Review | Benefit Big Beautiful Eyes

Benefit Big Beautiful Eyes | £24.50

Hello lovelies! I hope you're all well and having a lovely week. Now, I'm the kind of girl who loves a natural eye look as I've never been confident enough to pull off bold and bright colours - I much prefer a bright lipstick! A few months ago after having my makeup done at a Benefit counter, I decided to pick up yet another natural eye shadow palette to add to my collection. This is the Benefit Big Beautiful Eyes kit that contains 3 neutral pink and brown eye shadows and a Boi-ing concealer in shade 02. I thought this would be a perfect little palette that would give everything you need to create and effortless yet very pretty eye look!

Base - a shimmery light pink/ nude

Crease - a shimmery pink/ brown

Liner - a matte medium brown

So as I said, you get 3 gorgeous pink and brown toned eye shadows in this kit that all work very well together to create a very pretty and natural eye look. Each shadow is labelled and shown in the step-by-step guide where you can apply it, so this kit is perfect for people who are just starting out with eye shadow. For me, I apply the Base colour all over my lid and into the inner corners of my eyes. I then apply and blend the Crease colour into the crease of my eye lid, just above the Base shadow, which adds definition to your eye. Finally I apply the Liner colour along my upper lash line to work as a powder eye liner and makes my eye lashes look fuller. I love how these shadows look on my eyes and I think they all work really well together. As the Base and Crease colours have a slight pink tone to them, I find they suit my brown eyes very well. However, I do think all of these shadows would suit every eye and skin colour as they're so neutral and flattering. The shimmery eye shadows are extremely pigmented, soft and easy to blend which makes them both work very well together. As the Liner is a matte shade, it isn't as pigmented but is still easy to work with along the lash line. I'm really impressed with the quality of the shadows in this kit and it's definitely one of those products you could use every day.

As for the Boi-ing concealer, unfortunately the shade is way too dark and orange for my skin tone and I can't really use it. I do have this concealer in shade 01 and I find it works a lot better for me. This concealer offers a lot of coverage and is very easy to blend into the skin. I do think they should offer a light, medium and dark version of this palette so that more people can get use out of the concealer instead of it going to waste!

The packaging of the Big Beautiful Eyes kit is so cute and I love how small and compact it is. Along with the shadows and concealer, you do also get a couple mini brushes which makes this kit easier to use whilst travelling! I don't actually use these brushes as I much prefer my own, but they aren't bad quality and you could definitely get away with using them! There is also a little mirror inside the palette which is always handy for using on the go. Finally, you also get a little lesson card which shows you how and where to apply the shadows and concealer to achieve your big beautiful eyes look. It also has a couple tips and tricks to make application easier just in case you are new to makeup!

Overall this is a lovely little eye shadow kit and is the kind of product everyone needs in there collection as it's so compact and perfect for everyday use! I also think the shadows can be used to create a day to night look just by intensifying the liner and crease colour - so again it's a very versatile product. I highly recommend Benefit products and if you're thinking of trying the Big Beautiful Eyes kit, then definitely try it out!

Have you tried Benefit's Big Beautiful Eyes eye contour kit?

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Review | Sleek Blush By 3 in "Sweet Cheeks"

Sleek Blush By 3 in "Sweet Cheeks" | £9.99

Hello everyone! So today I'm going to be reviewing a product that I have been really loving recently and that is the Sleek Blush By 3 in Sweet Cheeks. This is a new blusher palette from Sleek's Candy collection and contains 3 gorgeous candy pink shades. This is the first Blush By 3 I've ever tried from Sleek despite wanting to try them for ages (the Lace blush palette has always been on my wish list!) and I was so excited to try it out when I first picked it up. As I'm becoming a huge fan of blushers and have been buying them like crazy, I thought the Sweet Cheeks palette would fit perfectly into my collection!

