Chanel Perfection Lumière Foundation

I already have a few Chanel products in my make up collection so I was really excited about trying out the Chanel Perfection Lumière foundation. I have a very oily t-zone and then dry patches on my chin and the rest of my face is pretty dehydrated. So seriously combination skin! Because of this I'm always cautious of purchasing a new foundation without testing it. I was colour matched in store and took a little sashet home to test. 

Whenever I'm about to try a new foundation I always ask to be given the foundation with the most amount of coverage. Even at 25 I still get break outs and have some scaring from past years where I've picked at my skin so I try to stick to a foundation that will attempt to hind my red patches (not because there is anything wrong with spots, but because I feel that when I can see them, other people are starring at them!)

First thoughts :

I could tell straight away that the coverage wasn't going to be enough for me which was fustrating given that I had asked for a full coverage foundation. None the less, I continued with my application in the hope that I could built up to the coverage that I required. I really didn't like the way the foundation was settling on my skin and within just a few hours I started to look patchy, my worst nightmare!! 

I applied the foundation with both a brush and a beauty blended and the application on the day when I used the beauty blended was defiantly better, but not enough that I would want to use this foundation again. 

The colour had heavy pink undertones and I felt like my make up was much more obvious on my skin, which is not good especially if the foundation is going to go patchy. 

I felt like the foundation broke down quicker on the day that I applied it using my brush and stayed intact a little longer on the day that I used the beauty blender. All in all, I was so disappointed with this foundation. I have a few other beauty and make I products from Chanel and have been really impressed with them, but this foundation is defiantly not a keeper. 

DLJ

Xoxo

Colourpop Ultra Matte Lip in Bumble

The first things I want to get off my chest with Colourpop is ... SORT OUT POSTAGE TO THE UK!!! This brand is all over my Instagram newsfeed ALL the time and yet they are still not doing international postage, what is that all about Colourpop?! I mean really, come on.

Anyway, now that little rant is over, lets move on to the product. I was desperate to get my hands one of these lip shades as they have literally rocketed recently. I was a little bit apprehensive to order a lip colour on line without trying a swatch first in store as I am so pale and have to be really careful with my choice of lip colours or I look a little bit dead. However, I feel like I've seen pretty much every Ultra Matte Lip colour on every skin type through the power of Instagram and because Colourpop have the most amazing swatches on their website…

I decided on Bumble as it is a warm terracotta and I find that my skin tone suits these colourings. Having used a few matte lip colours in the past, I was aware that the Colourpop Ultra Matte Lip may leave my lips feeling dried out and crumbly. However, I was really pleasantly surprised with the formula. 

I have tried a few matte lip colours and I have to say, none of them have been this creamy! Normally, I find that when you wear a matte lip colour, you can feel that your wearing a lip colour and I hate that. The Colourpop Ultra Matte Lip on the other hand sits so nicely so I don't feel it at all. It also lasts for AGES. I wore this out to dinner a few weeks ago and I wasn't left with patchy bits of lippy here and there (although I did get a little bit of transfer from my bottom lip onto my chin but then I was eating a huge burger, so I mean what can you expect?!)

So we know the formula is amazing, but what about the price? You'd expect to pay a fortune for this given that it's so good right? Well you're wrong. These beautiful lip Ultra Matte Lip colours are just $6 (around £4) each!! What is there not to like?! Other than the fact that you can't ship to the UK....Oh Colourpop it was all going so well until I remembered that huge bummer. So if you're off to the state or have someone who will order for you and send them over the 'pond', do it!!

DLJ

Xoxo

Urban Decay Electric Palette

This palette had been on my wish list for a good year or so before I finally took the plunge. I had been eyeing up these beautiful bold colours but always deciding not to order as I was worried I would end up never using the colours. Then, around a month ago, JustJodes advertised the palette as brand new on her depop with a lovely little discount vs the high street value. I um'ed and ah'ed as to if I should buy it or not, then with my phone in one hand and a glass of white wine in another, I decided to just go for it! And ohhhh myyyy am I glad I did!

