Too faced : sweet peach palette

 Too Faced Sweet Peach Palette - Currently sold out

Unless you don't spend hours trawling beauty vlogs, blogs and what not, you probably wouldn't have seen this yet, if you have you'll understand my excitement of owning one of these! The Too Faced sweet peach palette was gifted to a number of blogging/vlogging royalty earlier this year and this combined with its limited edition label has made this a much sought after beauty product among the masses. I'm ashamed to say this is actually my first too faced purchase, I'd always lusted after the infamous chocolate bar palettes, however the high price point had always put me off, I'd been edging toward more orange and coral eyelid tones for summer and hadn't found much love with my Morphe palette, So when this little addition became available again on the Debenhams website, I had to snatch it up. This palette really is a cut above the rest, the formula is buttery with a high pigmented colour pay off, not forgetting there is a good mix of matte and shimmer shades. The mixture of neutrals and the option to brighten things up with the shades of coral and pink gives an interesting twist, with wearable yet different shades that would suit all skin tones. My only wish is that this came with a brush for the price that it is, as I still currently reach for my beloved naked urban decay palette over this for ease of use, and despite the added peach scent I wouldn't say its essential. All in all I would say this product is worth the hype. Too face is superb quality and if you can't get hold of this I would pick up the chocolate bar palette for sure!

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Real Techniques Bold metals collection : essentials collection : first impressions

Real Techniques Bold Metals Essentials Collections With Clutch : £25 @ Boots

The bold metals collection dropped into stores last year, and I think its safe to say the brush game was changed forever. A sucker for anything rose gold or metallic, I knew I'd get my hands on some of these beauties eventually, however the price tag had really put me off seeing as my current brushes were doing me just fine. My other half brought me this set on my birthday and I think for three brushes £25 is fairly affordable. I've been a loyal user of Real Techniques ever since I brought my first foundation stippling brush from them.

This set came with a clutch but it wasn't to my taste so I've disposed of that (soz) this set came with the 200 oval shadow (silver brush) 300 tapered blush (rose gold brush) and exclusive103 angled powder brush (gold brush)

For anyone wanting to get to grips with real techniques I think this kit is a really good starting point, as you're covering all areas here. I've been using the 103 to set my face with powder and the quality of these brushes is second to none, thick and luxurious they pick up just the right amount of product. I was surprised to find they have a weighty quality about them too, adding the expensive feel of the brushes. I personally haven't stepped away from my urban decay naked eyeshadow brush for this offering as of yet, but it does make a sound alternative. The 300 also makes for some easy highlighting. Overall I'm really happy with this set and would recommend to rookies and makeup gurus alike!

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Re-organizing my makeup storage

Over the last couple of weeks I've barley had time to tidy my room, let alone re-organize things. I'm really fond of keeping my make-up space a real treasure. I'm lucky that over the last couple of years, and houses I've lived in (at uni etc) that I've always had some form of space to display things. Whilst with my nan currently I'm using the dressing table area in my room, my grandad actually built this along with the rails either side - whos up for a room tour? - and its so so perfect for all my acrylic storage. I need to film a video of all this for you guys asap, but for now I thought I'd share what I spent last night doing! 
What do you think?

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Charlotte Tilbury : 'Pillow talk' reshape and resize lip liner review

Charlotte Tilbury 'Pillow talk' lipliner - £16

I'm currently away in Manchester for work - yes, I have bagged myself a new job - again - I'm now the visual manager for Topshop Topman in a store in Kent, and I'm currently up here for training and having a ball! 

The Intu Trafford centre has just installed two beautiful Charlotte Tilbury stands and whilst I've always gazed at her products from afar its been a long while coming for me to actually purchase something. I think the initial allure for me was the beautiful packaging of all CT products. Everything is so luxe and beautiful - no, you should not judge a book by its cover but when products look this good I just can't help it! I took to twitter last night to ask for CT reviews and the 'pillow talk' lip liner was a firm favourite. The liner boasts to re shape ad resize you're lips and with the current Kardashian inspired, fuller than full pout I was drawn in by this claim, I'm also a massive fan of an everyday nude lip product and 'pillow talk' ticks that box for me also. I wear mac's velvet teddy avidly and I was worried this would be more of a duplicate for that - but it isn't!

