Chanel Poudre Universelle Libre Powder in 40

Chanel Poudre Universelle Libre Powder in 40

Hey guys! 

Now that Summer is here we need to start setting our makeup! My makeup is melting off that half way through the day I'm topping up my foundation! I didn't realise what was missing until my sister suggesting setting my makeup with powder. I only set my makeup with powder on nights out because I know flash photography can make you look like a ghost! Since setting my makeup, it actually lasts so much longer which makes me happy because I don't have to top up during the day =)

I love this powder because it makes my makeup stay put longer, the finish is more work appropriate and it makes my face look more natural. Sometimes (when my skin is having a good day) I can leave the house with just this on, use it as a powder foundation. It gives a sheer finish - as suggested from the name, but it does add a bit of colour which is great. I tend to use a lighter foundation shade and then powder over with this because the powder colour is slightly darker than my skin, so it creates an even colour. Plus, where I'll be tanning this Summer I thought a darker powder would be more appropriate for me. I love how lightweight it feels on my skin. I can breathe easily during the day and it honestly keeps my makeup in place. I really love this powder and I now use it every single day! I'm always half way through it but I've had it ages as well so I totally think it is worth the buy. 

What's your favourite face powder?

NEW PRODUCTS

NEW PRODUCTS

Hey guys!

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. I have been extremely busy with work, being ill, fasting and Eid. First, I hope you all had a good Eid. Mine was really quiet but I decided as it was Eid I was allowed to treat myself to a few new things =)

I decided to pick up some new haircare products, because since doing an Ombre my hair has become so damaged! I decided to buy Pureology shampoo and conditioner which was expensive. I think the shampoo was £18 and the conditioner was £21 but my hair needed it. I have heard a lot about this brand and I mentioned before in a blogpost (see here) that it won an Instlye award (which I follow religiously). This is the best brand for coloured hair, and as my hair has become soo damaged from hair colour, I thought I had to invest in this. I've only used it 2 or 3 times now so I'm still at the stage of forming an opinion but I will defo write up a detailed blogpost on what I think of it soon. 

I then picked my my all time favourite hair oil - Morrocan Oil. This cost me £40 from Selfridges...I know. Guys please learn from my stupid mistake - don't ever buy anything from Selfridges because the 100ml generally costs £30 or £35, Selfridges just put the price up because they know people will spend their money and not think twice - like me that day. Same thing happened with Pureology - I'm sure I could have got it cheaper somewhere else. Anyway, back to the hair oil...I love it. The tips of my hair were so damaged, dry and dead, so I literally used 3 or 4 pumps and it brought my hair a little bit back to life (see post here). I honestly love this hair oil and it does make my hair super shiny and healthy-looking, so I defo needed to invest in this. 

Estee Lauder Futurist Lipstick in Quite Nude 11

Estee Lauder Futurist Lipstick in Quite Nude 11

Hey guys!

I was playing around with my sisters makeup bag (something I like to do regularly) and I came across this lipstick from Estee Lauder in Quite Nude. My sister is a lot lighter than me in skintone so I was a bit hesitant to try it but once I swatched it I fell in love!

I absolutely love this lipstick! Unfortunately, my sister did not hand this over to me, she said it's one of her favourites. I've tried searching online and the only place that seems to sell this is ebay. Estee Lauder website no longer stocks this nor does any of their beauty stores (I tried). If you know of a place where I can buy this PLEASE TELL ME!

This lipstick shade is a mixture of peach and caramel in my opinion. From the swatch you can definitely see the peach hints which makes it ever so complimentary for Asian skintones. Again, caramel is a beautiful shade for Asian skintones, it's a more suitable nude than a creamy beige colour. I love the texture of this lipstick, it's thick but glossy so it glides beautifully. It's very comparable to YSL Rouge Volupte (see post here) but I find the texture of this lipstick to be a bit more thicker which I prefer. Lasting power is around 4-5 hours which I think is standard for a lipstick. I teamed this lipstick with Rimmel Tiramisu lip liner (see post here) and I think this combination is AH-mazing! The peach from the lipstick and the red from the lip pencil work great together. It really emphasises my lips and makes them look huge! I love this lipstick but unfortunately I can't wear it because my sister won't hand it over =(

What's one of your favourite nude lipsticks?

Sleek Blush By 3 Palette in Lace

Sleek Blush By 3 Palette in Lace

Hey guys!

