ELF Love & Hate

Hey guys, hope your all okay? And anyone from the UK...I hope the riots haven't affected you too much :-( Sad times for our country but hopefully things are starting to settle down now...


Anyways as I mentioned in my last post, I purchased quite a large amount of E.L.F. products the other week and since I've pretty much tested everything now I thought I'd share my thoughts with you on what I got and what I loved or hated. So below is everything I bought...please don't think I'm showing off or even that I'm made of money, I tend to purchase things more when there on sale or a promotion and at the time E.L.F. were offering 50% off there entire product range! How could I resist really when it's already so cheap?!

A lot of ELF products I've bought in the past are very hit and miss so..starting off with the brushes I have to say, overall I wasn't really impressed with what I picked up...

Brushes

• Studio Stipple Brush - this was a repurchase for me as I'd kinda ruined the one I had through being too vigorous trying to clean my Revlon Colorstay foundation off it :-\ I don't know why but its just not the same as the first one I bought?! The consistency of the bristles seems much finer and less dense than the one I already had therefore I don't think I'd get as full coverage using it to apply liquid foundation. When I tried to apply powder blusher with it, it was far too messy and not that much product ended up on the bristles.
• Total Face Brush - I found this brush to be okay, not as soft as I thought it might be but it's got a huge surface area which is great for applying a dusting of powder.
• Foundation Brush - Again I found this to be just okay, I bought this to apply primer with but I think my fingers do the job just as well. I've actually found its better for applying concealer but as I'm pretty much always in a rush I prefer to use my fingers to apply concealer.
• Blushing, Bronzing And Blending Brush - I was pretty disappointed with this to be honest, don't get me wrong it does the job but before I'd even taken this out of the plastic wallet I noticed it had already shed some bristles :-\ So yeah...it already felt very fine in terms of bristle consistency. God knows what I'd have left once I'd had to finally wash it!
• Blending Eye Brush - Not sure why but I was expecting this to be more fluffy like the Sigma E35, looking on the ELF website now I don't really know why I was expecting this! For the price however this is a good brush for blending any harsh lines in the eye crease.
• Eyeshadow Brush -Again, not sure why but I was expecting this to be more fluffy i.e. bristles a bit softer and longer in length so I was slightly disappointed at first. However I have found that it is a really good brush for applying and blending eyeshadow in the crease and the bristles feel nice and soft.

Waffle over on the brushes front! 



Studio Blushes

Left to right: Pink Passion and Candid Coral.

 These are my first ELF blushes and I picked up the shades Pink Passion and Candid Coral. Below are swatches of both colours and for your reference I'm an NC25 in MAC so this may show up differently on paler or cooler skin tones.

Swatches left to right are Candid Coral and Pink Passion, sorry there not in the same order as the first picture!

Swatches taken in natural daylight.

Swatches taken with flash.

Personally, I love this colour and its not half as scary as the photo looks! Whilst the pigmentation is really good it's also very buildable, so really its up to you how bright or subtle you want this to look.

Firstly, sorry for how messy this looks already but I have been using this quite a bit over the past few days. I was expecting this to be a lot lighter in shade than it is but having used it now a few times I have really warmed to it. It's not as coral coloured as I'd wanted but on the other hand, I do really like the subtle rosy glow this adds to my cheeks.



 Studio Matte Lip Colours 

As soon as I saw these beauts, I was quite keen to get my hands on them and give them a try so I purchased the shades Natural and Coral.

Top to bottom: Natural and Coral

Now these actually appear a bit darker than what they do on the ELF website but I think that goes for a lot of their products if I'm honest! Despite this, I was pleasantly surprised at the pigmentation of these however they are quite creamy in texture rather than being completely matte.

Swatch of Natural taken in natural daylight.

Swatch of Natural taken with flash.

Natural turned out to be quite a rosy pink tone but I really like it, it's something I could wear everyday without feeling too out there.

Swatch of Coral taken in natural daylight.

Swatch of Coral taken with flash.

I don't think my pictures do it justice but this is a gorgeous colour! I've been reaching for it quite a lot over the past week but I'd say it's more of an orangey apricot toned coral rather than a pink toned coral.


Mineral Lipsticks
I've never been a big lipstick wearer but over the past few months I have started to build up a small collection of mainly drug store lipsticks so I purchased two lipsticks from the mineral range. I didn't want anything too out there in terms of vibrancy so I went with Nicely Nude and Natural Nymph.

