's a lipgloss pure and simple and a pretty boring one at that. Not much colour to it and it's a bit muh. That's not even a real word but that's all it is, muh. It doesn't make any difference really and I won't be rebuying.

Now these babies are a bit hit and miss, they're the Liquid Eyeshadows and I got them in Sultry Satin (the paler shade) and Mocha Madness. Even the names are a bit odd.

Now I really love the colours, but the application is a bit strange. The lighter shade is fine, but the darker one goes really patchy, you would think it was the other way round though wouldn't you, looking at my swatches (forgive the swatches, my camera was dying and wouldn't focus!) Also, they take forever to dry. This is what the website says about them: 

The pigment rich Liquid Eyeshadow dries to a water tight finish to give endless staying power so you can take your look from day to night without looking faded. The colors won't crease or smear, and they won't budge until you take them off. An alternative to traditional eye shadows, these lightweight colors are exceptionally gentle for a silky smooth finish. The quick dry formula allows for fast and easy application.

Sounds great, right? I suppose what they say is true, but quick dry? No way! And if I wipe my finger over them when they're applied it transfers to my skin!

Ok I think that's enough, sorry for a super long post but I'm off to Yorkshire for 5 days and thought I'd give you something to read! Have you been on E.L.F before? Seen anything you like? Or anything you've bought? Lemme know!

Hasta luego chicas,

Sophie x