 Now that Summer is officially here (please never leave), I have decided to incorporate more peach and orange colours into my makeup looks. I usually stick to bronze colours for summer because I love that whole bronzed goddess look, but this year I wanted something different. I'll admit, I don't own a lot of peach or orange colour makeup because I find the colour, if the wrong shade, can look so wrong against Asian skintone that it almost washes us out. I personally think peach and orange colours suit fairer skintones more in giving that dolly-ish look. So for that reason I tend to stay away from these colours, but this year I thought to venture out and find some perfect shade that would suit me. And what's better that the Sleek Blush By 3 palette that comes with 3 beautiful shades of orange - one is bound to suit me right??? =)

L to R - Chantilly, Guipure and Crochet

My fav colour out of the three has to be Chantilly because it's softer and perfect for day. Where I'm scared to wear colour on my cheeks, this is my best bet because I can build it up on days when I am more daring, or soften it up for days when I want to go more natural. It's a beautiful tangerine colour that really does suit Asian skintones, it adds a touch of flush colour which is perfect for this season. Guipure is a shimmery, rose gold and orange colour mixed. I'm not a fan of glittery blusher - something I stay well away from so I'll be honest and say I have not tried this. I have, however, mixed this with Chantilly and applied just a little on the top parts of my cheekbone to make it work as a highlighter. Crotchet is a deep orange colour with almost bit's of red in it. It reminds me of Mac Morange lipstick. Again this colour is so vibrant that i could easily overdo my makeup so I tend to stay away from this shade. I do think this shade would work amazing on darker skintones, it just appears too bright on my face. 

Do you own any Sleek Blush By 3 palettes?

Lush Big Sea Salt Shampoo

Lush Big Sea Salt Shampoo

Hey guys!

 I bought this shampoo about 3 months ago after reading one of Jacq's blogpost. I am a huge fan of big hair. I am constantly putting lots of products in my hair to make it bit and bouncy, so when I saw this shampoo claiming to make your hair big - I had to give it a go!

As you can see this shampoo is not like a normal shampoo, the texture is a very runny, gritty formula, and the tub itself is very different from your normal squeezy-bottle shampoo. When I first used it I did find it a bit different because you have to scoop the shampoo out of the tub, and then where you have chunks of sea salt, when you massaged this into your hair it felt really weird. I always found the first time I shampooed my hair it did nothing, there was no foam, the sea salt just sat on my roots. When I shampooed the second time, only then would it foam up and work like an actual shampoo. However, I'm not a big fan of this shampoo because I felt like it was stripping my hair. It really made my hair dry so I would have to use double the amount of conditioner. I rarely apply conditioner to the scalp area because I find that it makes my hair greasy, but since using this shampoo, I had to apply my conditioner there because my hair became very straw-like if I didn't. In terms of actually cleaning my hair, I felt like a lot of product was building on my scalp and when I would scratch my head during the day I could see white stuff under my nails (not a good look). I also did not like the smell of the shampoo. As predicted from the name, it gave a very salty smell and even after styling my hair I could never get rid of that smell. I tried putting lots of dry shampoo, hair spray, perfume but nothing could get rid of the smell. It's not a totally unpleasant smell, it's quite faint at times but it really got on my nerves that I had to keep pushing my hair back to get the smell away from my face. This shampoo cost me around £11 which is quite expensive in my eyes. I bought this around January, and I have only just finished it so I guess £11 for 4 months is not that bad but still pricey in my eyes. This shampoo did make my hair big and volumed but I feel like there were so many things I didn't like about this shampoo that I would rather go without it. I would rather try making my hair big through other methods than using this shampoo.

Not a glowing review

What's your favourite shampoo?

CanMake Lipstick in Sweet Cherry 03

CanMake Lipstick in Sweet Cherry 03

Hey guys!

I did a beauty swap with Jacq (see her awesome blog here) some time ago, and in that swap she sent me a Canmake lipstick in Sweet Cherry 03.

As you can see it's a very sheer lipstick which is perfect for day because the red is not a bold red colour, it's very muted and appears more of an orangey-red, which I love. It comes in a very moisturised, glossy finish which I'm not super excited about, but I think this colour suits a glossy finish. Lasting power was not that long, but I get that with all glossy finish lipsticks, it was probably around 3 or 4 hours maybe less. I love the way it feels on the lips, it's not too heavy. I love that it is sheer because it's perfect for this weather. The packaging is super cute and expensive-looking. I'm really happy with this. Thanks Jacq!

The Mascara 411

The Mascara 411

Hey guys!

 I love mascara and it's an important step in my makeup routine because I love dramatic lashes. I'm always willing to spend a little more just to ensure that my lashes look perfect, but having said that, it's possible to find some cheaper mascaras that also do the job. Here are some of the mascaras I am playing around with at the moment.