Application wise I was immediately surprised with this product, expecting a smudged bleeding lip line, I applied the pencil just outside of my lips to see if I really could increase my pout! I was shocked to see how well this product went on, no smudging, no bleeding and a comfortable consistency. The only problem I had was filling my lips with the liner, I hadn't put a primer on and my pencil end snapped on first use - eek! - but this product is matte and stiff on the lips allowing you to really fill you're lip shape out. For the first couple of seconds my lips did fill tacky but within minutes the product dried down and became a very comfortable wearer.

I think I may have just started a love affair with Charlotte Tilbury! 

Which of her products have you tried?

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Maybelline colour drama : 'in with coral'

Maybelline colour drama - 'in with coral' - £4.99

I know I know, fire away with another new lip product ... I am obsessed. Maybelline isn't a brand I shop often, not for any particular reason, just because I've always stayed true to the regular brands I've loved always. However I took a trip to Bluewater with Aimee last week and I saw the colour of this pencil and picked it up on a whim. I've always had a thing for packaging - and the product being in a pencil intrigued me. I've only ever tried the Topshop lip crayons, and I didn't enjoy them atall. However this pencil for just £4.99 is a complete steal. This coral shade is a really good colour for a paler skin tone as I often find light coral colours wash me out or make my teeth look yellow. Maybelline describe it as a velvet lip pencil, and I whole heatedly agree with that statement, the pencil isn't dry and the pigmentation is incredible. My only negative points on this product are that its a little small, I'd love a larger size of this and I do worry how I'm going to sharpen it! You also need to be super careful not loosing the product when you put the lid on as it is a creamy product that does get damaged easily. I'm really enjoying this pencil and I'm looking forward to grabbing a few more in Boots ASAP!

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Nars : killing me softly blush palette

Nars 'killing me softly' blush palette £30

This is a bit of belated post, whilst in Paris I dragged Dan around every possible Saphora to try and find the infamous Guy Bourdin One night stand palette however, we had no luck. But I was determined to own a nars blush palette so that I could try out minatures before investing in a full pan size and because of my great experiance with the laguna bronzer, so needless to say the next best thing fell into my basket - enter the killing me softly blush palette.

Let me start by saying I am a sucker for nice packaging and Nars do have the nicest packaging for blushers and bronzers in my opinion and the small mirror inside the compact really comes in handy. In terms of the product I've been using the Orgasm shade the most, the darker shade on the left gets little use as its a little to dark for my pale complexion and the top left is very coral if you like a corally finish. I do really enjoy the albatross highlighter featured in this palette however the section of the palette that holds it is so small its hard to pick it up out of the pan with a normal sized brush. I do think this was a little over priced for the amount of product you get, however its good for trying out different shades before commiting to one daddy sized one!  These are sold out now, but nars always offers these mini palettes, its best to pick one of these up if you are looking for a) a mixture of blushes in one to try or b) your first delve into nars.
Have you been trying any blush palettes recently?
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Rihanna for MAC : 'Love rihanna' bronzer

 

Rihanna for MAC 'Love me' bronzer - limited edition (sold out)

If theres one thing I love, its mac cosmetics. I used to have a serious penchant for Rihanna back in the day also, and this combined with a limited editon collection, well lets just say I was sold from the get go. HOWEVER. I never actually thought I'd own this! I missed it on shops and online because of being so bloomin' busy and I actually forgot all about it. When my 21st birthday presents arrived from the Welsh Hughies and this was inside needless to say I nearly died. Ever since I picked up the Nars Laguna bronzer, I've noticed how much better a darker and more brown bronzer works for me. Being a sibling of casper the friendly ghost means alot of bronzers look horrifically orange on me. This little beauty really shocked me actually. At first I was'nt a fan on the literal golden bronze metalic power in the pan, however on application its actually really subtle. This bronzer is so differently toned to any other I own, it literal is bronze if that makes sense, not orange, not brown but bronze. I've been using this literally every day for contouring my cheek bones since I brought it, and I'm starting to get through the sheen of metalically bronze on top and its still applying like a dream. Its a shame this is limited edition beause I really do enjoy this product!

