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

My most used Make-up Brushes!

With my makeup fanaticism, comes my obsession with makeup brushes. So, I thought I'd tell you what my favourites and recommendations are. To be honest, my collection mostly consists of the Real Techniques collection, but I do have the Bold Metals, a few MAC brushes, and then a few randoms that I've picked up along the way. If you're just getting started with brushes, I'd fully recommend the Real Techniques kits, as they contain everything you could need to get started!

A few of the gorgeous brushes from the Bold Metals Collection.

Foundation and Concealer brushes, and the B. blending sponge.

Foundation/Concealer

For foundation I tend to use a nice dense buffing type brush, like the RT buffing brush from the Core collection. I really like the coverage this brush gives, as it's good for medium coverage. I would like to try their Expert Face brush, but with the amount of brushes I own I really don't need another foundation brush. I also like using the RT sculpting brush. I got this in the contour set, but I don't really rate it for contour because it's so wide, but it's surprisingly nice for foundation due to the density of it.  

Concealer

If I'm using a separate brush for concealer, which I don't always do because I'm too lazy, I use the Primark stippling brush. It's actually really good quality for something like £1/£1.50. It's soft and blends both foundation and concealer really nicely, but as it's small I tend to use it for concealer.

Blending sponges

I've tried a few blending sponges. My all time favourite was the original Beauty Blender, but the price tag (£16.00) is too high for me to justify repurchasing it. Now I use the RT complexion sponge (£5.99), or the B. makeup sponge from Superdrug (£4.99 but £3.32 until 28/06) if I'm only using it to make sure my foundation is completely blended.

Finishing Brush 

My all time favourite powder brush is the RT Bold Metals Arched Powder brush in 100, shown in the first picture. It's the softest thing I've ever blessed my face with, and doesn't pick up too much powder so I can get such a light dusting of powder which prevents caking. Plus it looks gorgeous in general. 

Blush Brush

The RT Bold Metals collection gets a shoutout again here, with their Tapered Blush brush in 300. Rose gold packaging is a winner either way, but the brush itself is again incredibly soft, and it's the perfect size for popping blusher on the apples of my cheeks. You can see this too in the first photo.

Eyeshadow Brushes and Eyeshadow Blending

Eyeshadow 

This is a difficult one for me. I have quite a few eyeshadow brushes now, but a few brushes stand out for me for general application. 

- RT Bold Metals Oval Shadow 200: a really big fluffy brush, perfect for those single eyeshadow days. Again, beautiful to look at.

- The bigger, fluffier side of the brush from my Naked palette. Really like it for packing eyeshadow onto the lid.

- RT deluxe crease brush: again, great for packing on eyeshadow, and I particularly favour this one for applying cream shadow bases. 

- MAC 213 brush. Fluffy, soft, slightly dense, lovely application. 

I also own the Eco Tools Eye Enhancing Duo, which contains 2 double ended brushes. One of the brushes has a blending brush on one end and a smudging brush on the other. The second brush of the set has a fluffy brush on one end and an angled liner on the other. It's a really good all round set, and the brushes are good quality and super soft, so I use these a lot too.

Eyeshadow Blending 

I've only recently really gotten into eyeshadow blending properly, so I haven't really invested in blending brushes, but I have 2 favourites for this so far. My favourite for crease blending and application is the MAC 226 - I find blending so easily with this brush! The other is a MAC brush, but I don't know exactly what it is, because it's a tiny brush that came in an eyeshadow palette from MAC. I think it's the 217, but I can't be sure.

Brow Brush

I've been using the RT Bold Metals 202 brush, which is an Angled Liner brush, but it's so small and thin that it makes it super easy to get really natural hair like strokes for my brows. This is the silver brush on the far right in the first photograph. 

Contour Brush

In terms of contour, I'm not much of a pro. I tend to stick to using small blush/bronzer brushes, such as the MAC 116, but I do sometimes use the RT Bold Metals Flat Contour brush.

