ELF HD Blush

When I saw ELF were launching a HD blusher I was really intrigued. ELF aren't a brand I've used before but I have looked at their products and read/heard plenty of good things about them. So when the email about these being on sale I decided to order one.

ELF HD Blush £3.75 ELF

They come in 5 colours and are all varied pinks and purple. I decided on superstar which is a bright peachy pink, and the second lightest shade in the collection. The blush comes in a bottle with a pump for a measured dose.

The blush is incredibly pigmented. I've used this a fair few times and when I say highly pigmented I'm not kidding. a whole pump is far too much to use on your cheeks. I use the tiniest blob and apply it with a stippling brush. A little really does go a long way. If your not careful you will end up looking like a bit clown like.

Like I said tiniest amount gives you a nice flush. You can also build the colour up if you do want a more intense look. The blush itself goes on really smooth and is blendable. It is a matte formula and dries to a powder. I love how non greasy it is. I find with some cheaper cream blushes they can be greasy on the skin or can leave a dewy finish, which I'm not keen on so this is great for me.  The colour lasts all day I normally wear for around 8 hours.

Blended out with flash

The swatch above was blended out with a MUA stippling brush. The above picture of the tiny amount dispensed is what I blended around my hand.

My one and only moan about this is the lid. It never stays on properly which is a nightmare to travel with as I always find the lid and the blush seperate. This is not a product I'd like to leak in my make up bag! It would casue a pretty big mess!

You can buy this blush online Here at a reasonable £3.75

Have you tried these blushes? What blushes do you use? Let me know!

xoxo - Lizzy

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Benefit Fine One One

I'm a lover of Benefit and a lover of cream blushers so when I saw Benefit where launching Fine One One I knew this was a product I had to have!

So Today I picked one up on my trip to town and I was not disappointed!

Benefit Fine One One 

First of all I'm not normally a lover of packaging and usually throw it all away but the box for this is beautiful. It's very art deco and reminds me of advertising from the 1920's.

Fine One One is a stick cream blush with a twist bottom to push the product up. In a beautiful dusky rose mirrored tube.

The blush itself is made up of three colours:
- Pink champagne - An illuminating highlighter
- Sheer watermelon - A pinky colour
- Soft Coral - A soft peach

The product itself is about 2 inches long and is the perfect size for applying straight to your cheeks. With Fine One One it is easy to handle. It fits into the palm of your hand with ease.

 Its perfectly sized to pop into your handbag so you can use it on the go.

Swatched from the tube

Applying the product couldn't be simpler, you just glide he product from the apples of your cheek up to your temples. With the pick champagne colour on top of the cheek an d the soft coral at the bottom. Then blend in with your fingers. I have tried blending with a stippling brush but I personally prefer the results when its blended in with my fingers. Which is the only downside to the product for me as I have huge issues with using my fingers when doing my make up.

blended with fingers.

Fine One One looks beautiful once its on, it leaves the skin with a beautiful pop of colour and creates instant shape to your cheeks. The colour is quite sheer but you can build it up. The main thing I love is some cream blushes I've used I've found them to be a bit greasy looking, Fine One One is very matte with a slight sheen to it. It blends into a powder.

You can also use this on your lips which is a bonus. The watermelon makes a beautiful lip colour.

In all I do love this and think it is a product I wont regret purchasing. For £23.50 it is a little steep but I personally find that blushes last much longer than any other make up products (except lipsticks they go on forever!) so I don't mind splurging a little on them. For your money you get 8 grams of product, which is about average for a Benefit blush.

You can purchase Benefit from most Debenhams, House of Fraser and selected Boots beauty halls. Or you can pick on up on line Here

Have you used Fine One One? What do you think? What cream blushes do you like? Let me know!

xoxo - Lizzy

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MUA Artiste Collection

I like alot of beauty bloggers love MUA, I've seen all the excitement about their artiste collectione. Unfortunately for me my local Superdrug is always running out of stock on their MUA stand! Pretty annoying! I'm also not a big fan of buying make up online especially new pieces. The amount of times I've seen something ordered it and when I've opened the box I've discovered its nothing like what I thought it was going to be is unreal! So I do prefer having a tester I can look at in store. So when I finally found an Artiste collection I had a quick look and decided I just couldn't resist it. At £6 for 6 marbled eye shadows, 2 blushers, a bronzer and a highlighter. That equates to just 60p an item! Who can resist?