Benefit They're Real

This came free in a magazine recently and, and after reading so many reviews on this mascara, I thought it was about time I gave it a try, and I must admit it is totally worth the hype! The brush is a rubber brush/wand with a ball attached to the end which is perfect for brushing out your lower lashes and those hard to reach bit. This mascara curls you lashes so much, that if you made a mistake to your topliner and went back to correct it, you might have to push your lashes back down! Yes no exaggeration! It completely lifts your lashes from the root and keeps them up all day. Really like this mascara, perfect for day and can easily be built up to achieve a more dramatic look for evening. The only fault I can give, is maybe it could be a bit more thickening - I personally love spidery lashes. This mascara focusses more on defining all your individual lashes and lifting them. Defo would buy again.

Origins GinZing

I decided to buy this mascara because I read quite a few reviews, and the big brush kinda sold it for me. This is a wet-type mascara which cost me I think £18 - sitting on the highend side compared to drugstore prices, and I honestly regret buying it. It's not a great mascara. The brush is amazing and it makes it so much easier to brush your lashes and place them. In terms of thickness - you really need to build up the product which I frankly don't have the time to do in the morning. It was a mascara that did help define your lashes but it kept your lashes thin, I wanted some thickness, some extreme volume....just something really, and it never delivered. It's a mascara I think that works best with other mascaras, not on it's own. It doesn't do enough on it's own. I think for people who like the more natural look - then this is the mascara for you, but a crazy cat-eyed lady like me, I need some more meow in my life. Defo not repurchasing.

Maybelline Falsies Volume Express

I really like this mascara and for a drugstore product, I think it's affordable and performs really well. It has a rubber brush which is curved with small bristles which helps to comb the lashes from root to tip. This mascara is a dry-type mascara which gives tonnes of volume, not on the same level as Benefit They're real but surely not that far behind. I think if you spend 5 more minutes brushing through your lashes, it could more or less give you the same results. I love the fact that it is waterproof - which I personally think helps the curl stay longer. The only fault I can give is the smell, it smelt like PVC glue at times, which can be a tad bit annoying because I use to take my time brushing my lashes and I would always get a whiff. Definitely would repurchase.

Bourjois Volumizer (review here)

This is probably one of my favourite drugstore mascaras. It gives me everything I need from a mascara. I love that it has 2 wands, one for thickening and one for brushing out your lashes. This is  a wet-type mascara, and this is the only mascara I love wearing on both top and lower lashes. I love the thickness and volume that it gives - could have guessed that from the name. It lasted me a long time, I think in a year I went through 3 of these which is good for someone who wears mascara everyday of her life. The only fault I can give, is during the day I noticed my lashes drooped a little. I think it's because the product was maybe heavy and so your lashes don't stay curled all day. I only noticed then when I switched to a high-end mascara after, but your lashes don't droop too much - or maybe I just wear tonnes of mascara? Definitely would repurchase again.

YSL Shocking 

This use to be one of my favourite mascaras. First, I love the packaging because it's so chic and beautiful. Secondly, I love the smell! I know so weird but this mascara smells so nice that I stop and sniff it before I apply it (I never claimed NOT to be a weirdo). I love the volume this mascaras gives. I love the texture of the mascara - it's definitely a wet mascara but it has a glossy, oil-like finish which coats your lashes evenly and gives a really nice look. I can totally tell the difference in pictures when wearing this mascara. The mascara gives amazing volume and curl, but you can brush the tip of the wand and go for a defined lashes look too. I feel like the brush could be better but it does do the job with a little bit of added effort. The brush also attracts too much product, which can easily give you a OTT spidery eye in one swipe - so maybe brush some of the product off first. This mascara also has the tendency to dry very fast! Typically lasting less than 3 months. I don't think I would repurchase.

Lancome Hypnose Drama (review here)

One of my favourite mascaras ever. I absolutely love the brush. At first I thought it was a danger zone, but now my life feels empty without it. It completely brushes every single lash from root to tip. This mascara gives the best volume out of all the mascaras mentioned in this post. Your lashes will stay lifted all day, everyday. This is a dry-type mascara so it doesn't give that wet, shiny finish like the YSL. That aside I love the thickness this mascara gives - it sure deserves to be called Hypnose Drama. I use to prefer YSL to this mascara until this mascara finished. You don't know what you have until it is gone - I totally missed this mascara! I would have to use 2 or 3 mascaras just to get the same result of this mascara on it's own. This mascara is definitely in my top 3 best mascaras of all time. 100% would repurchase - just a bit poor at the moment.

What's your favourite mascara?