My first ever #voxbox!

For those of you who don’t know what a voxbox is, Let me tell you a little bit about it.

For those of us who love to review (an lets face it, we all love to give are two cents now and again) the site http://www.influenster.com will be right up your street.

Mainly for the beauty community although does include food and drink, you can test products for free based on your social media influence.  The higher your score, the more chance you have of receiving a box (known as a voxbox).  You can also read what thousands of other people think on so many products, these are all honest reviews and really help you if your on the fence about a product.

It used to be only available in America but now the UK can also receive a box.

I was like a kid at Christmas when I found out (through the app) that I was going to receive a box.  Rimmel products are usually good quality and I hadn’t tried drugstore nail polish in a really long time.  A girl can never have to many glosses and I’ve never used a fiber mascara so I was busting to try this one.  This is what I think of the products received.

How the applicators looked on each product:

 

Shades of Black Oh My Gloss! By Rita Ora

The three colours I received where moonlight (a dark blue), desire (a deep maroon) and Rita’s black (you guessed it, black). Each gloss contains 0.21fl oz of product and has a self life of 24 months.

As you see from the swatches, for a gloss these are extremely pigmented.  Both desire and Rita’ black are very easy to apply whereas moonlight can go on patchy. These are not a sticky gloss and very comfortable to wear. I find it hard to place the smell on these, it’s not unpleasant and fades almost immediately on the lips.  Maybe a bit of a plastic smell but nothing so nauseating you couldn’t use them.  The Oh My Gloss! range is usually priced at £5.49 with offers off buy one get one half price regularly which I personally think is fantastic.  These colours maybe a bit out there for some but for Halloween there great fun to play with.  My favorite has to be desire! A beautiful vampy colour that goes with so many eye looks, I’m hooked! I will be purchasing more colours from the range as I feel they’re well worth it.

 

Shades of Black 60 seconds Nail Polish by Rita Ora

Colour shown in order: Midnight Ting, Matte Black and Darkest Desires

The three colours I received are Darkest Desires (a very deep maroon), Midnight Ting (an extremely dark purple) and Matte Black (you guessed it, a matte black colour).  You get 8ml of product in each bottle with a shelve life of 30 months.

The brush on these are thicker than I’ve seen on other drugstore nail polish, which I really like. It makes application very quick and leaves room for little to no mistakes.  This a thicker formula polish which means one coat is all you need.  These colours are very opaque, they may all look black on the nail until the light hits and you see that shine of maroon or purple. I had the colour Darkest Desire on for a week, which included three days at the gym and carving a pumpkin.I had the smallest of chips around the top of 4 nails during that week, a huge thumbs up from me! Priced at £2.99 you can’t go wrong.  Gorgeous colours, easy to use and long wearing…Rimmel knocked it outta the park with these.

Rimmel Wonderfully Real Mascara

Before and after

 

This mascara retails at £7.99 for 11ml of product and has a shelf life of 12 months.  I’m not going to lie, the first time I used this I wanted it as far away from my eyes as possible.  Clumpy and messy, it transferred over my lid and made my lashes look awful.  I didn’t want to give it a second chance, but I did, and there was improvement. It does lengthen my lashes, it does not give volume.  I’m also not a fan of the spiky brush, someone as clumsy as me can lose an eye with that thing.

I’m a big believer that you don’t need to go high-end for a mascara, there are so many good ones you can pick up from Boots or Superdrug for under £10.  This is not one of those I’m afraid. It doesn’t do enough for me to recommend it.

Overall thoughts

A big yes to the nail polishes, a yes to the glosses and a no on the mascara.  I’ve really enjoyed playing with these products over the last few weeks and can’t wait to try more from the Rimmel range! A big thank you to Influenster for sending these to me for review!

Have any of you guys received a voxbox before? What do you think of the new Rita Ora collection? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

If you would like to become a member of Influenster, you can use my referral code here: http://www.influenster.com/r/3080172

I don’t get anything from this referral other than 5 points towards my influence score (which I am grateful for if you choose to use the link).

Thanks again for reading! xx

 

 

 

New Products – ABH Subculture

So unless you’ve been living under a rock or have a life and not glued to the internet like me, you’ll know that this palette is creating a lot of heated debates.  Some claim that they have hit pan on their first usage, some claim that it just does not blend. I have even heard a few people say it has oxidized on them.  After reading and watching a lot of reviews I’m trying to keep an open mind.  I fall in love with the modern renaissance palette every time I use it so I still have high hopes for Subculture.