The palette comes with 6 beautifully pigmented marbled eye shadows. These blend like a dream. The marbled effect changes the colour ever so slightly, but not enough to be noticeable  They have a beautiful shimmery sheen to them. I love these colours MUA eye shadows are always highly pigmented with such a great colour pay off. None of the shadows are sheer and even though they are cheap you do not need to build the colour up.

The colours:

From left to right.

Pistachio: A beautiful pastle greeny blue. Looks different in different lights. Sometimes catches a very bright white colour.
Mocca: A gorgeous ivory shimmery colour. Perfect base colour.
Ice: intense powder blue.
Grape: A sheer purple. This is the only sheer colour
Chocolate: A shimmery golden brown. Almost on the bronze side.
Cookie: A coppery pinky brown.

The Artiste Collection also has 2 blushers, a bronzer and a highlighter.

FRom left to right.

Pink sparkle: a light pink girly shimmery blush. This is pretty pale and great for a sheer flush of colour.
Primrose: A darker matte pinky coral blush. Its still a pale shade so both these are suitable for all skin tones.
Bronzed: A matte bronzer, this one isnt too orangy and is a similar colour to their bronzed perfection bronzer. Its a great colour for contouring, but lighter skin tones might want to be a little careful with it as if you are little a heavy handed with it you will end up looking a little funny.
Shimmer kiss: Am ivory highlight colour, which is shimmery and catches the light perfectly when your out.

I love this palette its what my boyfriend would describe as a 'Download make up item' a few things in one and it is great for festivals or going on holiday saves a bit of room in your make up bag!

You can buy one Here

Do you have this palette? Do you know any other great multi use palettes? Let me know

xoxo - Lizzy

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MUA Cream blushers.

Cream blushers are great way to apply colour to the cheeks. You can get so many different looks with one product. You can wear them sheer for a wash of colour or build them up for a more intense look. Everyones favorite budget brand MUA recently released 4 shades. I picked up 3 of them as I'm sure you're aware there stock just doesn't hang around!

Left to right - Bittersweet, Blossom and Dolly

Each little tray contains 3.2 grams of product. A fair amount for £2.They come in a clear topped flip open case, which is great for finding a colour quickly and being able to see it straight away. 

Left to right - Bittersweet, Blossom and Dolly

The formula doesn't have a scent to it, they kind of smell like Vaseline. The texture is nice and creamy its not sticky or slidey on your fingers. It glides on to the cheeks giving a subtle glow that lasts all day. It doesn't look to greasy on the skin just a slight sheen. These blushers can also be set with the matching powder blush from their £1 range. Which is great keeps the product on longer while not muting the colour. 

The colours I chose are Bittersweet, Blossom and Dolly. Bittersweet is a cute girly baby pink and corresponds to shade 1. Blossom is a darker pink with a touch of brown and would be set with shade 2. Blossom I sometimes use as a cream contour when I want a more subtle colouring. Lastly Dolly is a beautiful  peachy pink and goes with shade 5. 

Left to right - Bittersweet, Blossom and Dolly

Applying cream blusher is so easy, you can either pick up a small amount of product with your fingers and blend and build the colour to the desired intensity. By patting it into the skin along the cheek bones and onto the apples and blending the edges out you get the best effect.  You can also use which ever foundation brush you use. Pick up a small amount of colour and work is as you would a powder blush. Just as you would with your fingers build up the colour. Once you've applied the cream set it with the coordinating  powder blush and you're set to go. 

Do you use cream blushers? What ones are your favorites? Let me know =] 

xoxo - Lizzy

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Sleek Contouring Kit.