I LOVE this palette so much, it may even be my favourite palette?! Can you believe I almost missed out on what may now be my favourite palette of a little fear of not using the colours?? Insanity. 

First things first, can we please take a moment to appreciate the packaging?! Isn't it so beautiful? And the thing I really like is that you don't loose the beautiful design once you take the palette out of the box. I really dislike it when companies design really beautiful packaging for the outside of the product then when you go inside the product it's is plain and boring. The theme packaging runs throughout with this product and this really pleases my OCD. 

Once your past the beautiful packaging you will find 10 insanely pigmented and creamy colours. Across the 10 shades are three different textures : matte, satin & shimmer , all of which are actually blendable. 

And the swatches live up to your expectations! 

                

                 (Two different lights) 

And how do they look on you ask? Oh my, they are even better! Hands down my favourite palette EVER! And surprisingly transferable to every day looks 

DLJ 

Xoxo

Estee Lauder Sumptuous Extreme Mascara

Over the past few years I have been a pretty die hard Benefit mascara fan. I wasn't really looking to try a new mascara as I was pretty sure that nothing else on the market could top my love for They're Real and Roller Lash. It was by chance that the Estee Lauder Sumptuous Extreme mascara feel into my hands and not being one to pass up the excuse to try new make up, I decided to branch outside of my comfort zone and give this mascara a try.

The mascara itself comes in the standard Estee Lauder blue packaging, which I like. Inside is where the mascara gets a little bit 'jazzy' (yes I sound super old what I say the word jazzy, but it just felt right so I'm going to go with it!) Anyway, back to the packaging, as I was saying, when you open up the standard blue box, you are greeted by a beautiful golden tube of mascara bearing the Estee Lauder 'EL'. I like the fact that the packaging gives off an elegant and classic look, so based on appearance this product ticks all the right boxes.

Anyone who uses mascara will tell you that the applicator brush is one of the most important aspects of the product. Without a good brush, your lashes won't get that sexy, long lasting curl we all want and aim for. The application brush defiantly lives up to the name Sumptuous Extreme! The brush, or 'brushcomber' as it's technically called for this mascara, is huge and voluptuous allowing you to pretty much cover all of your lashes in one swoop!

But for me, that's when it all starts to fall down a little bit. I love Estee Lauder products and my mum literally swears by their whole range, but I just found the formula a little bit clumpy! I feel like although my lashes appear longer and fuller, my lashes also stick together so much so it's like I have a few very long and very full lashes and then a few bold spots, which to be honest, isn't the look I'm going for. But this issue is only on my upper lashes and not on my lower lash line, which means that this mascara is greta for when you are wearing false lashes, but not so much when your not…we can't have everything right?

Priced at £21 for 6ml in the option of either black or brown, I can say that I won't be picking up another one of these when this one runs out. It's been great to try and I will use it all as I hate waste, but I'm sorry to say that once this baby runs out, thats the end of the line for us.

DLJ
Xoxo

Makeup Revolution Ultra Base Corrector Palette : Colour Corrector

Last year was the year of the contour and this year appears to be the year of colour correction. So far, there aren't masses of colour correction palettes on the market, but as this trend gets bigger, I am sure that you will see palettes popping up left, right and centre.

One palette on the market in the UK is the Makeup Revolution Ultra Base Corrector Palette. (FYI Make Up Revolution ship internationally to all my non-UK readers). I really like the packaging of this palette too. It seems to be really well made sturdy, I actually have palettes that I've paid more for that don't feel this strong.

Home to 8 creamy colours, this palette seems to be a great first step into the colour correction market. But now you own the palette, what do you do with all of the colours? Although some of the colours are subtle and not too far from what you may already be using, there are a few colours which, like me, you may not have thought about using on your skin!

