Top 5 Series - Lipstick

Hey everyone, 

I'm starting a new 'Top 5' series to get me into a bit of a routine with blogging, and hopefully will have one up a week for the next month or so! Starting off with my absolute favourite product, lipstick. Now I have been a wee bit naughty and included an extra, for no other reason than I could not narrow it down to five - but I promise in subsequent posts I will play by the rules and have just five products to share.

L-R: Shy Girl, Beehive, Snob, Shade 03, Cassis, Cherry 80

I think I've picked a good mix of drugstore and higher end products, although none of these products cost above £15 so none are too pricey! Scroll down to the end of the post for swatches of all six of the lipsticks

So I'll kick it off with the lightest shade of them all, which is the very lovely 'Shy Girl' by MAC. These lipsticks are £13.50 I believe, and come in a range of finishes such as a matte, creme sheen, satin finish and a few others. Shy Girl is a gorgeous nude, that has a peachy tone to it and is warm enough to not give you that awful concealer lips look!

Number two... 'Beehive' by 17 which is around the £5 mark. Out of all the formulas of the six lipsticks I've chosen, this has got to be my absolute favourite. It's creamy and moisturising and glossy and just gorgeous! The colour is a lovely neutral shade, it is quite sheer really and is really great for layering over other lippies for the gorgeous finish that it has!

Next up, 'Snob' by MAC. My first ever MAC lipstick, and to be honest I hadn't heard as much about this one as other MAC cult classics but it just seemed to jump out at me and stand out from the many, many other lipsticks at the counter. It's a lovely cool-toned pink, almost a lilac shade, that is really pigmented so has a lovely finish on the lips. Although it has been described as a 'Barbie' pink, in my opinion it is very wearable and you can definitely wear this in the day or night time.

Number four, Shade 3 by MUA at an extremely bargainous £1! I've tried a few of the MUA lipsticks out and to be honest they are a bit hit and miss with colours, but this one is just beautiful! It's a gorgeous fuschia pink, it isn't shimmery at all but  has a really high gloss finish. Creamy and so pigmented, what more could you ask? The packaging is a little cheap looking? But for £1 who cares or expects any less really.

Number five, I guess I could do without in my top five line up - however I love the packaging and it is a lovely colour. It's an Elizabeth Arden lipstick in 'Cassis', which is a gorgeous deep rasberry shade that I just love wearing. It feels so luxurious on application and has really great staying power, its a little darker than MUA shade 3 and being honest I prefer the MUA formula but I think its the packaging on this one for me! 

And last but not least, I had to include a red lipstick as it's one of my favourite looks - simple black eyeliner and a classic red lip. I absolutely love No7 Stay Perfect in 'Cherry 80', its a deep red as appose to a more orange tone, and I find it has really incredible staying power. It's super flattering on my skin tone, and like I said worn with a flick of eyeliner it completely transforms your look!

And below, as promised, swatches of each of the six lipsticks in the order that I've spoke about them! I'm aware that the bottom two look... well, the same... but they are very different in person I promise you :)

Top to Bottom: Shy Girl, Beehive, Snob, Shade 03, Cassis, Cherry 80

So that rounds up the first installation of my Top 5 series, next up... blushers perhaps? I hope you enjoyed this post :) 

xx

Mid-Month Favourites

Hello again :) 

Sorry I've not blogged in so long and then have uploaded two posts in one day, but I thought whilst I was on a bit of a roll I'd do my favourites.

First up is the new 17 Falsifeye mascara, which promises to give 'voluptuously thick, curvy lashes' and I've got to say that for me, it absolutely delivers! It's got a really over sized brush which helps to coat every lash and prevent clumping, the only down side to this is that I really struggle to apply this mascara on my lower lashes as it tends to just go all over my eye! The formula is quite dry really which suggests I won't have this mascara for too long =\ but I guess it helps to prevent clumpiness.

The next product is my Heaven and Earth MUA Professional palette. I've done a full review which you can find here. I just wanted to add that I've used this palette nearly everyday since purchasing it and I'm still really happy with it :)

The next product is another one that I have mentioned before, its the Natural Collection Colour Foundation in Porcelain. I just think for £1.99 it's absolutely brilliant, it's the perfect colour match for my skin tone and it blends really nicely with my new ELF Powder Brush or with a traditional foundation brush. It doesn't last all day and does need touching up at times, but for a day to day foundation to wear to work, college or out to the shops I think its really good. However... I think they have a very limited variety of shades so I think a lot of people will struggle to get the perfect match for their skin tone.

