Spring Time Makeup Look

I received an MUA order today, which I've been excited about ever since I put the order in last Thursday. My love of receiving new makeup and trying it all out is unrivaled by most other experiences, it fills me with small child on Christmas levels of joy.

As I unwrapped the items I swatched most of them, but I couldn't resist going all out and redoing my makeup just to have a bit of a play. This is what I accomplished:

I absolutely adored all the new products I used to get this look. Up until now I have never tried a coral coloured lipstick, but I got MUA's £1 lipstick in shade 16 and I'm so glad I did. It applies really easily, and is very pigmented. The colour is a soft coral, not too orange or in your face, and I think it would be very complimentary on most skin tones.

I also tried the Matte foundation in Soft Sand. This was the lightest colour they had, but I was slightly worried about it being too yellow for my ultra pale skin, however that doesn't seem to be a problem. I used my normal flat topped foundation brush to apply it and I'm really pleased with the result! A lot of the reviews online complained about it not really being very matte, and I'm inclined to agree, it has about the same finish as my Rimmel Match Perfection, however when set with a powder it looks lovely and natural, so I'm still pleased with it, especially for £1.

As I am pale, I've never before really used bronzer. I've had a few that have just been too strong and have looked overly orange or muddy, but I decided to try the £1 bronzer in shade 1. It was hard to tell online whether it was matte or shimmery, I was hoping for matte but in reality it does have a shimmer to it. When applied with a very light hand it hasn't made my skin orange and it doesn't look too fake, so hopefully with practice I might be able to get a sunkissed bronze look perfect for the summer (or whatever we're going to get here in England).

The other products I got were the £1 blush in Candyfloss (used above), a brown eyeliner, a red lipliner, a £1 lipstick in shade 3, a gold liquid eyeliner (shade 3, used above), a gold eyedust (shade 4, used above), a £1 eyeshadow (shade 20), a fashionista powder compact (fair) and a lip lacquer (reckless), which I've been desperate to try for ages!

All of the products seem fabulous, and I'll probably post a few more reviews of my favourite items in the weeks to come!

Collection [2000] Lasting Colour Lipstick Review

So it's time for another review! I've been wearing this lipstick a lot recently, and thought that it was time to share my views.

I have this in the colour "Sweet Tart", it's a fairly bright pink but I find that it's very wearable, and you can wear it for day time and night time, with whatever eye look you fancy.

This claims to be very long lasting, saying that it can go all day. I can confirm that once applied properly (Lipliner, 1 layer, blot, second layer) it lasts forever. I wore this to a party last weekend and it was still there they next morning, even after I'd removed all my makeup. I did retouch it a few times during the night, but this probably wasn't really necessary, just a habit!

It's easy to apply, with a lovely consistency. I didn't use a lip brush, I just went straight in with it, but a brush could definitely be used.

There is one slight problem, which is that if your lips are slightly dried and cracked, it highlights the problem, and makes it worse, as it is slightly drying. I would suggest exfoliating your lips thoroughly before using (I recommend brushing them with a toothbrush, or rubbing sugar/bicarb on them) and also using a good lipbalm, I'm enjoying Lipsyl very much right now.

On the whole, I love this product, and for only £2.99 I see myself investing in a whole host more colours!

P.S. Is anyone else confused about the name of this brand now? Seems that sometimes it's still Collection 2000 and other times it's just Collection!

Review: Biore Blemish Fighting Ice Cleanser

So as I mentioned in my Superdrug Haul post last week, I just got this new cleanser, and now I've been using it for a week I thought I'd share my opinions on it!

To start off with, my skin is oily in the T-zone and the chin, and I've struggle with acne although I have a prescription face cream which helps me to keep on top of it. In a face wash I look for something that will control the oil and help reduce the amount of blemishes that I get.

The product comes in a pump top bottle, and although it hardly looks pretty it is very practical, and I like that there's no fiddly lid to remove to get at the pump (little things make a difference!). About half a pump is enough for my whole face.

It's a gel formula and forms a really nice lather, but be very careful not to get it in your ice because it stings like an absolute b****! It takes off any make up that I might have on my face, and leaves my skin feeling so refreshed, and with a tingly feeling, which I really like! There wasn't much of a tight or dry feeling which often occurs with face washes of this type, so I don't think it's limited to those with oily skin.

I've used it every night for a week (with the Superdrug Peppermint and Tea Tree foaming face wash in the mornings) and my skin is looking great! The amount of blemishes have noticeably decreased and my skin has been feeling healthier.

Considering this product was on sale when I bought it (I paid £3.29) I would definitely recommend it, I think I'll repurchase when I finish it even if I do have to pay £4.99 for it.