Pink : Brightens
Lavender : Neutralises yellow tones
Green : Neutralises redness
Orange : Neutralises blue tones
Peach : Helps to balance out slight discoloration
White : Adds natural highlight and brightens
Cream : Neutralises purple and covers dark areas
Brown : Balances ashiness in medium to dark skin tones

To get started,
1) Prep your skin as per usual e.g. cleanse, tone, moisturise and add your primer
2) Use your colour correction palette to reduce any marks or colours you don't to see
3) Apply your foundation and concealer over the top (I would recommend using a beauty blender to do this so you don't move any of the colours below)
4) Continue with your normal make up routine!

But does it really work? For a bargain price of £6 this palette is well worth a try. I mean for £6 you can't really go wrong can you? The colours area very creamy and do blend out really nicely. When you first blend everything out, your skin can look pretty 'white' so you couldn't use this without adding your foundation after. Also, I'm not sure this would work for people with dark skin tones. If you are fair or medium, then this palette will work for you. Sorry to my dark skinned beauties, fingers crossed Makeup Revolution will be bringing something to market just for you soon!

Overall, I've been so impressed with this palette. The colours have made a difference to the way my make up looks and has been great at hiding my patchy bits. I would be really keen to try out other brands, specifically the NYX palette so that I can have a palette to compare this one to. If your on a budget or not, this palette is a great start to the world of colour correction!

DLJ
Xoxo

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Definer Defined

I'm pretty sure that anyone who has an Instagram account at the moment will see images of this product popping onto their screens, whether their account is make up based or not. With a following of just under 8 million people, Anastasia has a pretty strong army of brow loving girls and boys. So it doesn't come as any shock to see how quickly this product is making it's way to the masses and onto my screen.

Being one of the 7.9 million followers and a user of ABH I was keen to be quick off the mark with trying out the new Brow Definer. 

Having used the ABH Dipbrow Pomade for well over a year, I knew that Taupe was going to be the right colour for me. I promptly placed my order with Cult Beauty and was chuffed to receive my order next day!! 

The Brow Definer pencil is unique in that it has three different ways to outline and fill in brows:

Thin : use the sharpest point of the tip to create fine, hair like strokes
Medium : use the back side of the pencil to create thicker, hair like strokes
Wide : use the pencil on its side to create broad strokes.
(source : http://www.anastasiabeverlyhills.com/brow-definer.html)

Personally, I would say that I feel that it has two ways to define your brows. However, I did mess up the thinnest part of the pencil on my first application because I didn't read the above! Had I have know this, maybe I woudn't have been so heavy handed at first application!

I love my dipbrow pomade, so the brow definer has a lot to live up to. So with a little bit of apprehension, I decided to take the plunge as soon as my brow definer arrived. As I guessed, the colour was a perfect match, but what about the final look?

Even though I have pretty dark hair, my skin is really pale, so for every day looks, I stick to Taupe as I can always add brow powder / eye shadows on top to make the colour darker if needs be.

It did take me a few attempts to get my brows right, but that is just down to the fact that it's a different technique to apply this pencil over the dipbrow. However, once I had finally got over using something new, I was very impressed. 

My brows look so much more natural and the colour stayed in place much longer than my dipbrow pomade. Because I have pretty oily skin, by the time I get home after along day on the road my brows can appear a little deflated. They don't smudge per say, but they aren't exactly in the right place if that makes sense?

The texture of the pencil is creamy, but with an undertone that has more 'friction' to it. The dipbrow pomade on the other hand is just very creamy and doesn't have much to really 'hold' it in place. It's hard to explain without physically touching the products.

According to CultBeauty.com, Anastasia designed the Brow Definer to work in conjunction with the Brow Wiz...'After defining the eyebrow outline with Brow Wiz, use the wide end of the Brow Definer's triangular 'nib' to fill in gaps, before using the narrow end to create finer, hair-like strokes for a more natural effect'.

