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

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!

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

GOSH cosmetics

I don't often see much hype around the GOSH products, but working in a store that sells them means I've had a chance to fiddle around with the testers, and I really liked the look of the lipsticks, particularly the matte ones. Somehow, I ended up with 3 lipsticks, a lipliner, a setting powder, and some foundation, and having tried them all I knew I'd want to blog about them. When I bought them there was an amazing offer of £2 off all products, which has since ended. They're now buy 1 get 1 half price in Superdrug though.

The foundation I bought was the X-ceptional Wear Makeup foundation, in the shade 12 - Natural. It claims to be 'a soft and creamy make-up that gives the skin a very lasting and even matt glow', and I have to say having worn this for a few days I wholeheartedly agree that it does exactly that. It applies so smoothly, and it really does last for hours. I applied it in the morning, and by the time I'd gotten home from work it was still pretty flawless. It doesn't dry completely matte, which I actually liked, but with a little dusting of powder it is completely matte, without being dull. It's light-medium coverage I'd say, slightly buildable but it doesn't give that fake foundation skin effect that some foundations do when you build them up. I really do like this foundation, I'm only disappointed with myself for buying it in my natural shade just before I applied fake tan, which makes it slightly too light now! It's £7.99, which is a pretty decent price for the quality. As with most drugstore foundations though, the shade range isn't great.

X-Ceptional Wear Foundation - 12 Natural, £7.99

Another product from GOSH that I've actually had for a while is the Velvet Touch Primer & Setting Powder, which is £10.99. This is more than I'd usually spend on a setting powder but I was in the market for a dupe of the Laura Mercier one (I haven't yet tried it but I know it's a holy grail setting powder), and I thought that with it being translucent (it's a very finely milled white powder in the pot) that it would be worth the slight splurge, and I was right. It sets any of my foundations to a smooth, matte finish beautifully, and does improve the longevity of my foundation. I've experimented with using it for baking too, which I quite liked. It doesn't leave an orange tint either like some budget loose setting powders (I'm looking at you, Collection) so it's great for pale skin too. I wouldn't call this a budget loose powder but I'd say it's worth the money and I would repurchase. I haven't used it as a primer because my skin's too dry, but I've been told for oily skin it works really well at creating a matte base to keep oil at bay under foundation.

Prime 'n' set Velvet Touch Primer and Setting Powder - Translucent (£10.99)

Now onto my favourite product to talk about ever. Lipsticks. The GOSH lipsticks were an incredible find, and I know I'll end up buying countless more. I currently own 3 shades of the lipsticks (2 matte and one velvet) and 2 of the lipliners (only one of which I had available for swatching as the other was borrowed). I'll start with the lipliners. I have the shades Antique Rose and Nougat Crisp, and let me tell you, for someone who isn't that fussed when it comes to lip liners usually, I can't get enough of these. They're a total dream to apply; they're so smooth, non drying and beautifully pigmented. I find my lipsticks apply so nicely over the top because they don't budge. Speaking of: 

Velvet Touch lipsticks and Lipliner

Just take a minute to appreciate how sleek and suave the packaging of the lipstick is. Look at them. £6.99! None of that cheap flimsy plastic packaging here. They look far more expensive than they are in my opinion. Don't even get me started on the quality of the product itself. They apply beautifully, they're long lasting (the matte ones in particular), the colours are gorgeous. I'm in love with these lipsticks and I have absolutely no shame about it. I've recommended them to several of my friends who have all agreed that they're incredible. The 3 shades I have are 003 Antique (matte), 010 Smoothie (matte) and 160 Delicious (satin). I could talk about these all day long, but you should definitely go out and get some of these. They're my go to every day lipsticks now. 

Swatches top to bottom - Velvet Touch Lip liner in Antique Rose, Velvet Touch Lipsticks in 003 Antique, 010 Smoothie and 160 Delicious (featuring a half painted nail, well done Jabba)

They're so pigmented, I can't get enough. The shade range for these is incredible, they cater for every desire. 

By the way I'm talking about these products you'd think I was sponsored, but in reality I'm just giving these products the appreciation they deserve. Not only is the quality amazing and the prices decent, but they're cruelty free. Some of their products are vegan friendly, and there is a pdf list of those which are so you can make sure, and I'll link it here: GOSH Vegan Products List. 

I hope you enjoyed this installment of me prattling on about makeup. 

I'll see you again soon!