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MAC : EYEBROW CRAYON IN 'STUD'

MAC eyebrow crayon in 'stud' £13

I knew it would be bad news when John Lewis Southampton FINALLY got it's MAC counter, and low and behold, 3 years into uni, we have been graced with its presence. Having already brought two lipsticks from there, myself and Dan wandered in there last week as the boy wanted to treat me - brownie points to him - and whilst getting matched up to a bronzer I decided to take the plunge and ask about all things eyebrows at mac. 

Now, at the point I should add that up untill that day, I am the only person who has EVER touched my eyebrows and needless to say I was very nervous about the whole ordeal, I think Dan may have been too as he knew the bitch fit that would occur if Amy (the makeup artist) wrecked my brows.

However, I was pleasently suprised, Amy filled the beginnings of my brows with 'concrete' eyeshadow and used this to line the brow from the bottom all the way from the inner to outer parts (difficult to explain) what I liked best about this product is that it does'nt cake and matt your eyebrow hair as I find my rimmel pencil can sometimes, its a twist top and you just twist as much product as you need, its a really light and easy application and does'nt leave you with marker brows.

I really do need to do an eyebrow video pronto.

Overall I'd recommend this, if your an obsessive over your brows like me - however you can get similar (but not as good) results from the good old rimmel offering!

What are you using on your brows?

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cosmetics wishlist

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,

My taste in make up seems to be becoming more and more high end lately, I think its because my skin reacts so badly to some highstreet brands and I love the luxurious feeling of a beautiful product, I haven't had a wishlist in a while. But these products seem to keep appearing 

001. I swatched the orgasm multiple on my internship at closer and was AMAZED at the finish, I've read so many reviews on this product and I want NEED it so bad. However I think its going to be a christmas / birthday list go'er as £30 for makeup is way out for me right now! 
002. I've remained faithful to Rimmel's trust eyebrow pencil for SO long now, but I'm recently reaching for powder and wax more, I'm dying to try this cult product out for myself, but its ALWAYS sold out 
003. I'm after this after seeing Millie Mackintosh reveal it as one of her glowy skin staples in this video on feel unique. I still haven't found a highlighter I'm 100% happy with and I'm thinking this could be the answer 
004. Again another product from that Millie video. I really don't pay enough attention to my skin, I love the fuss free approach of this product just apply and go 
005. This is another product I swatched during my time at Closer and couldn't believe the results. I really want to try out a liquid bronzer... 
006. And finally every girls dream. I have a YSL I have Mac's a-plenty, but I feel my collection is incomplete without a Chanel edition. This is 'coromandel', and I've not seen/heard one complaint or seen one person who couldn't pull it off! come to mumma! 

What cosmetics have you been lusting after recently?

Whats in my bag?

I don't often stray from outfit and beauty product reviews, but today I thought I'd share a popular post with you all - what's in my bag? for reference the bag I currently wear to death is this one here, which I blogged about previously!

Left to right.