Left to right: Nicely Nude and Natural Nymph

I'd recommend these lipsticks if your a bit of a lipstick virgin like myself as they are so cheap and relatively good quality. The texture is quite creamy, not too drying and pigmentation is good.

Swatch of Nicely Nude in natural daylight.

Swatch of Nicely Nude taken with flash.

 The ELF website states that Nicely Nude is a sheer warm pink with a hint of gold shimmer which I think is pretty accurate, having said that I wouldn't buy this shade again as its too close to my natural lip colour and that's not really the look I was going for!

Swatch of Natural Nymph taken in natural daylight.

Swatch of Natural Nymph taken with flash.

I tend to research nude lipsticks thoroughly before purchasing because they generally make me look dead or rather ill :\ After trying this, I'm kind of coming to the conclusion that until I get a tan I will never suit nude shades!  Having said that, it has come in handy on days when my lips look pinker/darker than normal. I'd say it's very comparable in colour to the Gosh Darling lipstick but minus the sheen as it does give quite a matte finish.

Swatches of all lip colours, L-R: Coral, Natural, Nicely Nude and Natural Nymph.

Swatches taken in natural daylight.

Swatches taken with flash.

Nail Polish

Considering these cost only £1.50 normally, I was pleasantly surprised and impressed. The formula is really good and it only took me two coats to achieve a nice even finish. My favourite of the three shades I picked up has to be Mango Madness which is quite a bright orange toned coral.

L-R: Mango Madness, Smoky Brown and Mint Cream.

Eyebrow Kit
 

Swatches taken with flash.

Swatches taken in daylight.

This is my first eyebrow kit and too be completely honest I have a sad feeling it will end up being slightly neglected :-( I have my eyebrows threaded so the shape is quite defined most of the time, I usually just have to pencil in any faint areas with my Rimmel eyebrow pencil so for me this just seems like a lot of effort. At some point I will try and incorporate this into a made up eye and show you the results...I just don't think its fair of me to review something I haven't really used yet.

...nearly there!

Face Products

• Eyelid Primer - Basically an okay product for me. It does the job I suppose in terms of keeping eyeshadow from creasing but I don't know if that's just because of this product or because I'm using a good eye cream that doubles up as a primer on its own.

• Studio Makeup Mist & Set - So glad I bought this!! This is my first make-up setting spray so I'm afraid I couldn't compare this to the infamous MAC Fix+ I was really impressed with how this set my make-up and made it seem like I had more of a natural glow than the reality of my face being caked in foundation. For £3.50 its definitely worth trying out if your a fixing spray virgin like me.

• Oil Blotting Sheets - So far I'm really disappointed with these!! To be blunt they don't blot oil, I don't know if I was oilier than normal but when I tried these out my face looked just as bad after despite the sheet seemingly being covered in oil. The Professional Shine Eraser sheets that are also by ELF work much better so I'm not sure how they've got these so wrong.

• High Definition Powder - This feels nice and lightweight over foundation, it works well at eliminating shine and creating a matte finish. I just wish it wasn't so messy! I really don't trust carrying this around in my bag as it seems to get everywhere so unfortunately I've only been using it to set make-up before going out anywhere.

• Mineral Infused Face Primer - I'd had doubts about purchasing this as I'd read a few things about it being an oily skinned girls worst nightmare but so far I've loved this! A little definitely goes a long way as it has quite a slippery texture which makes your skin feel super smooth, I've found that it mattifies shine rather well also. Probably not the best primer for keeping oil at bay all day but definitely worth a try for £6.00 or even cheaper if you manage to grab it during a promotion period.

So that completes a rather massive review post! I really hope this helps anyone considering purchasing anything I've reviewed.

What would you recommend from the ELF range?

July Favourites

Hey everyone, hope your all having a great summer! I'm so happy it's finally stopped raining here and the sun has (sort of) been making an appearance :)

Just thought I'd share some of my favourite purchases from last month, I was considering doing a post like this every month as I tend to rave about products I've just bought and consequently, some of my holy grail products become forgotten about. I have actually spent quite a lot on make-up this month, mainly on E.L.F. products as they had a 50% promo on about a week ago I'm gonna do a haul post on everything I got from them another time though as there is so much to review, so much that I've not even had a chance to try everything I bought yet! Anyways here's my favourite new purchases & products from July:

 

H&M Brick Red Poncho

I'd had my eye on this poncho for a while as I knew it would cover my bump and it looked lovely in the catalogue promo photos. I'd resisted purchasing for a while when I noticed it had gone into sale for the other day and considering the lack of affordable and fashionable maternity clothing I caved in and bought it....as well as a few other things :) 

H&M Feather Earrings

I can never just buy one thing from H&M, it's so bloody cheap and on-trend! Which leads me onto these boho kinda earrings I also purchased. Long, embellished earrings have always been a bit of an addiction of mine but recently I was trying to give my poor earlobes a break from all the heavy fake metal I'd been hanging off them over the years :\ Fortunately these are really lightweight and look stunning on.

