Spring Beauty Haul

Since getting back into blogging a couple weeks ago, I have been pretty obsessed with looking up new products to try out. My last blog post was a Spring Beauty Wishlist with a selection of the beauty products that I've been wanting to get my hands on and try. Since making that post I have been on a bit of a spending spree and have allowed my self to pick up a few new lovely additions to my makeup collection! I have actually got a few more orders on their way (I need to stop spending haha!) but I thought I would show you some of the pieces I've picked up recently from Boots and Look Fantastic!

Soap & Glory Sexy Mother Pucker Matte-Lip Crayons | £3.50 each | LINK

I am a huge fan of Soap & Glory makeup, so whenever I spot something new I have to get it! Their Sexy Mother Pucker Lip Crayons are amazing and when I saw their new Matte-Lip shades I couldn't help but pick some up - especially as they were 3 for 2! The shades I chose were: Fire Cracker which is a very bright, bold orange, Chocoberry which is a lovely deep berry shade and Pretty Muted which is a pretty mid pink shade - all of which have a matte finish. I feel like these are 3 shades that I would get a lot of wear out of, especially Chocoberry as I'm sure this will look lovely in the Autumn too! I will definitely review these lovely lippies on my blog soon.

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in 1 Fair | £4.19 | LINK
This is a staple in my makeup collection so whenever I pop into Boots and see it's on offer I always have to pick one up as the lightest shade is always sold out! I think I even persuaded the girl that served me to go and pick one up as she asked whether it was good or not (I had to stop myself going all "beauty blogger" on her haha!). If you want to read more on this product check out my review of it here!

Collection Sheer Loose Powder in Translucent 2 | £2.99 | LINK

This was a bit of an impulse buy as I used to use this powder years ago and remembered it was one of my favourite products. The Collection Sheer Loose Powder contains silk, Vitamin E and UV protectors so I thought it would be a nice addition to my collection. Loose powders are also lovely for Summer as they're much lighter and natural looking on the skin compared to a pressed powder. So far I'm not really loving it as it seems to settle into my pores throughout the day, but I think I need to test it out with different foundations/ brushes and see how it wears with them!

Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge | £5.99 | LINK
Beauty sponges seem to be really big with bloggers at the moment so I thought I would pick one up and give it ago. They seem to give a really natural finish when you apply foundation and I thought this would be great for this time of year when you want to create those fresh-faced makeup looks! I haven't tried mine out yet but I'll definitely let you know how I get one with it. I love Real Techniques brushes so I'm sure this will be just as good.

Real Techniques Bold Metals Spring Essentials Set | £30.00 | LINK

So I finally got my hands on some more of the Bold Metals brushes from Real Techniques! If you saw my latest wishlist post then you would know I've been lusting after this set from Look Fantastic. As it was only £30 (with an extra 20% off, so just £24!) I thought I would treat myself and place an order. In the set there is: the Angled Powder Brush, Tapered Blush Brush and the Oval Shadow Brush and they are all so beautiful! I've been using all 3 every time I apply my makeup and have really enjoyed using them. I will also do a post on these beautiful brushes soon and give you my thoughts and opinions on them!

I hope you've enjoyed today's haul post! I get so excited when I have some new products to try out and I will definitely share my thoughts on them with you all very soon. Let me know if you've posted any hauls recently as they're my favourite posts to read!

Have you bought any beauty products recently?

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Spring Beauty Wishlist

 All images sourced from their respective websites

 Hi everyone, I hope you're all having a lovely start to your Easter weekend! I can't believe how warm it is as well today, Summer is definitely on its way and I'm not complaining! Today I thought I would share with you a few products that I have been lusting after for quite a while. Since getting back into blogging I've felt like I need to try everything and have got my love for makeup back! Some of these products have probably been out for quite some time but I've been after some new products to add to my collection as I've really wanted to start expanding on the products I use.

1. Stila Eyes Are The Window Shadow Palette in Soul | £30.00 | LINK

Where would a wishlist be without some king of neutral eyeshadow palette? This lovely Stila palette contains 12 beautiful natural eyeshadows that would be perfect for everyday wear. I already own the Stila In The Light palette which has some similar shades but I think this palette would be a lovely addition to my collection. Plus Stila eye shadows are amazing quality so I will definitely be investing in this some time soon.

