Setting Spray Suggestions!

I don't know about other parts of the world, but right now in the UK it's absolutely boiling! This means that if you're like me and you can't not wear makeup even in the scorching weather, then you need to be prepared, or anything you put on your face will melt off in a matter of minutes, especially if you're going to be moving around. This is also helpful for those of you who like to go out in the evenings - makeup and sweaty clubs don't go together too well unless you're willing to put the time and effort in to complete the necessary steps. I'm going to talk about primers when I''ve finished trying out all the ones I currently own, but for now I'm going to talk about the last step - setting spray. Not only does setting spray help your makeup last, I also use it to dampen brushes for stronger shadow and highlight!

My makeup routine has inevitably had to change to suit the weather (let me know if you want an updated makeup routine post!) but one thing that hasn't changed is needing a setting spray. While I have really dry skin, I get quite an oily t-zone, particularly if it's warmer. When I worked in Superdrug I had a lot of people ask me to recommend them one, so I'm going to tell you all what I told them.

Hands down THE BEST setting spray I've ever used is the Urban Decay All Nighter setting spray. I received a little travel bottle of the stuff and Urban Decay my Lord and Saviour did it again. It made my makeup stick to my face and last for hours longer than it would have without setting it. Holy grail product right there. Unfortunately, my love affair with the UD setting spray came to an abrupt end, when I ran out of the product, and realised that it was £22 to purchase the full size 120ml bottle. My bank account said no, even though my heart was saying yes yes yes do it buy it plssss. So, I went on the search of a good and cheap(er) setting spray.

Photo by Urban Decay (http://www.urbandecay.co.uk/) - Urban Decay Setting Spray

The first I came upon in Superdrug was the Makeup Revolution Setting Spray. The bottle's big, in fact you get 100ml for £5! Unfortunately my excitement didn't last long. I love Makeup Revolution and I really wanted to like this, but it just didn't do anything for me. I was so disappointed, I've heard so many people say they like this product, but for me it just kind of felt like spraying water on my face, without any improved staying power for my makeup. So sorry Makeup Revolution, I love you, I just didn't get on with it. Maybe it's just my skin? Who knows. Have you tried it?

Photo by Superdrug (http://www.superdrug.com/) MUR Pro Fix

The other two alternatives are Freedom and Makeup Academy, and I have to say both were pretty on par with eachother. Again, both the Pro-Fixing spray from Freedom and the Pro-Base Mattifying Fixing mist were £5 for 100ml of product, and these ones were definitely worth the money. While the staying power wasn't as good as the UD setting spray, who's going to complain for such a huge saving?

Photo by Superdrug (http://www.superdrug.com/) Freedom Spray  

Photo by Superdrug (http://www.superdrug.com/) MUA Spray

There are other notable setting sprays that I'm yet to try:

- L'oreal Infallible Fixing mist
- NYX Dewy Finish Setting spray
- Maybelline Superstay 24hr spray
- Evian Facial Spray (apparently!)

And of course the MAC Fix+ which I am desperate to get my hands on!

I've linked to the Superdrug website for the drugstore sprays, and makeup's all 3 for 2 at the minute there so you can treat yourself!

Is there a setting spray you've tried that you'd recommend? Have you tried the MUR and did you like it? I'd love to know.

It has been a little over a week, I was in a little bit of a blogging rut but I'm hoping to be posting more often now!

See you again soon (hopefully!)

Paige x

I Heart Makeup Purchases and Giveaway!

If you read my post on Makeup Revolution, you'll know that I'm pretty much in love with the brand (don't tell my boyfriend), so if that's anything to go by I was bound to love the I Heart Makeup range. As expected, I've got nothing but love for the products I bought. The ones I chose were those that are pretty much dupes of Too Faced products, those that I like to admire from afar but can't justify spending the money on. I'll try to show comparisons of the Too Faced and I Heart Makeup products, but I don't own the Too Faced alternatives so I won't be able to swatch them. You can easily source them yourself with a quick google search as these are quite well known dupes!