The next product is an old one that I go through phases with, I tend to fall back in love with it after I've given it a good wash and a bit of TLC, and that would be my ELF Total Face Brush. It just seems to get better with age, it never sheds any hairs and it's still really fluffy. Love this brush.

And last but not least are two products from Boots Botanics Range, a Skin Brightening Toner and also the Organic Cleansing Balm, which is on the same lines as the Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish. I haven't used toner for years it's just been a step that I've completely bypassed in my skin care routine, however I thought this one looked quite nice and I was picking up the Cleansing Balm anyway so thought I'd try it out. So far so good with this product, its got a lovely scent - as all of this range do - and feels really natural and just a nice product.

The Cleansing Balm is so so nice, I've not tried the Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish yet, but I aim to do so when this one runs out. It comes with a little Muslin cloth to buff the product onto the skin which helps to remove make up and give your skin a really deep cleanse. I've noticed improvements to my blemish prone skin after just a week or so, so I would definitely recommend this product.

That rounds up my favourites for the past few weeks, its not quite on time for July favourites but didn't want to wait till the end of August so its a middle of the month job I'm afraid! 

Hope everyone is well and let me know  any products that you're enjoying in August!

Hannah Elizabeth xx

MUA Heaven & Earth eye shadow palette

Hey everyone!

MUA have recently brought out a very exciting new 'Professional' range of products, to complement their original line of products that are sold at £1 each. If you have read my blog before, you will know how much I love MUA eye shadows and lipsticks so I couldn't wait to get my hands on some of the new palettes that they brought out with their Pro line! The products are a little more expensive, but still an absolute steal as the palettes are £4 each and the mascara just £2.

I was lucky enough to pick up the 'Heaven and Earth palette', as it was the last one in my local Superdrug and considering how popular this palette has been I couldn't walk away from the very last one! This palette consists of 12 lovely neutral brown shades, with some really gorgeous highlight colours as well, allowing you to create the perfect smokey eye!

 

I swatched all 12 colours for you, the top photo being with flash and the bottom without. As you can see none of the shadows are matte, they all have a lovely shimmer to them which I understand isn't for everyone and in my opinion, why the Sleek palettes are so great as they have a combination of matte and shimmery shadows! But none the less.. £4 for all these beautiful colours is such a bargain! 

Another brilliant product from MUA who are increasingly becoming one of my favourite drug store brands!

What does everyone think of this palette then? Let me know if you've picked up any of the other palettes or have reviewed them as I would love to give them a read! 

Hannah Elizabeth

MUA and 2True Review

Hello again! I received my delivery from Superdrug yesterday and have tried the products out in  my make up routine twice now so thought I'd do a quick review and tell you what I thought of the products! I mentioned in my previous MUA review that I'd ordered two new lipsticks and a new eye dust so I guess I'll jump in and start with them!

I ordered shades 5 and 9, and thought they would be neutral shades from what I could see on the website! This is a lesson I really should learn about ordering make up online because the product rarely looks like the photographed version, and the true colours of the two lipsticks are a really sheer and shimmery baby pink and also a bronze colour.

The two new lipsticks are on the right of the photograph below and also the swatches are the two middle colours. The other two lipsticks are the ones that I have already reviewed but thought I'd include them for a comparison!

Top row: Shade 12 and 5

Bottom row: Shade 4 and 9

Swatch: 12, 9, 5, 4

The consistency of these lipsticks is quite sheer, and when applied they feel more like a gloss than a matte lipstick.  I don't think I'll wear Shade 9 because I don't think darker brown or bronze lip products really suit my skin tone and I prefer warmer reds, pinks or corals on my lips! I do quite like Shade 5 - but like I said it's more like a gloss than a lipstick but it's quite a pretty colour and it does feel moisturising on the lips rather than drying as some lipsticks can feel.

I also ordered another eye dust, which I raved about in my last review! I've used the brown colour a couple of times since my last post and had loads of complements about it when I wore it, one thing I would say is that it's pretty much essential to wear a primer with this eye dust. It's a really loose product and the primer really helps it to stay in place and not smudge throughout the day!

top: shade 5

bottom: shade 4

I ordered Shade 4 this time, which is more of an olive green colour and again its such a beautiful product! I've applied Shade 5 as well next to it so you can compare the colours. I guess shade 4 is more wearable in the day time because its a lighter colour but the colour can be built up for a more dramatic evening look.

I cannot praise this product enough, the next time I'm passing a Superdrug I'm going to pop in and pick up the other shades in the collection!