2. BareMinerals Bare Skin Kit | £29.00 | LINK
You may have seen in my recent Everyday Makeup Bag post that I've been trying out a sample of the BareMinerals Bare Skin foundation for the past week or so. So far I have really enjoyed using it on a day to day basis. It's very different to any other foundation I've tried before as it's so light in consistency yet still offers good coverage. I'm thinking of trying out the Bare Skin kit that contains a 15ml bottle of the foundation, the Perfecting Face Brush and a small sample of the Perfecting Veil powder. I'm hoping this kit will help me get a better idea as to whether I like this foundation plus it's a great way to try out the powder as well!

3. Nars Sheer Glow Foundation | £31.00 | LINK
I've been on a real foundation hunt recently (hence why I've been trying the Bare Skin foundation) and another pricey addition that's on my list is the Nars Sheer Glow. This product is a real cult classic among many bloggers and I would love to give this a try and see whether it lives up to the hype! I'm really into my dewy foundations with medium coverage, so I'm thinking this will be up my street!

4. Freedom Audacious 3 Eyeshadow Palette | £4.00 | LINK
A cheaper alternative to the Stila palette mentioned before is this one from Freedom. I haven't tried any Freedom makeup products before but whilst having a read through some blogs this palette really caught my eye! Again it has a lovely range of neutral shades including shimmers and mattes. For £4 I may just pick this up on my next trip to Superdrug as it's super cheap and looks beautiful!

5. Sleek Solstice Highlighter Palette | £10.00 | LINK
As we roll into the Summer time, I'm a big fan of creating radiant and glowy makeup looks so I've been on the hunt to try some new highlighters. I've looked at the Hourglass highlighters and, as pretty as they are, they're a bit out of my budget. Whilst I was having a look around I came across the Solstice Highlighter palette from Sleek. I'm not sure whether this is new but I've never spotted it in any of my local Superdrugs. It looks stunning with a real mix of highlighter shades and tones.

6. Revlon Colorstay Foundation for Normal/ Dry Skin | £12.99 | LINK
Another classic foundation on my list is the Revlon Colorstay Foundation. This is meant to have a much higher coverage than foundations I'm used to however there are days when my skin is not at its best and I do need a bit more coverage. I like how this is formulated to different skin types and that the dry skin version has more of a satin finish which is what I prefer.

7. Real Techniques Bold Metals Spring Essentials Set | £30.00 | LINK
Real Techniques brushes are one of my holy grail makeup products. Pretty much every face brush I use for my makeup is Real techniques as they're so affordable and great quality. When the Bold Metals collection came out I think every blogger, including myself, were in awe as to how pretty they were - rose gold brushes? Who could resist! But along with that there was a much higher price tag that I couldn't really justify. The other day I spotted on Look Fantastic that this set of 2 face brushes and 1 eye brush was just £30 which I thought wasn't too bad. I will definitely be ordering these beautiful brushes so I can finally try out the Bold Metals collection!

8. Maybelline Color Tattoo Concentrated Crayon | LINK
I'm a massive fan of the Maybelline Color Tattoos and when I heard they were bringing out a new range, I was very excited! The selection of shades are beautiful and I think these will be great for Summer to create quick and simple eye looks. Correct me if I'm wrong in saying this, but I don't believe these are available just yet in the UK. I've heard their release date is Spring time so I'm hoping it will be pretty soon!

So these are a few products I've had my eye on recently. Please let me know if you've tried any of these as I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on them! I hope that you all have a lovely Easter and that you eat plenty of chocolate eggs! I'm going to be celebrating by having a huge roast dinner with all my family on Sunday, so I'm really excited for that!
Let me know what you're all getting up to this weekend in the comments below.

What beauty products are currently on your wishlist?

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Summer Ready Skin

I don't know about you, but once Summer starts rolling round I always seem to take much better care of my skin and try to stick to some kind of body care routine. I'm very good at keeping up my skin care routine all year long, but for my actual body I kind of neglect using products on an everyday basis during the colder months. It's most likely because during the Winter it's so easy to cover up with jumpers and thick tights that really, it doesn't overly matter if you do forget to slap on a bit of body butter in the morning!

But now that it's starting to get slightly warmer, I think it's always good to put together a simple yet effective body care routine just to get you back into the swing of things and prepare yourself (and the world) for starting to show a bit more skin! The main areas I like to focus on are my arms and legs as I love wearing little cami tops and skirts when it's warm, so these are the selection of products I've been using recently to start preparing my skin for the Summer!