RT Fan Brush and Setting Brush

Highlighting

My all time favourite highlighting brush is my RT fan brush, I just love the finish it leaves on my cheekbones, it's lovely and soft. It's a pretty brush. No complaints at all. I do sometimes use the setting brush from the same collection, as it's a small, fluffy brush that can be used to create a beautiful glow.

Like I said at the beginning, it really isn't essential to own a load of brushes, I just like to experiment and find which I like for application, and you might not like some of them that I do. Are there any that you recommend? 

The next post will be about liquid lipsticks so keep your eyes peeled for that! 

See you soon!

How To Use: Sleek Cream Contour Kit

After I posted the Sleek cream contour palette review, people requested that I do a little 'how to' post, with pictures of me applying it. Now, I'm definitely not a pro when it comes to applying my makeup. Neither am I 100% confident in my skills. However I thought I'd be brave and give it a go! 

Some of the products I used for this look, and a treat for editing!

I both cleansed and exfoliated my face, using the B. Men Charcoal Face Scrub from Superdrug, which is technically my boyfriend's but I wanted a nice deep cleanse and it was the best I had to hand. The product itself is branded as a man's face scrub but lets be honest, it's just a decent charcoal scrub, who cares who it's meant to be for. I then applied my Olay Hydration and Radiant Glow moisturiser, which is a nice light moisturiser for summer as it contains SPF 15 and adds some radiance to my skin. 

After I'd given time for that to sink into my skin, I applied my base products. I used the Primark Miracle primer (of course), and then my X-ceptional Wear Makeup Foundation from GOSH, which is good for a light, sheer base (even though you can build it up), and then applied the Maybelline Eraser Eye concealer on my blemishes. 

This is my face with only the base products applied

 I then went in with the contour kit, following the guide that they supply with each palette.

It says on the sheet to use an angled contour brush. I do own the Real Techniques contour brush but I find it a little too large as my face is quite small, so as I said in the last post I use a MAC angled flat foundation brush, which is MAC 193. 

Cream Contours when initially applied

As you can see, my lines and shames really aren't that neat at all, but once you've blended them it doesn't matter. You really don't have to be a pro to apply these! If I can, anyone can.

Cream Contour after blending

I blended all the shades using a damp beauty blender, starting with the light shades and working into the darker shades.

Here I've set the creams with powder

After this, I applied the GOSH Velvet Touch prime 'n' set loose powder over my highlighted areas, and applied a Makeup Revolution contour powder over the top of the cream to set it all in place. I then went ahead and did my eye makeup (taking photos of my eyebrows in the state they were in was almost traumatising). While I did this, the translucent powder worked to both set and lighten the cream highlight. Once the rest of my makeup was done, I brushed away the setting powder and 

applied some blush and my MAC mineralize skinfinish in Lightscapade as a highlight. 

The finished look

This was the finished look! I think it really slims my face, and I just like how it looks. It's a bit nerve wracking to post photos of me actually using the products and I was a little hesitant to post this one, but hopefully you all enjoy it! 

Would you try the cream contouring kit? Let me know if you have and how you found it. 

Paige x

Sleek cream contour kit review!

It wasn't that long ago that in my first ever post I said I wanted to try the Sleek cream contour kit, and now it's sitting in front of me. I just couldn't resist when I saw that they were on an incredible offer in Superdrug, as they are included in the 2 for £10 Sleek deal. That's an absolute steal considering the palette on it's own is £10.99! I bought two in the shades 'light' and 'medium' and gave the latter to a friend who I thought it would suit more - hope you're enjoying it Shannon! £5! Absolute bloody bargain.

