MUA Pro Brow Palette

One part of my make up routine that I always am quite particular about is my eyebrows as unfortunately I'm not blessed with full lovely shaped eyebrows, so I am always on the lookout for trying new brow products. I normally use the Illamasqua eyebrow cake in thunder, a product that I have loved since I got it! I then noticed that there really isn't many high street brands that bring out brow products other than the odd pencil in their collection! I was really happy to see a very reasonable priced brand like MUA bring out brow palette and one of such good quality at that.

The palette consists of 3 colours and a setting gel, you also get a mini set of tweezers and a small angled brush. The colours that you get are a dark brown, an ashy blond and a peachy tone. This creates a perfect trio to be able to do most brow shades that you would need to do as well as having a highlight for your brows also. It also means that if you were stuck for eye shadows they could double up for that as well! The setting gel is great and isn't over sticky and sets the brows nicely.

Honestly for £3.50 I can't fault the product at all, if anything I think more brands need to follow MUA's lead and start bringing out great products like this! This will definitely be a palette that i will continue to repurchase and I look forward to trying more products from this brand.

MUA Is available from larger Superdrug stores or online at http://www.muastore.co.uk/

Sleek Shangri-la Collection

The latest collection to come from Sleek is the Shangri-la collection. This consists of two eyeshadow palette's and two lip glosses. The lip glosses were average normal glosses, nice texture but nothing over whelming, But as per usual as soon as I seen the new eyeshadow palettes I knew I had to have them. The quality of sleek eye shadows are amazing with great consistency and brilliant pigmentation, these two palettes are no exception! Firstly I think its great that these two palettes ( Supreme and Respect Palette) are made up of predominately matte shadows as apposed to having an overwhelming amount off shimmer based shadows. They also won me over by the packaging as it was eye catching compared to there usual black outer packaging.

The Supreme Palette

The Supreme palette is made up of cool blue, earthy greens and mustard yellow tones and only has one gorgeous shimmer that is a pale white silver that is a perfect highlight. I think its great that out of the 12 shadows 11 of them a matte! I love the shades that come in this palette and think this is the perfect autumnal cool shades. As per usual the pigmentation is excellent and they are very long lasting. The texture of the powder is very smooth and therefore makes it easy to apply and blend.

Although the dark navy looks like a shimmer it is matte!

The Respect Palette

The Respect palette is made up of warmer tones of dark browns, antique gold, warm beige and rich orange and pink's. Again I love how there are more matte eye shadows than shimmers as its rare for this in high street palettes. The colours are gorgeous and are perfect if your wanting a warm autumnal palette as apposed to the supreme palette. I also think this is a lovely palette for the festive season!  Again the pigmentation is great and they are smooth easy to apply and blend like a dream!

Any one who has tried the sleek palette's will love these depending on which colours you prefer in either palette! Sleek continue to bring out great quality products that are priced affordable and that compare to high end eyeshadow products! Well worth a try :)

Dr Hauschka Lipstick

I had been wanting a Dr hauschka lipstick for ages but had thought that £20 was quite dear for a lipstick, but I completely fell in love with the shade No.6, a gorgeous deep red and with that I purchased my first Dr Hauschka product! The product itself has quite a string herbal scent to it, but as it is an all natural product it is to be expected. It is easy to apply and is smooth when on the lips.

The downfall to this lipstick is that it is very move-able and isn't the most long lasting product. To avoid having to to keep re-applying it on a regular basis I would definately wear a lip liner.All in all the colour more than the quality makes me love this product and it does have lovely packaging, butI don't think I will be purchasing any more from the Dr Hauschka lipstick line.

Illamsqua Neutral Palette

I know I am completely biased when it comes to Illamasqua becuase there hasnt been one product of theirs that i can't help but love and my most recent purchase is no expception!! It is the Illamasqua Neutral Palette. It is a stunning combination of a light cream, burnt gold, deep brown and a perfect black. This little gem can create any look you want from an everyday natural look to a dramatic evening look.

This is a definate must have for anyone who wants to have a palette that can take you from day to night in a handy compact that can perfectly fit in your make up bag! As oer usual with Illamasqua shadows the pigment is excellent and they blend like a dream. I always use a primer on my eyes and these shadows work perfectly with it to leave a long lasting eye look for all day and night! 

Illamasqua are one of those companies who never seem to fail at bringing out new innovative products that are amazing quality and great value. Every collection they bring out never disapoints!

Check out their stunning new collection Generation Q at;

www.Illamasqua.com

If you want to see any eye looks that i do with this palette let me know :)

xxx 

Sephora Haul

For ages I have been lusting after products from Sephora, but unfortunately living in Northern Ireland we don't have the luxury of having one! So when my mum was heading to canada I took the oppertunity to get a couple of make up goodies!

One product in particular that I have been dying to try was one of the  Kat Von D eye shadow palette's. I am beyond excited to try this as the colours look gorgeous and I have heard nothing but good things about these shadows! I got mine in the shade 'Sinner'.

I am also excited to try some of sephora's own line of make up. My mum picked out these products and has picked some of the most gorgeous shades of shadows, I have four of the Prisma chrome eyeshadows which look unbelievable in the packageing with beautiful shades. I also have two of the moonshine trio which again are gorgeous and remind me of the mac mineralized eyshadows! I really love the selection of colours I got.

Another product form sephora range that I got was the silk blush bronzer duo. This is a lovely and definately looks like a perfect everyday blush and bronzer product. I am very excited to try all these lovely products and will definately review and swatch them when I have tried all the products properlly!