My body care routine starts whilst I'm in the shower and one of the first products I will use is an exfoliator. The one I've been loving recently is the Soap & Glory Smoothie Star Breakfast Scrub (£8.00 LINK). This stuff smells incredible, if you love sweet, rich scents then this will be right up your street! This sugar scrub helps buff away dry skin and with the added shea butter leaves your skin feeling lovely and soft, plus smelling amazing. I will use this around twice a week as it's a fairly rough body scrub, definitely not something you'll want to use everyday!

Next, if I'm shaving my legs, I will reach for my Soap & Glory Whipped Clean Shower Butter (£7.00 LINK) which is a body wash and in-shower body butter in one. I don't really use this as a body wash but as a replacement for shaving gel as it lathers up really well and leaves my skin feeling super smooth! If you also don't have much time in the mornings, this would be amazing to apply at the end of your shower to leave your skin feeling soft all over. Again, like all Soap & Glory bath products, it has a beautifully rich scent that smells good enough to eat!

My final in-shower step is to use a skin softening body wash. I've been using the Nivea Diamond Touch Cream Shower Oil (£1.99 LINK) everyday for the past few months and have been really loving it! It has a beautiful, creamy floral scent that really lingers on the skin long after a shower. It also lathers up into lots of luxurious little bubbles that leave my skin feeling soft and clean.

Once out of the shower I immediately apply some form of body lotion/ oil. My absolute favourite body product to use during the Summer is The Body Shop Brazil Nut Beautifying Oil (£10.00 LINK). This dry oil sinks into the skin really quickly and leaves no oily residue behind, meaning you can get dressed straight away! I also love the super sweet scent of this product as it instantly reminds me of being on holiday last year! This is also a great product to use if you have just shaved your legs as it doesn't irritate the skin like a normal fragranced body lotion would. 

If I'm after something a bit thicker that will really help hydrate my skin then I will reach for my Soap & Glory Smoothie Star Body Milk (£10.00 LINK). This is a great product to use if you have used both the scrub and body wash in the shower as it really helps ties all those amazing sweet scents together. As this is much thicker than my oil I will use this around 2/3 times a week to help moisturise my skin and leave it feeling amazingly soft.

So this is my super simple guide to getting Summer ready skin! With just 5 products all from the high street this little routine is affordable, easy to use and works really well. I know we're still a few weeks off from actually being able to bare a bit more skin, but it's always good to prepare so that when it is finally warm enough you can go bare-legged without having to worry!

What products do you use to get your skin Summer ready?

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What's In My Everday Makeup Bag

 Even though I like swapping up my makeup on a regular basis, I'll be honest and say that on a day to day basis I do tend to stick to the same products. Over the past couple weeks I've been keeping all my everyday makeup products in a small makeup bag on my dressing table purely so it's easier to get ready in the mornings and I know everything's in one place. In this time I've been using my favourite products plus a few new products that I have been testing out, so I thought I would show you all what makeup I've been wearing recently.

Soap & Glory Feel Good Factor Translucent BB Cream Review
Bourjois Happy Light Luminous Serum Primer
Benefit Porefessional
Bareminerals Bare Skin Foundation (sample size)
Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer Review
Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer
Benefit Fine One One Review
Benefit Hoola Bronzer (deluxe sample size)
Makeup Revolution Focus & Fix Eyebrow Shaping Kit Review
Soap & Glory Archery
Maybelline Brow Drama
Soap & Glory Smolder Khol Eyeliner
Seventeen Eye Shadow Trio in Barely There
Benefit Roller Lash Mascara Review

I've recently been testing out the Bareminerals Bare Skin foundation after popping into Boots and getting a small sample. This is a very light weight foundation that has buildable coverage yet offers a skin like finish that is natural and healthy looking. I'm still unsure whether I like this foundation yet as I do like the natural finish however as it's lightweight, the wear time isn't amazing. I'm hoping it will be a nice product for the Summer and I'm thinking of trying the Bare Skin kit that includes this foundation, the brush designed for this product plus the Bare Skin Perfecting Veil powder. Let me know if you've tried this foundation as I would love to hear your thoughts on it!

