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Friday 27 May 2016

Freedom Pro 12 Audacious 3 Palette

Freedom Pro 12 Audacious 3 Neutral Eye Shadow Palette Review Swatches Belle Amie UK Beauty Fashion Lifestyle Blog
Freedom Pro 12 Audacious 3 Palette | £4.00 | LINK

I love neutral eye shadow palettes as much as the next beauty blogger and I can never say "no" about adding a new one to my collection. After doing a bit of blog stalking, I came across this gorgeous looking palette by a brand called Freedom. I had heard about their products before but had never got round to trying them out. I was really surprised at how affordable their products are so on my next shopping trip I decided to pick up the Audacious 3 palette from my local Superdrug!

Freedom Pro 12 Audacious 3 Neutral Eye Shadow Palette Review Swatches Packaging Belle Amie UK Beauty Fashion Lifestyle Blog
Freedom Pro 12 Audacious 3 Neutral Eye Shadow Palette Review Swatches Belle Amie UK Beauty Fashion Lifestyle Blog
Freedom Pro 12 Audacious 3 Neutral Eye Shadow Palette Review Swatches Belle Amie UK Beauty Fashion Lifestyle Blog

The Audacious 3 palette contains 12 decent sized eye shadows with a mixture of mattes, satin and sparkly finishes plus a sponge tip applicator. All of the shadows have a pink/ golden tone to them so I think this would be a lovely dupe for the Urban Decay Naked 3 palette. Pinks have really been in fashion this Spring/ Summer so this would be a great palette to pick up to experiment with shades your not really used to. I'm someone who tends to stick to my normal brown/ gold shades so trying out pink toned shadows is something I'm not completely used to. However I've really enjoyed using this palette and it's nice to have a bit of a mix up with my makeup. Plus for just £4 these palettes are a great way to add some variety to your collection!

These shadows are lovely and soft and have a great colour pay off to them. Of course some of the lighter shades aren't as pigmented as the darker ones, but they're definitely buildable or can just be worn to add a slight definition to your eyes. I love that you can create so many different looks with this palette and just by picking a different crease or lid colour you can change your look instantly. This is definitely one of those palettes you can chuck in your makeup bag for a weekend away and know you're set with your eye makeup for both day and night!

Freedom Pro 12 Audacious 3 Neutral Eye Shadow Palette Review Swatches Belle Amie UK Beauty Fashion Lifestyle Blog
Top swatches: Top row & first 2 from middle row | Bottom swatches: Last 2 from middle row & bottom row

It's a shame that these shadows aren't named as it would make it so much easier to say what shades are my stand out favourites from this palette! Obviously that gorgeous copper shade looks stunning on the eyes and I think would suit blue eyes amazingly! I find myself using shades 3-5 from the top swatch quite a lot for lid colours and then 2-4 from the bottom swatches the crease. I like that the highlighting shade in this palette is matte too as there's so much shimmer going on that it's nice to balance it out with a subtle highlight.

With a primer these shadows do last me all day but can start to fade in the late afternoon. However I'm thinking you could always apply these shadows wet as that will give them much stronger colour pay off and hopefully last longer! The only other thing that slightly bothers me about the shadows is that the lighter shimmery shades do have some fall out to them, but luckily as they are light I can easily blend that away. Considering this palette is just £4 I am really happy with the quality of the shadows and would definitely think of trying more products from them!

Thank you for reading today's post! Sorry I've been a bit hit and miss with blogging recently. I'm actually in need of a bit of a photography day as I'm slowly running out of posts to write! If there's anything in particular you'd like to see then let me know in the comments!

Have a lovely weekend!

Have you tried the Freedom Audacious 3 palette?
What products do you recommend from Freedom?

Monday 16 May 2016

Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge

Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge Foundation Base Review Close Up Belle-Amie UK Beauty Fashion Lifestyle Blog
Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge | £5.99 | LINK

Hey beauties! Sorry for the lack of posts last week, I was super busy and couldn't find a spare minute to sit down and write! My boyfriend turned 22 last week (and yes, we have sung said Taylor Swift song many a time) so I was either prepping presents or having a lovely time celebrating with friends and family for his birthday. But today I'm back with a new beauty post about a product I have read lots of reviews on and couldn't wait to try myself!

A few weeks ago I picked up the Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge which you may have seen in this haul post. Being an avid fan of brushes, I'd never really tried using a sponge to apply my foundation and was really interested to see what sort of effect it created. I'm someone who loves a dewy, natural finish with my makeup and this little sponge is said to deliver that glowy look, so I was excited to give it a try!

Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge Foundation Base Review Close Up Belle-Amie UK Beauty Fashion Lifestyle Blog
Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge Foundation Base Review Close Up Belle-Amie UK Beauty Fashion Lifestyle Blog

So the idea behind this product is that it's meant to create a flawless yet natural look to the skin, even with heavy duty foundations. I think this is nice for the Summer time when you still want some coverage but at the same time want to allow your skin to breathe and look natural. I've found this sponge does decrease the coverage of my foundations quite a lot, resulting in ones like Rimmel Match Perfection and Revlon Colourstay looking more like a tinted moisturiser/ light weight foundations. It does however apply the product evenly and smoothly so you do get that natural no makeup look which is perfect for Summer.

This little egg shaped sponge feels really dense and is soft and squishy so feels really nice against the skin. The smell of it is a little odd, but after you wash it a couple of times it does start to fade. The different sides to this sponge also have their own functions, such as the pointed side is to get into smaller areas like your nose and under the eyes. I like to mainly use this sort of area of the sponge as I find it gives a nice finish - I don't really tend to use the flat side too much as it can feel like your wiping the product on to your skin as apposed to buffing it in.