To start with, the packaging of this Blush By 3 palette is so cute - I even keep the palette in the box because it's that pretty! The packaging of the actual palette is black, very sleek and perfect for travelling with. As you have all 3 shades in one palette, it's very compact and you have a lovely range of blusher shades in one place. The palette also comes with a large mirror in the lid, so makes it perfect to use on the go!
Like I said the Sweet Cheeks palette contains 3 blusher shades which are (left to right):

Cupcake - a hot pink cream blush
Dolly Mix - a matte cool dusty pink powder blush
Candyfloss - a shimmery bright pink powder blush

I love that with this palette you are getting 3 different formula of blusher, especially as I have been really liking cream blushers for Summer. The pigmentation of each of the blushers is amazing, you literally only need to tap your brush against the product to pick up enough colour. The first time I applied Cupcake, I tapped my Real Techniques Stippling brush in it about 2 times and even that put way too much product on my cheeks - it looked like I had a sun burn! So the trick with these blushers is to build up the colour gradually as they are so pigmented. The only blush you can get away with putting more on is Dolly Mix as it is a much lighter shade than Cupcake and Candyfloss so needs the most building up to achieve a bold colour. As well as being extremely pigmented, all of the blushers are soft, smooth and blend out really well with either my Real Techniques Stippling brush or Blush brush. In the photo above, I am wearing a light layer of Cupcake and then a layer of Candyfloss over the top. Together they give a really nice pink flush to the cheeks and the fact Candyfloss is a powder formula, it helps set Cupcake in place. Also as Candyfloss is a slightly shimmery blush, I found that I didn't have to wear a highlighter on my cheek bones as it already gave me a glowy finish.

In terms of how long they last, I find these blushers will last me most of the day and only need a bit of touching up towards the end of the day. I also find that none of these blushers go patchy or cakey looking even if it is warmer out. This means Sweet Cheeks is the perfect blusher palette for Summer as it contains 3 beautiful pink shades that work so well for the warmer weather, plus they actually stay on your skin throughout the day!

Overall, I absolutely love Sleek's Blush By 3 in Sweet Cheeks and I'm very tempted to try more of their blusher palettes. I can see this palette lasting me such a long time as the shades are so pigmented, so it's definitely worth the £9.99 price tag (that makes it just £3.33 a blush and all being amazing quality)! I definitely recommend you picking this palette up if you see it, especially as it's limited edition too!

Have you tried Sleek's "Sweet Cheeks"? What are your thoughts on the Blush By 3 palettes?

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Review | My Latest Topshop Lips Lipsticks

Topshop Lips Lipsticks | £8 - £9 each

Hello lovelies, I hope you all had a great weekend! Today I thought I would do another Topshop lipstick review. I have already reviewed Infrared and Confession (read the post HERE) but I thought I would make another post about the latest additions to my collection! As you may know, I'm a huge fan of Topshop's makeup and I feature their lipsticks quite often on my blog. I'm always looking to expand my collection so if there are any shades you think I should try, please let me know in the comments!

Ditsy | £8 | LINK

First up is my latest Topshop lipstick called Ditsy which is a hot coral shade that is beautiful for Spring and Summer. I absolutely love wearing corals during the warmer months and this is the perfect colour for me! It has a slight pink undertone to it which makes it very easy to wear, especially if you're wary of brighter orange shades. The formula of this lipstick is amazing as it's creamy and smooth to apply. Plus the pigmentation is also great and it gives you an opaque finish in just a few swipes. I also find this lasts a long time on the lips and only budges when you eat or drink! I haven't seen this shade being talked about much on blogs which is a shame as I think it's my favourite Topshop lipstick shade! Definitely worth trying if you like colours like this.

Crystal | £9 | LINK

The next lipstick is actually one of Topshop's lip tints in Crystal. This lipstick reacts to the PH of your lips to create a unique shade of pink that suits your skin tone. To be honest, the reason why I picked up this lipstick was because how beautiful it looks in the tube! It's a slightly transparent pink that has loads of glitter in; it actually looks like one of those pretend lipsticks you'd buy when you were younger! When you apply this lipstick, the colour doesn't show too much straight away as you need to let it develop. Once it's developed you're left with a very pretty pink shade with a fair amount of glitter. The formula of this lipstick isn't as creamy as the standard lipsticks, in fact it's quite hard, yet it is still very easy and smooth to apply. Also the glitter isn't at all rough on the lips and actually feels very soft just like a balm. As Crystal is a lip tint, it does last very well on the lips and will stain them for a few hours, but doesn't dry out your lips throughout the day.