I've also been testing out the Bourjois Happy Light Luminous Serum Primer as I love products that help give my skin a healthy glow during the Spring and Summer months. So far I am liking this product because of it's lovely formula and the fact it smells amazing! I will definitely review this for you within the next few weeks so do keep an eye out for that!

Another product that's impressed me recently is the little Seventeen Eye Shadow Trio in Barely There which contains some lovely everyday shimmery shades. I've had this in my collection for a while but it's only been within the past few weeks that I keep reaching for it as the colours all work so well together. As always I've also been sticking to a few favourites such as the Collection concealer, Roller Lash mascara and the Porefessional. I feel like these will always be staple products in my everyday makeup routine as they work so well for me.

What products have you been using on a daily basis?

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Makeup Revolution Focus & Fix Eyebrow Shaping Kit

Makeup Revolution Focus & Fix Eyebrow Shaping Kit in Medium Dark | £2.50 | LINK

Eek - it's been a while guys! I can't believe it was just over 5 months ago that I published my last blog post and since then we've had Christmas, the New Year and now we're approaching Easter. So I must say sorry for my long absence from my blog (yet again) but also a big hello and a massive thank you to anyone that's still around!

During my long break from my blog I haven't actually been trying many new products. That's probably a reason why I haven't had much motivation to blog as I feel like I'm just talking about the same old stuff over and over again. But something hit me the other day and I just felt like going on a little makeup shopping spree and seeing what products were on the high street for me to try out. With the added bonus of a little time off work, I just felt like taking some photographs and sharing my thoughts on some products with you guys - so here I am!

Despite being a huge lover of high street makeup, I've never actually got around to trying anything from the much loved brand Makeup Revolution - I know, I know, it's crazy! However I was having a little wander round Superdrug when their Focus & Fix Eyebrow Kit caught my eye. As I was running out of my much loved Archery pencil from Soap & Glory I thought I'd give it a try as the £2.50 price tag made it sound too good to leave behind. I picked up the shade Medium Dark as I do have dark brunette hair, but within this palette you do get 3 different shades to choose from, so it would definitely suit a range of skin and hair colours.

In this little eyebrow palette there are 3 good size powders to either choose from or mix together to create the perfect brow colour. The top left shade is the lightest of the bunch and I would say should suit a lighter brunette maybe verging on darker blondes. The top right shade is the one I've been using and is a mid-tone brown that I find suits my brows perfectly. The bottom left shade is the darkest and would be great for those with very dark hair. I've really enjoyed using these powders as the pigmentation is strong but not overpowering enough to give you bold brows in one sweep. It's very buildable and can easily give you a natural look with a small amount or can be built up to create a stronger looking brow.

The Focus & Fix kit also comes with a clear wax that is used to set and smooth out your brows after the powder has been applied, or used on its own for a more natural effect. This wax is good however doesn't last amazingly well throughout the day. I found it kept my brows in place for 2-3 hours but after that the effect had worn off and I did have a few stray hairs sticking up in places I didn't want them to!

Also with this kit you do get a mini angled brush which you can use to apply the powder or wax, plus a pair of tiny tweezers for on the go plucking. I haven't actually used this brush yet but that's because I have a full sized angled brush from Bloom Cosmetics that I always use for applying powder to my brows. However I would happily use this little one if I were to forget the brush or wanted to top up on the go. The little tweezers also aren't too bad considering the price of the whole kit. Obviously I wouldn't use them on a daily basis but they would be great for traveling when you need to sort out those few stray hairs.

Swatched in order of palette: top left, top right & bottom left | Above I have used top right powder & clear wax

I have been really impressed with this eyebrow kit and it will definitely be making its way into my everyday makeup bag! The powder product itself lasts really well during the day and I never feel the need to touch it up. The only thing I'm not overly keen on is the clear wax that comes with it, however I will just swap this with my much loved Maybelline brow gel as that's great at keeping my brows in place all day.

I do like to change my brow products up, from pencils to powders or just brow gels, but there's always something about powders that keeps me coming back to them. I like the natural finish that they give and that the product in general usually lasts me much longer than any pencil would.

Let me know if you've used this product before and how you've got on with it! If you haven't what is your favourite brow product to use? I'm always on the hunt to try out something new! Thanks for reading guys and I will hopefully talk to you all again soon!

Have you tried the Focus & Fix brow kit from Makeup Revolution?

What's your favourite product from the Makeup Revolution range?

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