Sunday 25 July 2010

£1 Blush? Hmm....

So picture the scene; you're wandering through Primark, and amongst the sequined hairbands and plastic hoop earings, and you spot a seriously gorgeous blush... for a quid. You're gunna' get it, right?





It was initially the colour that drew me in, as as you can see from the pictures above, I'm sure you can understand why. In the pan, the blush looks like a strong coral pink, and it reminds me of the blush from the ELF 'bronze and blush' duo, but lighter, pinker and without the sparkles.

On the cheeks, however, it is so much prettier. The blush gives an extremely radiant, healthy pink glow, and it's super natural looking. It's pretty sheer so it suits my pale-ish skin perfectly, while remaining buildable, so it'd work for darker skintones too. There's no "name", but there was only a small selection of colours, and none similar - so you'd be able to identify it easily.

The quality, however, isn't so amazing. The blush is rather chalky, and very badly pressed. As you can see in the third picture above, a single swipe of the brush gives you loads of blush loose on the pan, and even a very light tap lives you with a pile of powder. Not only does this waste a lot of product, but is actually really irritating, and you have to keep blowing off the excess if you want even application.

If you are happy so spend a couple of extra minuite applying it, then this really is a great everyday blush. And hey, for that price, you can't really go wrong.

Saturday 5 June 2010

ELF Review and Swatches


I was super-dooper excited for my birthday, and ELF was one of the reasons. I'd say I got a range of items, and I'm due to do a video on it for my youtube channel.



The brushes (above) were what I was most excited about, and I'm going to do a separate review for them. I bought the studio line powder brush, studio line fan brush, eye shadow brush, defining eyes brush and the blending eye brush. I won't natter too much about them, but the powder brush is my total 'holy-grail' brush at the moment, and I've got mixed opinions on the eye brushes.



I wasn't too impressed with the 'elements' eyeshadows. You basically purchase the plastic packaging, which I think looks great, for £1.50, then pay another £1.50 for each for the pans that fit into it, which include blushes, eyeshadows and lip palettes. I chose 'Golden Glow', which is a orangey-yellow gold, 'Moondust', which is a shimmery brown, 'Periwinkle', which is a zero-pigment midnight blue/indigo, and 'Pink Ice' which is a pretty light-pink shade.

Pink Ice is the only shade that I really like, partly because it is the only one similar to the picture on ELF's website. Pink Ice, however, did randomly crack and crumble into the wind, despite the fact that I had been careful with it. The eyeshadows I tryed had very little pigment, and it takes a lot of work for the colours to be as vivid as in the swatches above. The middle photo above shows the shadows having been swatched a few times, and they were not very well pressed.


Although the colours are pretty, I am not particularly impressed.



Now I was extremely curious about the next product. Above is the Duo Eye Shadow Cream in 'Butter Pecan', and it's got a load of mixed reviews. Like many have said previously, they crease so easily. My eye lids are pretty dry, so they don't crease too badly, but I honestly wouldn't recommend for those with oily/grease lids.

Having said that, they are not as bad as a lot of people have said. They remain creamy, so you can easily just blend it back in again. Good pigmentation, lightly shimmered, and very pretty.



Ahh, now for one of my favorite products - the Mineral Lipstick in 'Natural Nymph'. The swatch above doesn't ring quite true, as it is lighter and less peach than shown, but you can still tell by the photo how pretty it is. If you are not a fan of pale nudes, then this probably isn't for you, but if you are, then run out and buy one now.

Not only is the colour beautiful, but the quality is also great. It feels as if you are wearing a thick lip balm on your lips, and although it may not be, it feels as if it is moisturising your lips. It glides on lovely and smoothly, and I really can't find any faults with it. Will definitely be re-ordering, and I can't wait to dry other colours and shades too.

Sleek packaging, great colour, superb quality.



I also got the Mineral Foundation in 'Light', and I'm pretty keen on it. It gives good coverage, and it's great at evening out skin-tones. I have a lot of redness and my skin is pretty uneven, and this smoothes it totally over. I wear it with a dusting of light powder over the top to get rid of any shine, but it looks fine without it. I've got a feeling I'm going to love this for summer, as it's light, you can barely feel it on your skin, and it had spf 15, which is always an added bonus.

There are, however, a few downsides that I have come across. This doesn't cover too well on spots, so I probably wouldn't use it if you have acne or break-outs, but it isn't bad. Although you don't have to use much, the pot is pretty small - only 3.4g. I personally would rather a larger pot and having to pay a little bit more, as I'd rather not have to re-order so frequently.




The last product I am going to share with you is the Studio Line Bronzer and Blush Compact. I love how compact and slim-line this is, while you still get a lot of product for your bucks. A great one for taking travelling, or simply chucking into your bag before you leave the house

The blush is a gorgeous coral pink colour, although it looks less peach in reality than the swatch shown above. It gives a super pretty glow to your face, and looks adorable applied to the apples of your cheeks. It's pretty strong, so I'd maybe give it a miss or make sure you blend it in properly if you have porcelain skin. The bronzing side is too dark for the entire face, but it's superb as a contour, and does not leave the face looking 'muddy'. The bronzer is pretty dark, so be sparing with it if you are pale. Both the blush and bronzer have pretty gold shimmer, but it is barely noticeable in the bronze.



I hope this has all been of help to you, enjoy!




I have absolutely no idea who 'alice+olivia' are, but their new range from MAC looks hot. It's due to be released July 8th, so I'm pretty suprised there aren't more summery shades. They may have done 'at the beach', but it's still summer - why the dark colours? Either way, I love the look of 'em anyways.

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But wait... is that a lime green dazzleglass creme gloss I see? Never understood why MAC make so many unwearable colours. I so want to lay my hands on the other two colours though, by the looks of it a bright (summery, hurrah) pink, and a light bubblegum/candy floss coloured one. Cute.

Thursday 3 June 2010

The Body Shop Haul



I happily jumped at the opportunity when I 'spotted' these great deals! The Body Shop had 30% off, free shipping and a free cosmetics bag when you purchase 4 minis. Unfortunately they now only have free shipping for over £15, and I am unsure on how much longer the 'free bag/30% off' deal is going to be on for. I did, however, get all of the above for under £20 - which I am really chuffed with!

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I bought...

+ Shea Butter Body Butter (200ml)

+ Pink Grapefruit Shower Gel/Cream (60ml)

+ Coconut Bath/Shower Cream (60ml)

+ Shea Butter Body Scrub (50ml)

+ Cocoa Butter Body Butter (50ml)

+ and received a summery pink and orange cosmetics bag for free.

Welcome to my blog!

Hey guys, I'm Emily, and I'm obsessed with anything beauty-related!

Most of my videos correspond to my youtube videos (www.youtube.com/emilyhannahlovesyou), but feel free to follow my blog even if you don't watch them. I'll be posting lots of hauls, swatches, makeup looks and general chatter.

Enjoy!