Available from: hm.com

Neutrogena Visibly Clear Spot Stress Control Ultra Light Spot Treatment Moisturiser

I've always found Neutrogena products slightly hit & miss especially when they changed the formula of one of my HG face washes :\ Anyways, I reluctantly purchased this moisturiser as it was on promo in Boots and needed something cheap to replace my Body Shop skin clearing lotion. Whilst I'm still not sure of it's spot fighting abilities, the way this makes my skin feel is great. It feels really light and refreshing on the skin and which I'm guessing is down to the cucumber ingredient. On the days where we've had really humid weather, this hydrates my skin just enough as well as cooling it down.

Witch Anti-Blemish Skin Clearing Primer

I absolutely love this product. It fades the redness around my breakouts and previous acne scars, mattifies oily patches of skin, makes my skin surface smoother before applying make-up and I love the fact that it acts as a barrier to the plethora of make-up products I apply over the top. I've been using this for a few weeks now and admittedly it is my first ever primer! I don't use moisturiser underneath as I feel like applying both a moisturiser and primer is just drowning my face in products which doesn't help if you have oily skin plus this does a great job of moisturising on it's own. Overall, great product if you want a purse friendly primer :)

Boots Skin Clear Oil-Absorbing Sheets

These have been a god send for me over the last month! I hate applying powder over greasy skin so oil blotting sheets are a must-have for me. These are quite powdery when you tear them off the adhesive inside the packaging but they work wonders at absorbing oil from the skin and my make-up doesn't come off at all when using them either which I've noticed can happen with other oil blotting sheets I've used in the past.

 Products shown available from: www.boots.com

Make Up Academy Professional Eye Palette Heaven & Earth

After seeing several bloggers raving about this value for money neutral palette I had to have it considering I'm pretty much always on a budget and Superdrug were offering free delivery on all purchases so win win for my lazy, pregnant self :) Honestly though, this is a fab eye palette if you love neutrals as that's pretty much all this consists of.

Top row swatches taken in natural daylight.

Top row swatches taken with flash.

Bottom row swatches taken in natural daylight.

Bottom row swatches taken with flash.

Overall, this is an amazing product for the price, it retails at £4 which I think makes it well worth trying out. The shadows are very easy to blend and pigmentation is good so I'd definitely advise snapping this up before it sells out!

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss Peach Petal

 This had been on my wish list for a while simply because I was yet to find a nude coloured lip gloss that actually gave a nude lip and having googled swatches of this, I was hopeful this would end my search!

Bare lips with no product applied.

Lip swatch of Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss in Peach Petal.

 For your reference I'm an NC25 in MAC, so as you can see, this is highly pigmented and does in fact lighten my lips to give a more nude lip. One thing I would say is that this gloss is really sticky so it can go on quite streaky and kinda sit on any dry bits of skin. Overall I'd say this is a fab lipgloss, just make sure you really moisturise your lips beforehand which I mistakenly didn't do when I was swatching! I'm definitely going to be purchasing some more colours from the range in future.

Products shown available from: www.superdrug.com

 

 I hope you've enjoyed this post or it's at least been a bit helpful, would love to get some feedback.

 Have you tried any of the products I've spoke about and what products or brands are you loving at the moment?

Something Oh So Special...

 

I'd seen a lot of bloggers reviewing this pallette and knowing how good quality Sleek palettes are along with the neutral shades this palette mainly consists of, I knew I had to have it. I've just started getting back into wearing eyeshadow more often so thought this would be perfect to ease me back in gently :-)

Top row shades L-R: Bow, Organza, Ribbon, Gift Basket, Glitz, Celebrate. Bottom row shades L-R: Pamper, Gateau, The Mail, Boxed, Wrapped Up, Noir.

 I'm afraid my swatch photography skills aren't amazing yet but hopefully you can get a good idea of the colour payout. 