Sleek Cream Countour Kit - Light

I wanted to try it a few times before blogging about it, which was apparently the right thing to do, and I'll explain why later on. The first time I tried the palette was on friday, before a night out when I knew I'd get away with a heavier makeup look. I primed my face using the Primark PS Pro Miracle primer (which I reviewed in a previous post and I'm still head over heels in love with it!). I then applied a very light layer of the MAC Studio Fix foundation to make sure that when I applied the contour it didn't cake up on my face. I skipped concealer because I believed the contour would give enough coverage.

Now, when I first took the palette out of the box I found it a little bit daunting. I've never dabbled in cream contouring before and had no idea how I was going to use all six shades. The wonderful people at Sleek know that we aren't all makeup artists though, so they've provided a nice little guide in each kit, and it's really easy to follow! To apply them, I used a little flat foundation brush by MAC, wiping it down with a makeup wipe in between shades. This wasn't ideal of course, but I don't really have loads of little flat foundation brushes hanging around and I doubt many people do, and it worked for me! I followed the guide step-by-step and then blended the shades using a damp beauty blender afterwards. I think for the price the pigmentation was really nice. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy they were to blend. My only little niggle was that I wasn't quite as happy with the coverage as I'd have liked, so the second time I used the palette I made sure to apply my concealer first and after that the coverage was much nicer, but both times I was pleased with the look.

Ultimate Contouring Guide by Sleek

I used my Makeup Revolution powder contour kit to set the contour and applied my GOSH setting powder on the highlight to 'bake'. I then did my eye makeup before brushing off the excess setting powder and brushing a little over the rest of my face to set it all. A nice little tip I've learned from reviews/tutorials is to do let your highlight 'bake' by leaving a loose translucent powder under your eyes over your highlight, because not only does it brighten your under eye even more but it means you can simply brush away any fallout from your eyeshadow with the excess setting powder! I applied my MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Lightscapade by spraying my Real Techniques fan brush with setting spray, allowing it to almost dry and then applying my highlight, as that way I get such a beautiful glow.

I was really pleased with the finished look. I wasn't used to looking so sculpted but I think I could get used to it! The palette is really very good value for money, even more so on the current offer at Superdrug! I wouldn't do it everyday but that's more personal preference, as it didn't take long at all. I'm a big fan of Sleek in general, their products are such good quality for money, and the packaging is always very chic and, well, sleek.

Are there any Sleek products you swear by?

Just as a little add on here, I'd like to thank everyone for reading, following, commenting etc, and just generally for all the support my blog has received. I'm so happy with it, and watching it grow makes me so proud! I'm so passionate about this, and it's great to see other people appreciating the work I'm putting into it, so yeah, thank you! I'm done being soppy now.

See you again very soon!

Paige x

Top 5 Products!

Ensue first post excitement!

This was requested by one of my friends who probably knew how difficult I'd find this, considering my unnecessarily extensive collection. I thought the best way to do this was make 5 categories and then choose one product for each, but if I choose a high end product I'll also mention it's budget counterpart, because sometimes the budget products are just as good, or good enough considering the price, and on a student budget it makes sense to save where I can.

Foundation:
It was recently my 20th birthday, and I was gifted a bunch of MAC products, which included some foundation samples. I knew as soon as I tried the MAC Studio Fix Fluid that it would be my new favourite foundation. The coverage is medium but slightly buildable and it doesn't cling to dry patches. It glides on, it easily blends to look just like skin and my concealer sits really nicely on top of it. My only problem with this foundation is the company itself, which still tests on animals.

Mac Studio Fix Fluid Foundation sample - NW13

Honourable mention goes to the Rimmel True Match foundation. The shade range is great when it comes to lighter skin tones, not so great if you have darker skin. Again, the coverage is good and buildable, and I love the finish of it. At £7.99 a bottle, it lasts ages and it's affordable, my go to foundation until I inevitably purchase the MAC one.

Concealer:
Collection lasting perfection concealer, £4.19. It covers blemishes and redness, it brightens under eyes and it works as a highlight. It doesn't crease and it lasts for hours. No high end version here because I haven't needed one. This product works wonders and that's why it's everyone's holy grail.