I have been looking for a perfect contouring kit for a while, i usually would use a bronzer and either a powder high lighter or a shimmery pale eye shadow, but while I was scanning the shelves of my local drugstore I came across this sleek complete contouring kit. I picked up Light which is great for lighter skin tones like mine. Sleek was originally a collection for women of colour. I used to work in an independent beauty boutique where we had a small sleek stand and alot of the products didn't come in lighter colours. Now the brand has exploded and everyone whos a bit savvy grabs their stuff while its around. (This product has been out of stock in a number of stores for a little while now!)

Sleek contouring palette £9.99

The packaging for this product is divine! It looks almost like a bar of chocolate not a make up palette. It is a nice sized compact. It would easily slip into someones hand bag for the night.

I can see why they have named the company sleek, as all the products are in a nice sleek package. The palette itself is nice and easy to open. So all products are protected from accidental dropping.

The palette has great sized products inside and a big mirror which is always handy so you can contour on the move. The colours are perfect for fair skin like mine. The contouring colour is a matte shade which is great news when contouring.  The high light shade and the blush are shimmer shades.

top to bottom: contour shade, highlight shade, blush shade.

The blush shade is a beautiful burnt coppery orange. I find it to be quite reminiscent of urban decays chopper eye shadow. It does look beautiful when worn. I go get a few compliments on the colour when I'm out and about. The high light is also a shimmery shade in a beautiful ivory colour. This shade catches the light perfectly when your out and about.

All three powders are beautifully soft and blend like a dream on your skin. I use a large angled blush brush to blend these and they look amazing. Together they make my cheeks pop. The highlight and contour also look fab with any other blusher you may have you don't need to use the one in this palette. All three products together give the skin a natural glow

Since buying this I am putting the blush palette they do on my wish list!

Do you use sleek? What products do you swear by? Let me know =]

xoxo - Lizzy

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Cha Cha Tint Benefit

Benefit products are go to for me. I love the design the smells and how great the products are. I've been debating with myself whether or not I want to purchase the Cha Cha tint. I'm not a huge fan of tints and find them a bit awkward to use so I didn't want to spend the cash on a bottle for me to hate it. So when I saw that Instyle were giving away mini tints with their November issue I had to search for the cha cha tint!

The sample size is 4 ml which is enough to try a fair few times and get a feel for the product.  Cha Cha tint is a gorgeous mango coloured cream tint. Its not a watery one that you need to layer up a few times to get a good colour pay off. With one dip you can cover a cheek or a mouth.

I love this as a lip tint, its opaque enough to give a full lipstick coverage and can be sheer enough to give just a tinge of colour. Im not to crazy about it as a cheek tint, I find its quite hard to blend as it dries so fast,. You really need to work fast with it. If I blend out with my fingers I can get a better look and find I don't leave those tell tell lines where the tint has started to dry in the position I've applied it. I did try to blend in with a brush and it did work but when the product had dried you could see a darker patch where the product had sat for a few seconds.

You used any good tints? Let me know

xoxo - Lizzy

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MeMeMe blush

I'm a bit obsessed with coral blushes at the moment. I love how they look on my skin and how they warm up my skin. While wandering the make up aisle in my local drug store recently I came across this:

 MeMeMe's blush box in coral. There was no way I could resist I'm a sucker for pretty girly looking make up. I love MeMeMe Cosmetics. Their packaging is stunning and really stands out in my make up drawers. The quality of their products is so beautiful.

Looks just like a Benefit box o powders but at only £8.50 how could I say no?
The blush comes with a square brush and a lid sized mirror. As small mirrors go its actually pretty good.

The coral colour is really nice, its not overly orange or overly pink it has a subtle hint of gold shimmer. It is highly pigmented and a small amount goes along way. It blends out across my cheeks really well. It looks great used very lightly on my pale skin but I can imagine this looking phenomenal on someone which a much darker complexion than mine.  The formula is great its nice and creamy. When swirling a brush around the box hardly any dust is made which is great. Means less product wastage.