With sponges it's also said to be best if you dampen them down before hand (totally up to you though as it can be used dry). At first I was using a bit of water but I found I wasn't loving the results with this. So I went out and picked up The Body Shop's Vitamin E Face Mist to dampen the sponge before use. I've really enjoyed this product as it's so nourishing for the skin but also helps my foundation blend out flawlessly with the sponge - definitely a great little duo!

I've really been enjoying this Miracle Complexion sponge and has now become a staple part of my foundation routine. Of course this is meant to be a dupe of the Beauty Blender, but for just under £6 this product is purse-friendly and does the job really well! A definite necessity for any makeup obsessive!

Have you tried the Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge?
Do you prefer brushes or sponges for your makeup?

Friday 6 May 2016

Barry M Coconut Infusion Nail Paints

Barry M Coconut Infusion Nail Paints Laguna Flamingo Surfboard Review Swatches Belle-Amie UK Beauty Fashion Lifestyle Blog
Barry M Coconut Infusion Nail Paints | £4.99 each | LINK

There's something about the Summer time that makes me really start to love nail polish again. I think that because in the colder months my nails are so much weaker, I don't see much point in painting them. But come Summer time I'm obsessed with trying new, bright and fun nail polishes. I recently picked up a small selection of shades from the new Barry M Coconut Infusion range. I've heard so many great things about these polishes and with my love of of anything coconut, I was really excited to give these a try!

The three shades I picked up were: Laguna which is a beautiful purple toned blue, Flamingo which is a bright orange coral and Surfboard which is a lovely pale muted pink/ purple. There's some really pretty shades in this collection but I felt like these three were shades that I'd wear all through Summer. What's special about this range of polishes is that they are infused with coconut oils and water to make them really hydrating and nourishing for your nails. Over time they're meant to make your nails healthier and stronger, which is always something I look for in nail polishes!

Barry M Coconut Infusion Nail Paints Laguna Flamingo Surfboard Review Swatches Belle-Amie UK Beauty Fashion Lifestyle Blog
1 coat : Laguna, Flamingo & Surfboard

After a couple weeks of wear I have to say I'm really impressed with these nail polishes! They're super opaque and can easily be worn with just 1 coat, but I do like to build it up to 2 just so they look perfect. They also wear really well and without a top coat last around 3-4 days before any major chips start to appear. I do a lot of typing at work as well so it's great that my nails can still look great for that long!

The finish of these polishes is really shiny and glossy so there's no need for a top coat! They also say that you don't need to wear a base coat with these polishes as that allows the nutrients to go through to your nails and help make them stronger. I haven't noticed any staining with these polishes, but I would be careful with the brighter shades like Flamingo and Aloha (a bright hot pink).

I'm really loving these polishes at the moment and will definitely check out some of the other shades. I'm sure these will become a Summer staple product for me as the shades are so lovely and they last so well on the nails.

Have you tried the Barry M Coconut Infusion Nail Paints?
What is your favourite nail polish shade for Summer?

Tuesday 3 May 2016

April Favourites

April 2016 Monthly Favourites Makeup Revlon Yves Rocher Soap And Glory MUA Real Techniques Belle-Amie UK Beauty Fashion Lifestyle Blog

So I'm back today with another monthly favourites post! This month has flown by but I'm excited for it to start getting into the Summer months and being able to wear sandals and finally go bare legged - might even try and brave it this week! This month I've been loving a couple new beauty products plus I've fallen back in love with a few old ones so I thought I would share these makeup loves with you.

Revlon Colorstay Foundation for Normal/ Dry Skin in Buff | LINK
I have a new foundation favourite this month which is the classic Revlon Colorstay foundation. I've wanted to try this product for quite some time, but I was always under the impression it was a real heavy duty foundation with a matte finish. This month I thought I would finally give it a go and I was really surprised how lovely this foundation actually is! I picked up the version for dry/ normal skin which has a satin finish and I love how it looks and feels on the skin. It's definitely a medium coverage but is easily buildable and makes the skin look flawless yet still natural. This is a new staple in my makeup collection and glad I finally picked it up!

Yves Rocher Fixing Eyelid Primer* | LINK | Review
This month I've started to use my Yves Rocher eye primer again to help my eye shadows stay put all day. This is a really nice product, it helps conceal discolouration on the eyes as it's slightly tinted and keeps your eye shadow looking great all day long. It's nothing revolutionary but I've enjoyed using it this month and does the job well.

Soap & Glory Sexy Mother Pucker Lipstick in Naked Talent | LINK | Review
This is quite a new lipstick to my collection but since picking it up a couple weeks a go I've used it pretty much everyday! Naked Talent is such a gorgeous nude shade that's really easy to wear and looks lovely with any makeup look. I love the texture and formula of these lipsticks as they're really moisturising and smooth.

MUA Undress Your Skin Highlighter | LINK | Review
I've re-kindled my love this month with the MUA Undress Your Skin Highlighter. This is a really gorgeous natural looking highlighter that gives a lovely glow to the skin. I believe there are some different shades of this highlighter available now so I'm definitely going to have a look at them! I've been applying it with my Real Techniques Setting Brush that I picked up this month. This is a great multi-purpose brush that's designed for setting powders but is also great for highlighting and contouring.

Thank you for reading today! I hope you all had a lovely weekend and are looking forward to the beautiful weather ahead - fingers crossed it is going to be as warm as they say! I would love to hear about any beauty, fashion or hair favourites you've had this month in the comments below.

What have you been loving this month?
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