After receiving it today am I still as excited? Yes and no…

So, here it is…isn’t it beautiful!

First of all let me give you a few details about this palette.  I ordered it of http://www.anastasiabeverlyhills.co.uk on the day of release (24th July) and received it today (1st August).  I paid £42 and got free shipping as the site offers this if you spend over £25 (score)!  In this palette you get 11 mattes and 3 shimmers which add up to 7 grams of products.  This palette is cruelty free but some colours do contain carmine so it is not vegan.  It has a 6 months self life.

I swatched with the brush as I feel anyone can make a nice finger swatch but that’s not how you apply it.  It’s a nice brush, not scratchy but not really soft either.  Does the job.  I also used primer on my arm before swatching.  This also shows the wear down off these shadows, pretty impressive after around 8 hours wear time.

First Impressions:

Once I opened the palette i noticed two shades where slightly damaged. May not seem like a lot for most people but I don’t get to purchase much high products so it was a bit of a bummer.  I got over it though, first world problems an all that…

I’m not gonna lie, I was nervous to use this palette, I had very high expectations for it. After using the first few shadows though I quickly got over it.  The trick is DO NOT dig/swirl your brush into these pans. You’ll just end up with a dusty mess for no reason. The smallest bit goes a long way with these.  A simple tap into the pan is enough.  The pigment is just gorgeous.  You will need a setting spray/fix+ for the shimmers for their full potential but that’s true for most shimmers in my opinion.  No matter what you do you will get kickback, there’s no way around but it’s not as bad as everyone is making out.  I have experienced fallout with the shimmers (very minimal) but none for the mattes.

I did find most of these shadows fairly easy to blend. There was a bit of skipping with the purple shade (Rowdy) but other than that I had no problems.

I am really enjoying playing with this palette.  The colours are not like anything I own and I feel you can make so many different looks from everyday chic to all out glam!

I do not know if their has been a bad batch with this release or what the deal is.  Some of the reviews are exaggerated in my opinion, I feel that some reviewers are purposely digging into the palettes to jump on the bandwagon and add to the negativity.  I also feel that the company have been dealt with the backlash really well and Norvina (Anastasia’s daughter) has made so many public comments stating that they are trying to fix the problems.  I feel they dealt with things in a professional manner.

Based on what I’ve used today would I recommend this palette. Yes I would.  I feel the pigmentation and wear time is amazing.  If you are a beauty enthusiast/collector I think you will get a lot of enjoyment from Subculture.  I love the colours and I hope whatever issues there are, that the company can sort them soon.

Has anyone else dealt with any of the issues with this palette?  What do you think of the colour selection? Will you be purchasing when it comes back in stock?

 

Favorites In The Beauty World

Two Blogs in two days? how organised am I!!

So I’m thinking on a Thursday i’ll be reviewing some of my favorite products. Some of these things i’m sure you will have heard off and seen 1000’s of times but some will surprise you. This first one I almost never hear about online:

Barry M’s Dazzle Dust!

I love playing with this stuff. Its so much fun and can be used in so many different ways to create so many different looks. It can be a bit messy, lets face it, most loose powders like are but it’s so worth it. It’s best to do your eye look before your foundation though in case of fallout. Its safe enough to be used on eyes, lips and cheeks and is also vegan and cruelty free.

Here is a picture of just a few from my collection.

 

(What I used for the swatches, the brush was wet) 

Unfortunately Barry M’s selection used to be a lot bigger. A lot of the shades are now unavailable BUT keep and eye out in your local pound world as sometimes the odd one comes in.

Otherwise, they can be brought from Superdrug, Boots or the Barry M’s website for £4.59. They go on offer quite a bit as well, as I write this they are 3 for 2 in Boots and if you spend £7 on Barry M in Superdrug you can get a free nail polish (which are also awesome).  Even without an offer, in my opinion you can’t beat that pigmentation…it’s very much worth the full price!

 An eye look using 96 and 66 (and other colours for transition)

The wear time is also great, I went to my niece’s birthday party for around 8 hours and it had barely faded.