I think the most noticeable difference however is the amount of product you get for your money. The Brow Definer is £16 at CultBeauty.com and for 0.2g of product, the Brow Wiz is £15.50 for 0.08g of product and the Dipbrow Pomade is £15 for a whapping 4g of product. Now that is a hell of a difference. I find that on average, my Dipbrow Pomade will last me around 5 months, after just two applications of the Brow Definer, this is how much I have left....

 The verdict? I love this product so much, that even though you get so much less product for your money VS the dipbrow pomade, I'm still going to be adding it to my shopping cart! If you find something you love, then you just have to take a deep breath and click 'proceed to checkout'.

DLJ

Xoxo

Benefit Gimme Brows!

Brows can really make or break a look, so making sure they are on point is really important. My normal 'go to' product for brows is Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade. As much as love this product, it is a long process and can take between 10-15 mins to do my brows alone. 

On those odd occasions where I don't want to spend so much time on my brows (normally a Sunday or a day when I'm doing audits at work) I still like to do my brows in a little to give them shape and also to fill in any patchy bits. 

Benefit Gimme Brow is the perfect solution for lazy days! It's quick and easy, making it perfect for lazy days! 

Gimme Brow also won Allure The Best Of Beauty Award in 2013. I can't believe it took me so long to find this product!? Has it really been out that long!

Below you can see a before and after using Gimme Brow. You can see the shape is more defined and my brow looks fuller. 

Brush 

The brush is tiny so is perfect for any brow size. When I first opened the product, I though it was going to be too small vs my normal brow brush, but in fact it was just the right size. Because you are building up the product over a few applications, the smaller brush makes it easier to fill in patchy bits. 

Colours 

This product comes in two different colours, Light/Medium and Medium/Deep. I went for Medium/Deep given that I have pretty dark hair. 

               (Source : benefit.co.uk)

Price : £18.50 per tube. Given how easy it makes my mornings, so worth every penny. 

Final words

If your looking for a quick and easy solution to doing your brows then this is the product for you. If your a woman (or man) who wants to look and feel great but are busy busy busy, then Gimme Brow will fit into your morning routine (and yor handbag) with ease. 

DLJ

Xoxo 

Eyeko Fat Liquid Liner : Black

The Eyeko Fat Liquid Eyeliner in Black was a full size feature in this months BirchBoxUK. Being a lover of gel liner I was intrigued to see if this eyeliner would convert me back to liquids over gels.

This liner claims to offer 'big and bold dramatic eyes' in an 'easy to hold chubby pen'. So lets get down to it…

The application of this product takes a little getting used to. If, like me, you have been using gel liners with a thin application brush, the 'chubby' style of this liner takes a few attempts to get right. Although, once you have tried 2 or 3 times, I managed to pick up the application style. As you can see below, the tip of the liner looks like a felt tip pen so this is why it takes some practise.

I do admit, that I still find it a little difficult to get a perfect cat eye unless its rather thick. But that is all down to person preference. As you can see, you can create quite a few different effects with the tip of the liner.

            

Once I managed to get my liner on and looking pretty much how I wanted to it, it was time to test the durability. Here is where I find this product falls down a little bit. My normal working day is around 8/9 hours and much of this I am coming in and out of buildings, which means I am faced with lots of different temperatures and seasons!

I found that this liner didn't hold up quite as well as my normal gel during the working day. However, when I wore it at the weekend, when I was doing less, I did get a longer lasting effect.

Saying that though, the colour is very pigmented. My issue was with smudging rather than the colour fading.

Price

On their website, it RRP is £12 (however I think you can find it a little cheaper on Amazon at the moment, link at the top of the page).

Do I think this is worth £12? I like the fact that you can easily create thicker lines without having to really build up the product. The colour is also good and does last well. My only down fall was that I found it smudged more than my normal gel liner. I think if you don't have time to faf around with gel liner and the brush or you want to have something to throw in your bag for a night out, this product is really good.