001) Two phones - The HTC on the left is now my work phone! I know posh right, in my new job I have to be in direct contact with brands, suppliers and head office which is really exciting, the other is my rather battered iPhone 4s, on its 5th new screen.. don't ask! my phone case is from eBay ...
002) iPad mini - I got myself an iPad at the beginning of the summer this year, as all my friends were going on holiday, and seeing as I was working 2 jobs, I decided I deserved a treat. I got this on an Argos card. 12 months no interest - and despite people saying store cards are bad, I can't fault the argos one! I got the wifi only one, and I do wish I'd brought cellar, but it comes in real useful for work breaks and long commutes. Plus who doesn't love a good gadget! 
003) Paul's Boutique purse - I know, this purse is rather outdated now! This is the third one I've had from PB and whilst I've enjoyed growing up with the brand, I'm 100% moving on to Ted Baker this year. I still think PB is great for younger girls just not for me. However this purse has lasted two years now! and its not in bad condition atall really! 
oo4) Diary -  I've been working 2 and more recently 3 jobs this summer! This means writing down every millisecond of my day! I adore this diary, its from Tesco and I think it was around £3, Its well and truley worn out though, I'll be investing in a harder cased one this year!
oo5) Zara 'wild rose' perfume - I blogged about this product here , I don't ever carry big, expensive perfumes around with me as I am a serial sprayer! for £7.99 this sturdy bottle is always rattling around in the bottom of my bag, perfect for a pick me up through out the day!
oo6) MP3 player - Yes, we can all laugh, I actually have 2 iPods that are both broke right now! This is just a cheapo mp3 player for when I'm travelling home or commuting, and the battery life actually lasts longer than my trusty ipod ever did!
oo7) Vaseline - I always have this handy in my bag, along with a lipstick, but this is great for an easy on the go top up of moisture without needing a mirror or much effort
oo8) Soap & Glory : Hand Food - Oh hello cult blogger product ! I promise this doesn't disappoint, Its the only hand cream I know that doesn't leave your hands wet or greasy. It must have some amazing formula!
oo9) Batiste dry shampoo - I have thin, flat hair prone to getting greasy through out the day, this product ensures I'm never without volume or healthy balanced hair - it smells great too!
o1o) Door keys - I've always got my uni house and my family home keys on me, key rings wise I have a pink sparkly p that is falling apart, an oblivion key ring from Alton Towers which my mum got me after I cried my ride through that ride with her EURGH, a random flower from Paperchase and a keep calm and carry on rubber key chain that Dan got conned out of buying off of a charity man. This one always makes me smile.

Whats in your bag?

Link me! I'd love to be nosey!

Cream Blushers : My top 3

Liz Earle Healthy Glow Cream Blush in 'Nectar' £16.50 

Maybelline Dream Touch Blush in '06 Berry' £6.49

 Lo'real Nude Magique BB blush £7.99

I'll openly admit I am a cosmetic hauder and lipstick and blusher seem to be my downfall. I have more powder blushers than I know what to do with, however when it comes around to summer and time to ditch a fuller face of make-up in favour for a fresher, dewier and overall more natural look I lean towards cream blushers.

Cream blush is a product I have a love/hate relationship with. The first I ever purchased was one of the infamous Topshop ones - which I HATED, and remains at the back of my blusher drawer unused, after its un-natural, chalky awful application and finish.

However skip forward a couple of months, after I'd got to rummage in the beauty cupboard after my internship I am a changed woman. The key to cream blush is all in application, in my opinion it really is a back to basics product, I've not been able to get any decent desired look using anything but my fingers. These are my top three cream blushers.

001|| Liz Earle - I'd first seen this on Gh0stparties, and adored the beautiful glow it seemed to leave people with. Out of the three of these blushers this is probably the heaviest and most pigmented, it most certainly is a CREAM blusher. Application wise you need the tiniest bit as it is such a bright colour, however you need to get it rubbed into the apples of your cheeks quick time because I do find this dries very quickly - however this is a god send later in the day as I can report no colour transfer on anything else. It has the best packaging of the three - ideal for topping up throughout the day. Its also great on the lips giving you a really nice 'just more than average' pink glow, I wouldn't buy this as your first cream blusher as the application can be a right pain - but if you fall in love, why not take the plunge and grab one.