Ohh La La | £8 | LINK

 My final Topshop lipstick is Ohh La La which is a coral blush shade. This is probably my least favourite Topshop lipstick however I do still think it's pretty, just quite difficult to wear. As it's quite a light coral shade, it can look a bit odd against my skin tone but I do still wear it, just paired with a lip gloss that adds a bit more colour. I find the formula just as nice as the other Topshop lipsticks however when applied, it can be a bit patchy and uneven. This is why I think it's essential to wear a lip gloss with it to even it back out. Again like Ditsy, this lipstick does last a long time on the lips which is something I love about the Topshop lipsticks! If the shade was a little brighter and was even to apply, this would be a lovely lipstick for this time of year!

So these are the latest Topshop lipsticks I have added to my collection. I think they're all such lovely shades and I already have my eye on picking up some more like Macaroon! Like I said, if there are any shades you think I should try, do let me know!

Have you tried Topshop's lipsticks? Which is your favourite shade?

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Nails Of The Day | Bikini So Teeny

Essie Nail Lacquer in Bikini So Teeny | £7.99

Hello lovelies, I hope you've all had a great weekend! The other day I ordered a new Essie polish called "Bikini So Teeny" from Fragrance Direct. Now, I'm pretty sure most of you have heard about this beautiful blue/ purple shade and I for one have been lusting after it for ages! So when I spotted this little beauty on the Fragrance Direct website for just £1.99 I immediately made an order and was so excited to finally try it out! It arrived yesterday and I couldn't wait to put it on my nails, so I thought I would do a Nails Of The Day post for you all!

"Bikini So Teeny" is a gorgeous blue/ purple shade that is described as a cornflower blue on the website. It also has tiny bits of silver shimmer which I hope you can see in the photos above. This shade is so pretty for Spring and Summer and I love how it looks on the nails! I like how subtle the shimmer is and it adds a little something to the polish to keep it from looking flat on the nails. The formula is nice, applies well and has an opaque finish in 2 coats, but I added an extra third in the picture above to make sure it was completely even. I'm already in love with this nail polish and I'm so glad I finally have it in my collection!

You can still order Essie's "Bikini So Teeny" from the Fragrance Direct website HERE, so if you're on the hunt for it like I was, then be sure to snap one up as soon as possible!

Have you tried Essie's Bikini So Teeny? If not, what is your favourite Essie polish shade?

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Review | Fake Bake Flawless Self Tan Liquid

Fake Bake Flawless Self Tan (With Professional Mitt)* | £19.95

Hello everyone I hope you all had a lovely weekend! Now that it's coming up to Summer time I love having glowing and tanned skin, but living in England means the Sun is pretty hard to come by! I usually resort to fake tan but I've never found a product that delivers a completely streak free and even finish. I was recently asked by TanLand whether I would like to try the Fake Bake Flawless Self Tan Liquid and I have to say, I was very excited to test it out. I've heard so many great things about Fake Bake and seen brilliant results with girls coming out with golden and glowing skin after using it! Now, I am a very paled skinned girl, so I much prefer fake tans that give a natural looking glow to my skin rather than going a deep tan colour; I just don't think it suits me! So I was very interested to see how well this worked with my skin tone.

| About Fake Bake Flawless Self Tan Liquid |
Fake Bake Flawless Self Tan is a weekly tanning solution that delivers a streak free, flawless looking tan that's meant to suit all skin tones and types. Fake Bake's "show ehere it goes" guide colour means that the product is a very dark brown shade - almost scary looking against my pale skin! However, once it's buffed into your skin it turns into a golden colour which is your guideline to show where you have applied the fake tan. I love the idea of a tan actually showing you where you've applied as it allows you to see the areas you've missed and helps give you a more even finish. As with most high end fake tans Fake bake's formula of active ingredients are blended to minimise the chances of an orange looking tan and instead give a sun kissed glow to your skin. One final thing about the Fake Bake tan is that instead of smelling like standard fake tan, it's actually scented with black coconut which makes it smell amazing! It seriously reminds me of sitting on the beach sipping Pina Coladas and I absolutely love it! However, I'm pretty sure this scent won't be to everyone's taste as it can be a bit strong, but I personally think it smells 100 times better than normal fake tan.