My Make up Swap

Earlier on in the year I decided that I would really love to do a make up swap with some one in the US. I thought that this would of been a great way to try different products that I had never tried as they aren't available in the UK. I found a Blogger who was interested in doing a swap with someone from the UK so i got in touch with her!

We both had about two products or a certain brand that we wanted to try and then set a budget! We let eachother know what type of styles / colours that we liked in make up and products. This was a great idea as it means we know what colours to go for in different products. 

I think this is a great way to try different products from different countries that aren't available from were you live and is also great for interacting with other bloggers.

I will leave a link to her great blog below and will update you on when i recieve my package of make up goodies :)

Claires Blog : http://www.xmakeupbyclaire.com/

xxx

** If you do decide to do a make up swap with another Blogger/ Youtuber Make sure you do so safely!!**

My Top 3 Brush Cleaners

To me one of the most important things that you should do is clean your make up brushes. In my line of work as a Make up artist I think it is essential to always thoroughly clean your make up brushes after every use whether they are your own personal brushes or ones that you use on clients. You don't always  have to give a deep shampoo clean after each use, but it is important to at least do a quick spot clean on your brushes.

I personally use two different products for giving a quick clean to my brushes and then a different product to give them a deep cleanse wash!

                                                  

For spot cleaning i use IPA ( Isoprophal Alcohol) or Beauty so clean conditioning brush cleanse. IPA  is a 99% proof alcohol liquid that cleanse and disinfects your brushes helping kill any bacteria. I would spray the brush lightly with IPA or i would spray some on a towel or cloth and then clean the brush against the towel. It cleans the brush quickly and effectively and dries almost instantly. You normally have to order it in at your local chemist and cost around £8 for 500ml, which i think is great value. You need to make sure you are careful with this product as it is alcohol and you would soak your brush in it as you don't want the glue that binds the brush to disintegrate. I decant it into the travel spray bottles you can get at boots or any other chemist.


                                                         

Another great spot cleaner is the beauty so clean conditioning brush cleanse. The scent of this one isn't as strong a smell but it too contains a high amount of alcohol content which helps disinfect the brush and for it to dry out quickly after cleaning. I use it in the same way as i use the IPA, buy spraying it on the brush or a towel and cleaning the brush against the towel. It retails at £11for 125ml form feelunique.com, which again is good value for money.


                                                  

If i am wanting to give my brushes a really good cleanse I would give them a shampoo with Johnson's baby shampoo. Its cheap, affordable and easy to get hold off and do a brilliant job of giving your brushes a great clean! I would put a tiny amount of it on the Palm of my hand and swirl my brush in it and then rinse until the water runs clear. A simple easy cost effective way to get your brushes in tip top shape! When leaving my brushes to dry I always lay them flat on a towel with the brush end at the edge of the table.

I have tried other brands like the mac brush cleaner but find these 3 products the most effective and brilliant for value products on the market at the minute :)

Accesorize make up

I have always looked at the Accesorize make up range any time I was in their shop or in Superdrug, as the gorgeous colours and packaging would of caught my eye. I was unsure whether the products would be good or not, so I decided to give the range a go and got a set of three eye shadows that were in offer in Superdrug last year. I was really surprised when I seen how pigmented the eye shadows were, and they have a gorgeous cream like texture but still have a powder finish. They last well on the eye and don't crease. For the value I couldn't believe how good the product actually was. They are normally priced at £4 per eye shadow, which even at that are a bargain!

More recently I remembered how much I liked the eye shadows and decided to try more of the range. I got one of their Baked Blushers, Shade 5-sensation, and one of their Baked Bronzer Duo's , Shade 4 -bondi. I have to say they have become a staple to my everyday make up! I love the natural look and glow that they give to your skin. You only need a small amount of the blusher and it gives a nice flush of colour to your cheeks as well as giving of a light natural highlight. The bronzer is a duo, so one half you have your more of a bronzed colour, and then you have more of a highlight colour. I got one of the lighter shades as I’m quite pale and don’t really like the over bronzed look. It is perfect for everyday wear as it too give a natural finish on the skin; both of these products remind me or Mac's Mineralized skin finishes and blush. Although the products are so a like the price difference isn’t. Mac mineralized blush retails at £19, and the Accessorize Baked Blusher retails at £5 and the mac Mineralized Skin finish retails at £21.50 and the Accessorize Baked Bronzer is only £6. For the quality of the product I would go for the Accessorize ones as I honestly don’t see a huge difference, I will definitely be re-purchasing some of these in different shades as you could practically get 4 for the price you would pay for one of Mac's!

I definitely think more high street brands form the likes of Superdrug and Boots are worth trying out, as a lot of their products are either very similar to more high end brands if not exact copies!

Botanics All Bright Eye Soothing Eye Make up Remover

When boot's relaunched the botanics range I got a few of the products to try and for me there was one product that stood out from the rest and that was the All bright eye soothing eye make up remover. I personally wear quite a bit of eye make up so I am always looking for a good remover that is sensitive around my eyes and that will take of all my eye make up and help condition the lashes and I am happy to say that the botanics eye make up remover ticked all three boxes!!

                                           

There are two separate parts to this remover, the clear oil phase is used to effectively take away impurities and make up including waterproof make up, and the aqueous phase helps soothe the eye area and helps to condition the lashes, it gets the coloured tint from the ingredient hibiscus which exfoliates and helps to brighten the eye area.

Because it is separated you need to shake the product well before using it. It is priced at £3.99 but is still on offer with a third off so is currently only £2.66!! I really love this eye make up remover and will continue to repurchase it as my go to eye make up remover! Such a good product at a bargain price.