First and foremost, the I Heart Chocolate palette, which is an almost direct dupe of the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette. This was the product I was most excited to get out of the range. I adore the packaging, the melted chocolate bar is so cute, and I actually kind of prefer it to the Too Faced one for that alone! Then there's the price difference, it was only £7.99! For that price, the quality of the sturdy packaging and pigmented shadows is unbelievable. While I can't compare the pigmentation to the Too Faced one, I can tell you that these are very pigmented, very buttery and easy to blend. Such incredible quality! I will 100% purchase more of the Chocolate palettes as there's a few more from I Heart Makeup, and I might try a few of their others too. I've been reaching for this non-stop since I bought it.

Just look at the packaging! So cute.

Such pretty shades. Unfortunately the shimmers aren't picking up in this photos but there are some beautiful gold and pink shimmers, as well as some more brown toned ones. If you want a more clear photo then try the product page on MUR's website.

Another product that I was VERY excited to try was the Blushing Hearts Triple Baked Blusher in Candy Queen of Hearts, £4.99. This is a dupe of the Too Faced Sweetheart Blush and it's beautiful. The packaging is adorable, and the blush itself is made up of three shades that can be used separately or together if you swirl a brush in the blusher. It's very pigmented so use a light hand for sure, and it's also shimmery so you could use it alone or very lightly over a matte blusher for a pretty glow. It's bloody beautiful, honestly. Again, I've been reaching for this pretty much every day, and also it just looks pretty in my makeup drawer.

So cute!

Last, but not least, the Lip Lavas. I've lusted after the Too Faced Melted Lipsticks for so long, yet I've never been able to justify purchasing them. Then I spotted these bad boys, and I'm so glad I did.

They come in five shades, and there's an option to purchase all 5 on the Superdrug website at a discounted price. 

Left to right - Forgiven, Tremor, Unleash, Shockwave and Firestorm.

All of the shades are bright and glossy, and last for quite a while, but wear down really nicely, leaving a pretty but faded version of the shade on the lips. They aren't matte so do transfter, but are quite moisturising and for £2.99 each you really can't complain!

• Forgiven is a beautiful nude pinky-brown, very wearable and on trend for summer. 
• Tremor is a very pretty pink which I didn't think would suit me but I stand corrected. It's supposedly a dupe for the TF shade 'Peony', and again it's very wearable. 
• Unleash is a vibrant peachy-orange shade.
• Shockwave is an intense light purple shade, which I liked more than I expected to.
• Firestorm is a b e a utiful deep red shade

The product is squeezed out of the tube onto the sponge applicator on the top of the tube and can be applied straight onto the lips, which is really simple and pretty fool proof for those who struggle with applying liquid lipsticks. I loooove these. I love the formula and the gorgeous bright shades which are perfect for summer and festival season (I know they will be coming with me for Reading festival!)

I have literally nothing bad to say about any of these products. They're all so pretty and I'm so happy that Makeup Revolution are making such good quality makeup at affordable prices, making on trend products so accessible. 

I actually have an extra set of the Lip Lavas, so to win those enter below! The giveaway will open midnight tonight UK time and will be open for a week. Good luck!

Paige x

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Makeup Revolution Collection!

Anyone who knows me also knows I'm a huge fan of Makeup Revolution, particularly for their eyeshadow palette offerings. The quality of the eyeshadows is spot on, particularly the shimmers. Thanks to the price of them I've been able to afford to buy multiple palettes, which means I tend to reach for them more than my Naked palette, just for the variety. I've also recently bought a few brilliant products from I Heart Makeup range, but I'll talk about those in another post.

A few from my little collection

I'll start with the Redemption Palettes. They're 12 shade palettes, and they're just £4 each! Which is how I justify owning Iconic 1, Iconic 2 and Iconic 3, and will continue using this excuse to justify buying more. The best part is that they're incredible dupes for the Urban Decay Naked Palettes, which are nearer to £40 each. What more could you want? The pigmentation, especially in the shimmer shades, is AMAZING. As with most budget eyeshadow palettes, some of the shades are a bit hit and miss, but honestly I really don't mind at all considering how cheap they are!