Swatches taken with flash.

As with previous Sleek palettes, these shadows are highly pigmented but really easy to blend and with the colours on offer here I'd say this is a great palette for someone who's just started experimenting eyes but doesn't want to try anything drastic. It's great if you just love eye shadow in general though! I love pretty much every colour although I'm not quite sure how I'd use the pink shades yet, I'm thinking of trying Ribbon as a blush as it looks like the perfect mix between peach and coral that I've been searching for.

What I used: The Mail as a base colour, Wrapped up on the eyelid and a teeny, teeny amount of Celebrate in the crease.

This is just a really subtle, natural eye I did the other day purely using colours from this palette. Celebrate is actually a lot more pigmented than it may seem on my eye as I've said I used a minuscule amount as I wasn't really wanting anything too smoky or dramatic that day.

Available from: http://www.sleekmakeup.com/
 

 Have you tried this yet, what do you think about it?

Maybelline Mascara Crush

So I thought I would enlighten you with a short and sweet review about my latest Maybelline mascara :-) My HG mascara for the past year or so was the Maybelline Falsies mascara...I must of repurchased dozens of time and literally thought it couldn't get any better until I tried out this...

Maybelline The Colossal Volum' Express in Absolute Black

Yep I know it's been out for ages now but I honestly was slightly scared of the huge brush and the consequences of me rushing in the morning and ending up with it all over my eyelids! So as you can see below it is quite a large wand but once I'd used it a couple of times, I had no issues with it...I'm sure no one else would either, its just I'd literally gotten so used to my Falsies wand that my hand must of become so accustomed to the shape of it that it couldn't quite get used to holding another mascara wand so quick haha.

 

Anyways here's my naked eyes!!

 

Scary eh...my eyelashes are practically non existent without mascara as you can see :-(

And here they are with Maybelline's Colossal Volum' Express mascara applied :-)


Big difference I'd say? If I'm honest I don't think the photo does the real life results full justice hence why I cannot rave about this mascara enough. Just to note I haven't curled my eyelashes at any stage, I'm way too lazy to bother!


The best bit was that I paid less than £5 for and it normally retails at around £7...how you may ask? Well I actually purchased it from an eBay seller who was selling lots of other well known branded cosmetics at discounted prices, the mascara I purchased is a limited edition shade as well so I think that may explain why it was so cheap.


Let me know your thoughts on this mascara, whether you love or hate it!

Small Drugstore Haul

Hello world! Firstly apologies for my lack of blogging, I've been mad busy this month as I've just recently graduated and I'm now nearly 8 months pregnant so I've been finding it a bit difficult to find the time and energy to blog :-(

Left-right: Dove Go Fresh Nourishing Body Wash Pomegranate & Lemon Verbena Scent, Boots Tea Tree and Witch Hazel Shine Control Moisturiser, Aussie Take The Heat Leave-In Spray, Sleek Oh So Special Eye Palette, Revlon Colorstay Foundation for Combination/Oily Skin in Sand Beige, Natural Collection Corrector Stick and Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss in Peach Petal.

Anyways...Just thought I'd share a small haul of skincare and make-up products that I recently purchased from various drugstores around my local town centre. Rather than doing a post to review each item I will give you a collective review on the body and skincare products I purchased and I will review the make-up products in forthcoming posts.

Having settled on the nectarine scented Dove Go Fresh bodywash a few weeks ago and finding that I loved it, I was pretty desperate to find somewhere that hadn't sold out of the pomegranate scent, basically because it was the one I had wanted to buy originally and it's pink :-) yep really sad I know! Anyways I spotted this hidden at the back of Bodycare and swiftly purchased. I'm pleased to say I can completely justify my lusting for this product, it smells gorgeous, the creamy texture is lovely and it lathers up really well with my shower puff. 


As for the moisturiser, I haven't used this quite enough to give you a great review of it and considering the amount of shine control or spot related moisturisers I've tried and own, I'm considering doing some sort of review post specifically on these sort of products.


I absolutely love Aussie products, I very very rarely opt for other shampoo and conditioning products however there's not much I can say about this heat protector spray except for that it smells gorgeous as is usually the case with any Aussie products! I'm not sure it helped protect my hair too much from the heat of my straighteners though if I'm totally honest...but please bare in mind I do have very curly, dry hair so what doesn't work for me may be great for your hair type!

If you would like me to review anything specific, please feel free to let me know and of course any comments are welcome :-)