They chubby style means its easy to hold and not too fiddly. This means that you can get a very smooth finish to your liner.

So all in all, would I buy this product again? Yes I think I would! The pros far out way the one issue I had. I would be interested to see if they also do this product in any other colours...

DLJ
Xoxo

MUA Cosmetics A/W Collection : Velvet Lip Lacquer and Metallic Liquid Lips (SWATCHES)

A few weeks ago I won a little selection of th MUA Cosmetics A/W collection. Unfortunately (we'll sort of unfortunately) I was away when my parcel was delivered, so I had to wait a few weeks to open up my prize. But I can honestly say that it was so worth the wait!

You may have already seen my YouTube video ( http://youtu.be/lxuDu18PK9k ) but I wanted to pull together a little blog with some swatches for you! I wanted to first start by looking at the Metallic Liquid Lips and the Velvet Lip Lacquer. 

The Metallic Liquid Lips, as you may guess from their name, have a more metallic look to them. They are quite shimmery and the darker shades have a more obvious glitter in the formula. 

The Velvet Lip Lacquer on the other hand is quite the opposite. These glosses dry matte after a few seconds and are more a lip stain to be honest. They last a long time and even hold up pretty well against food and drink. 

So who wants to see some swatches!? Let's start with the Metallic Liquid Lips! 

Colours from left to right :

Twinkle

Glint

Blaze

Bedazzle

Flash

Flare

Luster

Packaging 

Velvet Lip Lacquer 

Colours from left to right :

Potency

Symphonic

Vivacity

Zest

Tranquility

Packaging 

First Impressions

Metallic Liquid Lips - The formula is also quite 'wet' so you really have to build up the product with this so get a nice opaque colour. The glitter is a nightmare to get off. Some may say this is good because it lasts longer, but I find it's a little too much. However, they do look really pretty on and that is their main purpose! They do smell really good though and I found that after wearing them my lips felt really smooth and soft. 

Velvet Lip Lacquers - I have used some of the Velvet Lip Lacquers in the past and the formula dried out really quickly and made your lips feel really dry. They have updated the formula on these new shades are they are really nice. They don't flake like the old ones did and they are much smoother. They have reignited my love for these products. 

I think the packaging on both of these products is really pretty, but my favourite is the Metallic Liquid Lips. It's quite different to most other lip glosses and just stands out nicely. 

You can buy these products directly from MUA Cosmetics (http://www.muastore.co.uk) or you can buy them from SuperDrug (www.superdrug.com)

Metallic Liquid Lips RRP £4 

Velvet Lip Lacquers RRP £3

At those prices, I suggest you grab a hand full and head to your nearest till!

DLJ

Xoxo 

Travelling long haul? Here's my hand luggage essentials.

Travelling long haul? Here is my bag of essentials that I travel with when going anywhere over a few hours. 

      

First of all, the make up bag. As I'm sure you all know, you need to have your liquids in a see through bag to get through security. This Harvey Nichols make up bag is perfect for this. Not only does it looks super cute, it is still pretty see through when filled with your make up goodies. 

Face 

For me, when I'm travelling long haul, the two most important things are face wash and moisturiser. Still on a plane for a long period of time without 'fresh' air is not great for your skin. And when I go long haul I normally like to catch a few hours sleep. I wouldn't sleep at home with my make up on, so I wouldn't sleep anywhere else with it on, especially a plane. I use the Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil for make up removal at home, so I packed a mini sample size to make sure I could have nice clean skin before applying my moisturiser. Which leads me onto my next must have. Creme De La Mer. Hydration is so important when flying. The recycled air on the plane can really dry your skin out, do I used my Soft Cream to keep my skin looking healthy. You can pick up these minis when you are getting your normal size products. I always like to keep them for then I am travelling. 