The brush included is very much like one you'd find in a benefit box o powders. Its small with a wooden handle. Its good for on the go and don't have a brush handy but it is hard to control well and to blend in properly, so I do find using a blush brush much easier. Using a blush brush gives a much better finish to the product.

You can purchase MeMeMe at your local Superdrug store or online here.

What MeMeMe products have you used? Let me know below

xoxo - Lizzy

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MUA powder blushes.

MUA have slowly started to become a much blogged about brand. Having seen them countless times in my local Superdrug and buying a good chunk of their lip stick range, which I love!, I decided to jump right in and purchase a few of their blushers.

Top to bottom shade 5, 3 and 1

The photograph really does not do these blushes any justice at all!!

 I purchased shades 1,3 and 5.

Shade 1

 Shade one is a shimmery light pink.

Shade 3

 Shade 3 is a dark shimmery pinky brown colour.

Shade 5

Shade 5 is a shimmery coral colour.

Top to bottom 1, 3 and 5

I was so skeptical about using these as they are only £1, having used a few cheap blushes before and finding the pigmentation was very poor and I needed to really build the product up to get even a hint of colour on my cheeks I was so surprised by what I got.  These are so pigmented I find that I often have to blend them out as I've gotten so heavy handed with them.  One quick swirl around with my real techniques blush brush gives a perfect amount of colour. They aren't chalky at all and sit perfectly on my skin. The do kick up a fair amount of dust when picking the colour up but most powders do.

For £1 they aren't in amazing cute packaging just standard plastic flip up cases. The case does allow to pop out the pan so you could put them into a palette if you wanted to.

They were completely not what I expected and I must say I'm converted! For £1 I really can't complain about them. Am definitely going to purchase some other bits from their range.

You can purchase MUA at selected Superdrug stores and online Here and Here

Have you used any MUA products? What ones do you love and recommend?

xoxo - Lizzy

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Real Techniques blush and expert face brushes

Real Techniques Blush brush and Expert face brush.

I finally purchased myself some Real Techniques brushes. After seeing alot of hype about these brushes on other beauty blogs and needed to purchase a new foundation brush (My Gosh one was 4 years old and should have been binned a few years ago!) I decided to treat myself to the Expert face brush (£8.99) and the Blush brush(£9.99).

Real Techniques brushes have been created by Pixiwoos Samantha Chapman. Sam's a make up artist and also a beauty blogger.

The blush brush has the most beautiful soft bristles I've ever used. There made entirely of taklon and are synthetic. They aren't scratchy on the skin they glide along perfectly. The brush itself deposits colour evenly onto the cheeks and picks up the perfect amount of product. I've used it with a variety of different blushes in different pigmentation's. Even with the highly pigmented colours this brush picks up a perfect amount to allow you to build up the colour needed on your cheeks. It also blends the colour perfectly out so your not left with any harsh lines. 

The expert face brush has become a holy grail item for me. I am in love with this brush. As with the Blush brush it has taklon bristles and they are the softest of the soft. Its a firm bristled brush which blends foundation effortlessly on to the skin. I've tried all my liquid foundations with it and have found that I use less product due to how well the brush deposits foundation. I also found that this brush blends my dream matte mousse perfectly, normally to blend that in without it being cakey or patchy I have to use my fingers. This brush also blends without leaving those annoying tell-tell  brush lines, it gets into every part of the face perfectly. I use this for everything but powder it blends my Mac studio finish concealer like a dream without taking too much product of my skin like some other brushes can do it keeps the extra coverage I want. I also use it to blend my Urban Decay Afterglow cheek tint, normally I use my fingers but I always find I go a little overboard. Using this gives I need less product and get a better over all finish. 

The brushes are free standing which makes for easy storage. They have perfect sized handles which help with control. They're so easy to grip and are perfectly weighted. 

Overall the Real Techniques brushes are great, I'm hooked and will for sure be putting them on my wish lists!

You can purchase them at your local boots or here!

xoxo - Lizzy 

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