Eyeshadows:
For many a month I walked through House of Frazer and stared longingly at the Urban Decay stand, desperately wanting to own the naked palettes but not wanting to spend almost £40 on eyeshadows, regardless of hype or quality. However someone (thanks Emily) convinced me to buy it when there was on offer that allowed me to buy the original Naked palette and the primer potion for £44 and I have no regrets - although my bank account might argue otherwise. Unless you've been living under a very large rock I don't have to tell you how good the naked palettes are. The shades are absolutely gorgeous and flattering on the eyes and the colour payoff is amazing (they're so pigmented!).

If you're not up for spending £38 on a palette, there are a few other options. First of all, the Sleek eyeshadow palettes are £7.99 and the payoff and shades rival those from UD. There's such a good range of palettes from Sleek too, the classic being the Storm palette, which is another of my favourites. Makeup Revolution do dupes of the Naked palettes for an amazing £4, and for that price I can forgive the lack of consistency in the quality of some of the shadows, because some of them are still incredibly pigmented and at a few pounds a palette you really can't complain.

A well loved and slightly battered Makeup Revolution Palette - Redemption Palette Iconic 2

Contour and highlight:
I'm cheating here I know but it was too hard to fit just 5 products in. Contouring has become such a big deal in the makeup world, and so of course I've invested in a few products. I'm yet to fully immerse myself into the world of cream contouring, but with the release of the Sleek cream contour kit I doubt it will be long. I definitely wouldn't call myself a pro when it comes to makeup and here is no exception. I switch between the Sleek contour kit (which has a contour colour and a beautiful highlighter which I hit pan on long ago) and a 3 shade version from Makeup Revolution, which contains a contour, a highlighter and a blush. I haven't used the blush much because I don't find it to be very pigmented and I just have others I prefer, but the contour is perfect for my skin tone, and at £3.50 it's a great little palette. My only niggle with this is the tiny mirror on the inside which is pretty much useless. Speaking of contour, this brings me onto my next product.

Another well loved Makeup Revolution palette - Ultra Sculpt & Contour Kit in Ultra Fair C01

In terms of highlighter, before my birthday in May I was addicted to the makeup revolution baked highlighters. I found that if I sprayed my brush with setting spray and allowed it to dry a little so it was only a little damp and then swirled it into the pan I'd get the most incredible glow, and these remain my favourite budget highlighters. However, I was given the MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Lightscapade on my birthday, and I fell in love. It's not too heavy so I can make a super subtle sheen, however when I use the setting spray trick from before I can achieve a glow that appears to be made by the gods themselves, and who wouldn't want that?

Mac Mineralize Skinfinish - Lightscapade (Ahh isn't it beautiful?)

Lipstick:
I'm not entirely sure how to choose 1 single favourite lipstick, it's like asking me to choose my favourite baby, it's just cruel. So, I'm going to cheat and choose 5, because nobody can stop me.
I tend to go for more nude lipstick due to the fact that I like a nice smokey eye.

Mac - Whirl (£15.50)
A lovely dark nude, almost brown, with a matte finish. A Kylie Jenner classic, apparently.

Rimmel - Kate Moss 107 (£5.49)
A deep berry-red, gorgeous in the colder months.

Ciate London Olivia Palermo collection - Praline (£19)
A slightly lighter nude then Whirl, and a less drying formula, but at £19 it's more of a luxury product.

Sleek Matte Me - Birthday suit (£4.99)
A pretty pink nude liquid lipstick, can be quite drying without the right prep.

Rimmel The Only One - Naughty nude (£6.49)
Another pinky nude, but not a matte, so not as long lasting but much more moisturising.

There are so many other products in my routine that I haven't talked about but would've like to have mentioned, so if you'd like me to do another 5 favourites then let me know! I'm yet to get a decent camera but when I do I'll insert some better photos, be patient with me, I'm new to all this but I'm eager to do it well!