Around an hour before landing, I like to top up on a bit of make up so that I look reasonably human when I land. My Boots Foundation is the perfect size for my travel bag, so in it goes along with my Sigma Kabuki brush. I also added my ABH dipbrow pomade and Morphe brush to fill in my brows before I land as they just don't look right otherwise. I don't do them as well as normal, just filling in the patchy bits ;) 

I also added some Benefit Benetint and a lip colour from .... to add a little bit of colour. 

I've also got a spare brush from RealTechniques and a little sample of They're Real Remover just encase! You never know.

Hair 

Although my hair will be a little greasy, I put it up out of the way as soon as I get on the plane to try and eliminate as much grease as possible from my face transferring to my hair. But I've added my little BirchBix hair brush which was new in this months box. Perfect timing for my holiday! It also matches my make up bag hehe. 

So that's my long haul essentials make up bag. I will admit I forgot to put some mascara in, but found it wasn't really an issue. 

DLJ 

Xoxo

P.S. I was travelling from the UK to Hong Kong if anyone wants to know! Around a 12 hour flight 

Pop Beauty : Peach Patfait Bright Up Your Life

Fresh from this months BirchBox or should I say BirchBAG is the Pop Beauty eye shadow trio.

I was a little apprehensive about this eye shadow set when I first pulled it out of the bag. Being a converted MakeUpGeek eye shadow lover, I thought 'argh I bet they are going to be so chalky' but I was so so wrong!

These colours are so far from chalky I almost couldn't believe it. The original palette comes with not 3 (like the BirchBox sample) but 10 colours for £15.50! That, is a bargain.

The full palette looks like this...

(https://www.birchbox.co.uk/shop/pop-beauty-bright-up-your-life)

The palette in my birchBAG however had just three colours and can be seen below. The colour on the far left is a beautiful opal/white colour and also makes an amazing highlight.

The middle colour is a pink shade with flecks of gold making it a stunning rose gold colour and then finally the colour on the far right is a warm brown, again with undertones of gold. 

Here are some watches of the three shadows.

I seriously cannot fault these eyeshadows. The colours are beautiful, the texture is creamy and not the slightest bit chalky and the pigment is great. Then there is the added bonus that the whole palette is just £15.50! I serious bargain I think.

I would rate these as being on the same level as the MakeUpGeek shadows. And they are my fav eye shadows so that's saying a lot!,,

Shock up ladies and gents. This palette is a keeper! 

DLJ

Xoxo

Pixi Shea Butter Lip Balm

When I first picked this lip butter up out of my BirchBox, I have to admit, I though 'oh, this is gonna be way to dark for me and I'm never going to use it' and then I saw the price and thought REALLY!? £8 for a lip butter. But then....I tired it and everything changed.

Colour wise, this lip balm looks like it's going to be mega dark, which I really didn't want from a lip balm, however, when applied it's so beautiful. 

As you can see, on application the colour is actually quite neutral but adds just a hint of colour to make your lips look healthy and full. 

I have mine in the colour Honey Nectar, which is described as 'true nude' on the Pixi Website. You can build up the colour if you keep adding a few layers. pix

(http://www.pixibeauty.co.uk/shea-butter-lip-balm)

As well as being a pretty in colour, these lip balms provide amazing moisture and are not sticky at all. The texture is so smooth and the colour stays on quite well. I topped up two or three times a day to keep my lips really soft. Sometimes I find that lip balms actually make my lips worse because when you stop using it for a day or so, your lips get SUPER dry and chapped. Does that happen to anyone else or is that just me?

Anyway, even when I missed a day of using this, because the moisture was so good from the previous times I used it, my lips stayed looking and feeling really smooth.

The packaging is also so cute. I love the pinks and greens together. It's quite playful but not too childish. 

The only thing left to discuss is the price. At £8 it is still pretty steep even though it does giver great moisture and a cute colour. Currently this balm is on special over on Beauty Bay for £6, which is so much more reasonable!! If they were always £6 I would stock up, and think I will pick up 1 or 2 while are on special.

DLJ
Xoxo