Top - Iconic 2, Bottom - Iconic 3

Another dupe that I own is the Iconic Pro palette, a dupe of the Lorac Pro palette and a fraction of the price. This palette also has a nice big mirror in the top, which is great for travelling. It also came with a double ended brush, not those horrendous little foam applicators that I throw out as soon as I spot them. I love the colours in this palette, but I recently dropped it and snapped it in two which left me very upset, but I'm sure I'll end up replacing it at some point, as it's £6 so it doesn't really break the bank. (I also don't have this one with me to photograph but when I get it I'll edit in a photo, sorry!)

One of my more recent eyeshadow palette purchases from Revolution is the Fortune Favours the Brave palette, by BritishBeautyBlogger. This palette deserves a moment of silence while we all admire its magnificence. There are 30 shades, a mix of matte and shimmer, pressed and baked powders and I love it. The pigmentation, range of shades, the marbled effect of some. There's nothing I don't like about it and I will continue to treasure it. It was only £9.99, but I used all my saved up superdrug points and got it for £3.99, which I was obviously ecstatic about, but I'd have happily paid the full price for it as it's 100% worth the money!

I took these photos of the Fortune Favours the Brave palette a while ago, hence the different background. The writing on the front has since worn off unfortunately.

Makeup Revolution are also famous for it's baked highlighters. They're absolutely stunning, and only £3 each! I also purchased the Radiant Lights powder compact in Breathe (£3) the other day, and if I'm honest I thought it was a highlighter, which it can be used for, but I actually have been using it as a face powder. Stay with me here. If you do a heavy swatch, you can see that it can be used as a subtle highlight, but when dusted over my face it set my foundation and left a beautiful natural looking glow that I fell in love with and I've used it every time I've done my makeup since. I did purchase the Pressed Powder a while ago for £2 when I had gone away for the weekend and forgotten my Rimmel one, and actually really liked using it for ages, but I love the radiance that Breathe provides. It's a similar concept to the very sought after and horrendously expensive Hourglass Ambient Lighting powders.

Radiant Lights - Breathe

Another Makeup Revolution product I use every day is the Ultra Sculpt and Contour Kit in Ultra Fair, which I've mentioned before. It's small and travel friendly, and contains both a contour powder and a highlight as well as a pretty light rose gold blush. It's a really simple, quick and easy everyday contour set and I'm a big fan, especially of the highlighter inside. MUR you win with highlighters, congratulations.

Ultra Sculpt and Contour - Fair

I shamefully haven't tried any mascaras from MUR so you'll have to forgive me for that, although I've heard that the Amazing Curl mascara is a cheeky dupe for the Benefit Roller Lash so I might have to give it a go! In terms of eyeliners, I'm very fussy. I have the most sensitive eyes in existence, as soon as I leave the house my eyes water and my eyeliner decides to vacate the premises and instead live all over my entire eyelid, so I'm always on the look out for one that will stay put. Now, I haven't tested this properly yet but I swatched the waterproof liquid eyeliner (£1.50) and it did not budge no matter how much I wet it, so I'm hoping I'm onto a winner here! It's nicely pigmented, but the brush is quite stiff so I don't know how that will affect the application. If felt tip's more your gig, I've heard nothing but praise for the Thick and Thin liner from my friend Megna. She said 'it goes on silky and super pigmented and pretty', and coming from the expert of liquid eyeliners I definitely trust her opinion.

Amazing Eyeliner Waterproof - Black

Lastly, on a whim I added one of the #LIPHUG lipsticks to my online basket in the shade 'Still missing my baby' which is a deep plum shade, and cost £2.50. It's beautiful, glossy and super moisturising. The shape of the bullet makes it a little hard to apply accurately but I think with the help of a lip liner it'd be a winning lip for the cooler months.

#LIPHUG - Still Missing My Baby

Still Missing My Baby
Top - One Swipe
Bottom - Several Swipes

If you haven't tried anything from Makeup Revolution before I sincerely encourage you to do so, for the price of the products you really can't go wrong! I've heard on the grapevine that there are some really exciting products coming soon so look forward to those, I know I am!

Have you tried any Makeup Revolution products that you'd recommend?

Paige x