| What products come with Fake Bake Flawless Self Tan Liquid? |
As you can see, the Flawless Self Tan Liquid actually comes as a mini kit and has a mitt and gloves included. I think this is very helpful, especially if you haven't got either of these to hand. The mitt is very soft and buffs out the fake tan beautifully. The gloves are pretty standard and are there just to stop the fake tan seeping through the mitt and staining your palms. The actual bottle of tan is very nice and I've had no problems in terms with it leaking! It's a small bottle which makes it easy to hold whilst you are applying the tan, something that I think is important. The spray nozzle comes separately from the actual bottle, I think this is just so it can't leak if you're travelling with it. I was a little bit worried about using a spray bottle as I've only used aerosols before and I thought that it may make my tan come out a bit patchy! However I found it just as easy to apply with, the tan sprayed out as an even mist and then blended out just as well as other instant tans I've used before. Finally you also get a small instructions sheet that gives you direction and tips about how to apply the tan. It's straight to the point, easy to read and I found it very helpful for applying the tan!

| How I applied Fake Bake Flawless Self Tan Liquid |
1. To prep my skin for the fake tan, I exfoliated with Soap & Glory's Sugar Crush Scrub in the shower. Once out the shower, I went over any drier areas with an exfoliating mitt and I then applied Soap & Glory's Smoothie Star body lotion. Exfoliating and moisturising before fake tanning is essential if you want to achieve an even and natural looking tan as it will remove any dead and dry skin.

2. I left my body lotion to sink in for about an hour and then started to apply the Fake Bake tan. Starting with my arms I applied 4 - 6 pumps of tan on to the mitt and then started to buff into my skin. I then repeated this until I was happy with the guideline colour. I found applying tan this way creates a more natural looking glow instead of instantly going a golden brown colour. For my legs, I applied around 6 - 8 pumps to the mitt and repeated the same process. Finally for my face, I simply wiped the tanning mitt across my face just for a gentle hint of colour. To tan my whole body it only took around 20 minutes, so was very quick and easy to do. Once I had buffed the tan into my skin, I found that it dried quickly and left my skin feeling very soft. Even though this fake tan only takes 4 - 6 hours to develop, I left it on over night to ensure it was fully developed.
I repeated this process for the second application.

3. For the third application, I wanted to see how this tan worked if I sprayed it directly on to my skin and then buffed it in. I found this way I needed the same amount of product yet it was much more effective at making my skin darker. It was just as easy to blend into my skin and it didn't leave me looking patchy or uneven. Again, I left it to develop over night and in the morning I was left with evenly tanned and glowing skin.

| Overall thoughts on Fake Bake Flawless Self Tan Liquid |

As you can see from the photos my skin looks a lot more tanned and glowing, especially on my arms (they always seem to take to fake tan better than my legs). The finish was also very even and natural looking so definitely lives up to it's "flawless looking" claims! I'm very happy with the results from this fake tan and think the colour I achieved from the 3 applications is great. After the third application, I left my tan to see how well it faded over the week. After a few days I definitely noticed that the tan was fading but wasn't as patchy as I expected, just a couple darker spots near my wrists! Other tans I've tried before have left huge patches on my forearms, so this is one of the best that I've tried.
The only issue I had with this tan is that when I applied it in the evening, I found that it transferred on my my bed sheets and clothes, even after waiting a good hour for it to dry! I think I will have to stick to using this during the day rather than just before bed, which is a shame as I like how easy it is to apply at night and simply wash off in the morning.

Overall Fake Bake Flawless Self Tan Liquid is a really nice product and I can see it working for any skin tone as you can control the amount of tan you apply. It is definitely one of the best fake tans I've used and I think it just beats my St Moriz tan as the finish is a lot more even and flawless looking!

You can buy Fake Bake Flawless Self Tan Liquid from TanLand.co.uk for just £19.95 with free UK delivery!

Have you tried Fake Bake tan before? What's your favourite fake tan?