If you love glitter, if you love sparkle and even if you just love to experiment with different colours I highly recommend these.

 

 

What a load of rubbish!

It has been a REALLY long time since I’ve even looked at my blog but I want to get back at it.  Here goes nothing…

One of my favorite things to watch on YouTube is empties, probably because i’m so nosy and want to see what everyone is buying.  It’s also a great way of saving a few £££ as the you-tuber has done the testing so you don’t have too! I’m now going start my own mini series of empties, including makeup, beauty and skincare.

I hope if you stumble upon my little blog you find it enjoyable 🙂

First up, Sleek Control Shine & Prime Primer

Price: £7.99 for 15ml

Claims: This primer claims to control oil and mattify the skin while minimising pores and skin imperfections. It is a lightweight formula, velvety texture which once applied is undetectable on the skin.  It also claims to prolong the wear of your foundation.

How to use:  Pat into the skin with your fingertips starting from the center going outwards. Can be used on its own or under makeup.

Ingredients: Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Silica, Dimethicone, Cyclopentasiloxane, Isononyl Isononanoate, Isododecane, Polymethylmethacrylate, VP/Hexadecene, Copolymer, Trimethysiloxysilicate, Mica, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl, Glycol, Titanium Dioxide (77891), Iron Oxide Yellow(77492), Iron Oxide Red (77491), Iron Oxide Black (77499)

It this product cruelty free?:  Yes

 

My Verdict: This product is very hit and miss with me. I absolutely hated the first time I tried it due to its texture. When you rub it into the skin it can ball up which I didn’t like either.  Its true that it does blur pores, this is most likely due to its high dimethicone content.  I have VERY oily skin and do not feel it helped with the wear time of my foundation. It leave skin very soft but again, this will be down to the dimethicone which you can find in most primers. It did help my foundation sit nicely on the skin for the first few hours of wear time.

Would I repurchase? In short, no.  There are a few products from sleek which I love but this falls short in too many areas.  There is not a lot of product but it will last longer than you think as you only need a small amount. I feel that you can get better primers for around the same price point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Makeup Revolution Mini Haul Review

Hey everyone!!

So, I said a while back that I made a Makeup Revolution order.  I gave a few of the products away (because i’m nice like that) and kept the rest to play with and try a out few different looks.  I never really use colour so this was good start.

First impressions? WOW! All this for £25! I wanted cheap and cheerful so my expectations weren’t that high, but a few swatches later and i’m totally hooked.  These products are great quality.

The lipstick colour is beautiful on and very comfortable to wear. You will be topping it up throughout the day but for £1, there’s no big complaints here. I will emit that I do not reach for this highlight often. That’s mainly because Casper looks tan beside me. There is a nice shimmer to this and does what its suppose too.

 

When I first opened this palette, it was a bit bright and scary. Apart from a neon party or festival, when am I ever gonna wear these? After swatching thought it didn’t seem so bad. As you can see some are more pigmented than others but all round this is a nice wee palette to have.  Also, the rounder colours can go on a bit chalky.  It’s usually £6 and I don’t think it’s something I would have usually brought but it came free with my order. Free is always a good price.

This fixing spray was recommended to me by so many people. Keeping the bottle at arms length, just a few sprays over your face and your makeup stays in place all day.  It was £5 and I’ve had it for 6 months and still have around half the bottle left. Great value!

I have since found a fixing spray I love more than this (from Avon believe it or not) so I wanted to try something out.  I broke up half of a powder highlighter i never use (from MUA) and added it to this.  Now when I want to look metallic (you can never have enough highlighter in my opinion) I give myself a spray of this and shine brighter than a unicorns fart :-).

Saving the best till last!! I love this palette, the colours are so pretty (look at copper dream <3), the shimmers are gorgeous under light and everything is wearable!  Blending wise, there are more blend-able palette in the world but that’s not saying using this is hard.  I also suggest using a damp brush to apply as it really brings out the sparkle in some of the colours.  At £8, this cost the most out of all the products.  I would gladly pay double if I needed too as it just so beautiful.

If you want great makeup with a great price tag, I strongly suggest Makeup Revolution. From what I have used so far, I can honestly say I haven’t came across a dud product.  If your only starting out in the world of makeup then this is a great inexpensive way to try out different ideas.

Nobody’s perfect…and that’s okay! 🙂 xxx