Superdrug Haul

Last week I realised that I needed more money than I had and promised myself that I wouldn't spend any money unless ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. But then I realised that I needed new face wash, and could probably do with a few more things, and Superdrug do free delivery when I spend over £10 so I might as well do that... The result:

Biore Blemish Fighting Ice Cleanser - This one was on sale and had amazing reviews, so I really couldn't resist! I'm on a mission to get my blemish prone skin under control, and it seemed like a good buy, I intend to use it in the evenings.
Superdrug Tea Tree and Peppermint Foaming Face Wash - Again, this had amazing reviews and promised to do great things to my skin. I bought it as a morning face wash, as I love a tingly, revitalized feeling face to wake me up.
Supredrug Simply Pure Spot Clearing Moisturizer - They were running a buy one get one half price deal on their own brand, and this swayed me. Up until now I've been using the Boots Botanics Shine Away Matifying Gel, and would like to try something different, so this will be joining my morning skin care routine to see if it helps with the blemishes.
MUA Extreme Curl Mascara - I love MUA. This is no secret. I was looking for a new mascara as mine has GOT to run out soon (another advantage of the Natural Collection mascara, mine's been going for months!) and this one looked perfect, only £2 and is very popular.
MUA Eyebrow Pencil in Blonde - At the moment I'm using the ELF Eyebrow Kit in Light Ash, but I wanted to see if a pencil would work any better for me. It'll certainly tick the boxes for practicality, it has a little eyebrow comb attached which will be perfect for on the go.
MUA Matte Lipstick in Wild Berry - My sister recommended these lipsticks to me after hers managed to last an entire Halloween party, which is pretty impressive because (knowing my sister) a lot of kissing was likely to be involved. This colour looks amazing, a dark purple-red, which should look great with my pale skin.

So I'm pretty happy now that this has arrived, and to make it even better there were some foam bananas in the box, as well as some perfume samples. My life is complete! Thank you very much Superdrug.

Reviews of all of the products will probably follow once I've had some time to play around with them, I simply had to share my haul-related excitement! Have you bought any new products recently that you're excited to try?

Student Tip #1

Make up brushes can be very expensive.

A lot of my favourite YouTubers will always be using Mac or Sephora brushes, the likes of which are hopelessly beyond my budget. I don't even think my entire weeks' wages would buy one brush. 

I managed to collect a few make up brush sets before I really knew what make up was, but one eyeshadow brush just didn't suffice once I learned how to properly apply make up. Rather than going in for any expensive brushes, I decided to browse Ebay, and am so glad that I did.

You can buy completely inexpensive brushes for £1-£2, and they usually even have free delivery, which is mental considering that they're usually coming from China or Hong Kong. The ones which I have purchased so far have been amazing! I have a smaller brush which is great for applying shadow along the lower lash line, a lovely blending brush and a stippling brush, which is so soft on my face and really easy to use.

One slight issue is brush fakes. There are often brushes around which claim to be Mac or Real Techniques which are actually just cheap imitations, my tip here would be "If it seems to good to be true, it probably is!" At least if you purchase the cheap brushes to begin with, you know what to expect and can't be disappointed! 

I think they can provide really great value for money, and even if they aren't amazing, for the money you have nothing to lose.

These Are a Few of my Favourite Things

I collect make up. It's a slight problem, which is likely to take over my life (or at least my bedroom). I feel like I should put this to some use, by offering advice to fellow addicts.

To start off with, these are some of the products which I definitely could not live without!

Rimmel's Match Perfection Foundation in Light Porcelain:
When I found this, I knew it was love. My skin is exceptionally pale, and my quest for a matching foundation seemed like it would be never ending. Eventually, with time on my hands, I tried out all of the foundations in Superdrug, to try and find a match. At the time, this one was on offer, and as it was so pale I decided to give it a go. I'm so glad I did. I have oily skin, and this caused no break outs at all, which was amazing. It has a medium coverage, but it's very buildable, I just apply more to problem areas. It lasts well throughout the day, and after putting powder over it has a fairly matte finish. I run a mile from dewy finishes due to my skin type! Overall, would definitely recommend to fellow pale girls, and also to those with blemish prone/oily skin.

MUA's trio shadow in Innocent:
I picked this up due to it's price (only £2.50!) and the good things I'd been hearing about MUA. It contains 3 baked shadows, a champagne colour, a bronze colour and a dark brown. I just love it! It's so easy to use, usually I'd put the light colour all over the lid, the broze in the outer third and the dark brown in the crease, but I sometimes do bronze all over or just the light colour to brighten up my eyes. They last really well and are so lovely and pigmented, they're just really good to work with. Great value, if you just own one eyeshadow product, it should be this.

Natural Collection Lash Length Mascara:
Again, this is something I was drawn to by it's minute price tag. It's from the Boots "Value" make up brand, so I didn't really expect that much. I was so mistaken. I'm not sure how they've done it, but Boots came up with a complete winner here. It really does make my lashes lovely and long, without clumping at all. The brush is thin, but slightly tapered, which means that when I apply it more product is put on my outer lashes, which adds extra flutter. It doesn't crumble all down my face, the lasting power is great even without a waterproof formula (I do believe there is a waterproof one in the range though, if that's your thing) and at the end of the day it's not too hard to get off.

So there we are, 3 make up bag essentials that I think everyone should own.