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Review | Seventeen Trio Eye Shadows in Metallic Toffee

Seventeen Trio Eye Shadows in "Metallic Toffee" | £5.49

Hello everyone, I hope you're all well and have something exciting planned for the weekend! Today me and my boyfriend are going shopping for our holiday and then treating ourselves to meal out together. I've been really looking forward to this shopping trip because I have a wish list as long as my arm and I can't wait to pick up some new beauty pieces! I especially want to try Sleek's Face Form palette in "Fair", Topshop's cream blush in "Head Over Heels" and the Real Techniques Stippling Brush, all of which I've seen amazing reviews on! Before I start rambling about all the hundreds of pieces of makeup I need in my collection, let's get into today's post!

In one of my recent hauls, I picked up this Seventeen Trio Eye Shadows in "Metallic Toffee". I received a coupon through the post from Boots that allowed me to pick one up for just £1, which is amazing considering it has an original price of £5.49! After a good 10 minutes trying to decide which trio I should go for, I opted for "Metallic Toffee" which is a selection of golden neutral shades. This little trio consists of: a dark brown, a light gold and an off-white, all of which have shimmer in. The Seventeen Trio Eye Shadows are designed so that all the colours work together to give you the perfect eye look and in this case, it's a golden neutral look. Even though I have so many neutral eye shadow shades, I thought this trio would be really handy to pop in my makeup bag and use when I'm away travelling.

I wasn't expecting much in terms of pigmentation and quality as Seventeen hasn't been a brand that's stood out to me in the past. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the eye shadows were very pigmented and applied smoothly to my eye lid. The only shade I'm not too keen on is the gold as I find it quite harsh on the eyes and a bit "cheap" looking. But, the off-white looks beautiful as an inner-corner highlighter and the dark brown works very well as a contouring shade! All of the colours do work well together, but like I said, I'm not a fan of the golden shade so I tend to use a different lid shadow instead. I found that with a primer, these shadows lasted me most of the day and only wore off towards the end. 

As for the packaging, I really like the simplicity and I find it's very sturdy and easy to open - always a plus! As it's compact and small, it's perfect for keeping in your makeup bag for touch ups throughout the day.

Overall, this is a lovely eye shadow trio and think it's one of those staple kind of products that everyone needs in their makeup collection! It's perfect for everyday wear but could be worn during the night if you use more of the dark brown shade. If I was going to buy another trio, I'd love to try "Barely There" which has more champagne/ light pink shades and I think would look very pretty on the eyes!

Have you tried the Seventeen Trio Eye Shadows? What are your thoughts on "Metallic Toffee"?

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Nails Of The Day | Queen Victoria Street

Nails inc. Nail Polish in Queen Victoria Street* | £11

Today, I have a new Nails inc. polish to show you which is one of the newest shades available for Summer! This is Queen Victoria Street which is a gorgeous emerald green with a glossy finish (unfortunately I couldn't seem to capture the true colour on my camera, it's a lot more green in real life). As I don't own very many green nail polishes, especially any shades like this, I was very interested to see how well it suited me!

First of all the formula of Queen Victoria Street is amazing; it's thick, creamy and opaque in just 1 coat (out of habit I have applied 2 coats in the picture to achieve a more even finish). I also found it dried very quickly despite being such a thick consistency - exactly what you want in a nail polish! Plus I haven't had any major chipping with this polish yet and has lasted a good few days on my nails; so top marks for the formula! I really wish you could see the true colour of this polish as this bright green shade is absolutely perfect for this time of year (I've taken so many photos in different lights and these were the best!). It looks very fresh on the nails and I think it's well suited to Spring as it reminds me of when everything starts turning green and colourful again! I really like how this shade looks against my skin and I think it would look amazing with a tan during the warmer months. I also can't wait to use this polish to do some nail art, such as floral designs, as I think it will be great to do the little leaves with!

Overall this is such a lovely nail polish and has even persuaded me to try out more green shades! If you're looking for a new polish that will add a pop of colour to your nails this Summer, then definitely check out Queen Victoria Street. You can also try this polish in the Nails inc. Bling It On Emerald kit which looks absolutely gorgeous!

You can buy Nail inc. polishes over at lookfantastic.com with free delivery, plus they also have 10% off Nails inc. polishes right now!

What are your thoughts on Queen Victoria Street?

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