I also ordered some 2true products, they were on 3 for 2 and I'd been wanting to try the bronzer since 'Sprinkle of Glitter' here on blogspot has mentioned it a few times in her posts as being a really good quality bronzer! I also ordered a matte foundation and 3 in 1 concealer to try out!

I really do like this bronzer, its really matte there is no shimmer in it at all which can sometimes put me off applying bronzer! But... after I was doing my make up this morning and used the bronzer IT HAS GONE MISSING =( I literally have no clue where it has gone, I've checked in all my make up storage, under my bed and everywhere else - and trust me my room is really small so it can't have gone far! So I'm a bit gutted for the minute but fingers crossed it will turn up!

Anyway... on with the review.

It looks quite dark in its case however you only need a really small amount of the product and a light hand to get that beautiful bronzed sun kissed look - so I can see this product (if i find it) lasting me a very long time!

The other two products are a foundation and concealer. I'm quite new to using concealer as it was never a product I fancied trying or experimenting with, but I've got the Benefit stick concealer and quite like that so thought I'd try out a wand applicator version and see how I got on! I find this product is great for under eye dark circles, but so far I've found that it seems to draw attention to blemishes rather than conceal them - which is never good. I think this is mainly because the blemishes I have are quite dry and then applying a creamey concealer on top just seems to highlight the area.

The foundation is okay, I have quite pale skin and so went for the lightest shade - there are four shades in total - but still found this to be a little dark for my skin. It seems to apply quite nicely but after a while I feel that it kind of sticks to dryer parts of my face, again highlighting imperfections in my skin - not good!! I'm gonna try mixing in a little tinted moisturiser to see how I get on with that, or maybe wait till my skins cleared up a bit and try again!

If any of you have tried any of the 2true or MUA products I've mentioned, or can recommend any others I'd love to hear so please leave a comment and thanks for checking out my blog!

Hannah Elizabeth

MUA review

While I'm on a roll I thought I'd get another post done! This is a review of some products that I ordered from Superdrug last week, and they arrived today which I always get too excited over when I get things delivered from online!

MUA is a brand that is sold exclusively at Superdrug here in the UK, all products are £1 and they currently have a range of over 100 different lip products, eye shadows and liners, nail varnishes and mascaras!

So I thought I'd give a few of their products a go! I'm currently really loving wearing lipstick so I ordered two lipsticks and also an eye dust in a really beautiful bronze colour!

I'll start off with talking about the two lipsticks I ordered, they are in Shade 4 and Shade 12 - I think they have 12 different colours in their lipstick range just if you wanted to know! One small problem I have to begin with is that they don't have names, not a major problem but I do like to see what kinds of creative names companies come up with for their products!! But like I said - not a major problem at all.

Shade 4 is a baby pink colour that looks quite matte in the stick, but when you apply it really is quite sheer and you don't get a great colour payoff! But... for £1 you really cannot complain, plus it feels quite moisturising on your lips and also smells great!

Shade 12 is a much darker pink colour, which as you can see in the picture is really quite shimmery! It's not a colour I would normally go for as it looks so sparkly on the stick but on application its more the colour that stands out and not the glitter! One thing I would say is that it feels a bit.. grainy?.. in that you can feel the glitter particles on your lips so it feels a bit rough in texture!

Here are some swatches anyway...

Left: Shade 4

Right: Shade 12

The next product I ordered is from MUAs eye dust collection, again they do not name any of their products, and they currently have six different shades in this collection. I picked up shade number 5, its on the far right in the picture below (the two other swatches you can see are the lipsticks!!).



This product is so beautiful, it is so highly pigmented and it also blends really well. I'm not a massive fan of eyeshadows, mainly because I haven't tried that many, but this is definitely a product I would use to create a really pretty smokey eye.

Another thing I really like about this product is the design of the little pot it comes in, obviously as this is such a loose product it can be quite messy to apply, but this little pot has a small hole just large enough to dip your eyeshadow brush into which prevents the rest of the product spilling! And for £1 I think it's really great that MUA have paid attention to packaging as well as the quality of their products!

After trying these products, I went back online to Superdrug (as they have free delivery till the 18th of June I believe?) and ordered some more MUA products!! I was really impressed with the eye dust so I ordered another and also ordered two more neutral coloured lipsticks, so when they arrive I may do another product review for you all!

Hope you found this useful and I would definitely recommend MUA, its really great value and the products themselves are good quality for the price!

Hannah Elizabeth