002 || Maybelline - This is probably my most used of the three. Rosy pink in colour and although the dream touch has what looks like a hint of sheen through it in its packaging, it doesn't transfer onto the skin. This is a really subtle cream blusher, good to use for a natural face or alongside a bright lip or bronzer. Consistency wise its alot lighter than Liz Earle's offering and almost reminds me of a wet look eye shadow. Don't make the mistake of putting this on your lips, its abit like foundation lips! cracks and goes all awful looking, it also has the tendency to transfer if you don't allow a bit of drying time!. If you're looking for a first time cream blusher purchase this is the one for you.

003 || Lo'real - Surprisingly I don't actually own many Lo'real products. This product really confused me to begin with, what with the use of BB in the title. This product's formula is completely different to the latter two. Its a gel and is good to use without foundation - a feature where the other two blushers look a little too forced. Application is pretty easy too and the colour develops as your applying. This is more of a candy pink, it really pops on the cheeks. The only downfall of this gel formula is that applying over foundation can move your makeup underneath around and make you look patchy. If your looking to experiment this is the product for you.

So what do you think?

Will you be trying any cream blushers this summer?

Mac Lipsticks : 'RiRi Woo'

MAC 'RiRi Woo' - £14 (Sold Out)

I don't know why its taken me so long to feature this beautiful lipstick on my blog. Its probably the product I've been most excited about this year, I actually woke up early and sat and refreshed MAC just to get it (Sad I know) The product itself is a retro matte, meaning there's no creamy sheen here, just an opaque, matte intense red. Its blue toned which guarantees to make your teeth look just that bit whiter, as far as the comparisons to ruby woo go, I can't comment as I don't own it, however if you read a review anywhere its pretty clear they are very similar. Applying it I found i needed a fair amount of lip liner to stop it bleeding, and its actually fairly hard to apply, the waxy formula does stick to dry patches, and as far as eating and drinking goes? this product flaked when I attempted either. Having said that, its an incredibly beautiful colour, one that I think I'll reserve for nights out and special occasions. I'm glad I brought it but I can't decide how I feel about a fully matte product!

7/10

How do you feel about matte lipsticks?

Benefit 'Stay Flawless!' Southampton Bloggers Event!

*BE PREPARED FOR A PHOTO HEAVY POST GUYS! :) 

Clever little set up explaining how 'Stay flawless!' works, the Benefit model is your face, The hello Flawless card is your foundation, put them together and they just don't stay... they slip apart, however...

Add the new 'Stay Flawless!' 15 hour primer inbetween and your makeup is set for a good 15 hours! Magic! ... hello new fridge candy!

L-R : Erin @ the411offashion.com

[I'M FOREVER THE WORST IN GROUP PHOTOS ew!]

Helen @ cosmeticsclothesandcutethings.blogspot.co.uk

Ashleigh @ magazinesandmodels.com

Islay @ www.islaay.com

Instagram - pashahughesyxo

Yesterday I was lucky enough to attend the Southampton blogger's benefit 'Stay Flawless!' product launch event as one of 16 invited. This was actually the first event I've ever been to through my little ol' blog and I couldn't have wished for a better night to have been invited to. I met the lovely Erin before the event and we walked in together! The benefit team were so welcoming and confident! I felt so comfortable and well informed of the new product. During the event we were given the full history of how Benefit began - Hello nipple benetint! -  given a tutorial of how to use 'Stay Flawless' works and how to apply it, and we were all individually skin colour matched for the foundation in our goody bags - talk about great service! We also were served adorable posh little snacks, the chicken was to die for! and all got given a free drink token for a mocktail of our choice. I met some really lovely bloggers who I've swapped business cards with and had a great laugh, swigged some fabulous mocktails and received a goody bag that only beauty bloggers could dream of! I also won a 'Primping with the stars' kit through the little 'question and raise your hand answer' quiz! luckily I was listening as I couldn't leave without one! I think all agreed it was a lovely evening and we hope something happens down south again asap!

Be prepared for Benefit reviews galore this week...

And as for today...

 Well. Its the Company Blogger awards isn't it... 

WISH ME LUCK. wahh!