bareMinerals 'The Affair to Remember' palette review

This palette was a massive impulsive buy in the sales that I could not be happier with. I think the RRP is £35 but it was in the sale at Debenhams for £17.50 so when I got a glimpse of the rose gold packaging I jumped at the chance to own it. It's a 'Ready Eyeshadow 8.0' palette meaning its basically 8 shadows which aren't loose like other bareMinerals products, like your conventional style palette in that way. It's also the first bare minerals shadows I've every used and I'm impressed.  So without futher introduction, here it is!

 The inside of the box has a little description about the shadows, it reads: "BareMinerals Ready Eyeshadow provides exceptionally vivid long-wearing color in an ultra smooth, silky texture for effortless application and seamless blendability. Powered by our proprietary SeaNutritive Mineral Complex, this formula delivers a softer smoother, revitalized eye area." I haven't really noticed anything about revitalized eyes but the shadows are pretty good.

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shades left to right: (top row) Curtsy, Valet, Debutante, Romance. (Bottom row) Waltz, Caviar & Cake, Swept Away and Revelry.

The shades are generally all quite soft let you create quite romantic looks.The shadows all have taupe tones making them ultra flattering and wearable. As well as being able to create soft light smokey looks with the peachy-pink, light purple and white shade you can also go a bit darker and really smoke things out with the darker shades. A very versatile palette if these shades are your kinda thing. The shades are also listed on the reverse of the palette and not just the packaging which is great - I hate when you shadows don't have names on the palette! 

I've committed the ultimate blogger sin and used the shadows before photographing so they don't look quite as pristine as they did when I first got it. This brings me to one con of this palette; there are no matte shades in this palette. If you're like me and you love shimmer then you won't be too concerned but just be warned if you need a good matte you won't find it here. The shades Curtsy, Romance and Revelry are seriously glittery and you will almost definitely get fall out when using these shades. They look b-e-a-u-tiful on the lid but be warned you may want to do your eyes before your base if you're gonna use these colours. Something like Mac fix plus could fix that a bit better i'm sure. Valet and Debutante are more of a satin finish as are Waltz, Caviar and Cake and Swept Away. 

The palette also comes with two little mini brushes but I seem to have discarded mine! 

Now on to some swatches: 

The lighting here isn't great at definately washes out the colour a bit but all shades, bar the first very white shade, are impressively pigmented and easy to blend. I found Curtsy had very little actual colour pay-off compared to the other shades and I couldn't use it on its own. I did however think it had a beautiful sheeny effect and used it to press over my lid and onto the center to add some dimension. It's the only shade I had any difficulty with however. The rest are soft and buttery in texture and working with them was easy-peasy.

So that's my thoughts on this palette, I have to say it's definitely a great addition to my collection and i'm very pleased to get some softer purple-hued shades. I got a great bargain too which helps, perhaps if it were full price I never would have bothered looking at all! I'd be more than happy to do some different looks with the palette as well if you're interested .

What do you think? have you tried any bareMinerals shadows?

Much love, 

                         Natalie xx

The £1 eyeliner I've fallen in love with.

I'm prone to a bit of eyeliner most days. Those of you who are also eyeliner fanatics will know that once a girl finds it, she never goes back. You'll also know that finding a decently pigmented and smooth eyeliner for £1 is practically unheard of. We've made our way through most of the flimsy eyeliners from Boots which broke off, didn't sharpen, disappeared quickly, smudged and were never quite the colour promised.
That in mind, finding one which ticks most of these boxes and even has a sharpener for £1 left me blown away. 

MUA are an excellent cheapie brand. I love most things they've came out with. I'd love to do a blog post on my current MUA products if you'd fancy it? I'm looking to try more of their stuff.
They seem to just bring it with the pigmentation for such reasonable prices. We're talking £1 here for lipsticks and the alike and £4 for palettes which I reach for constantly. Their intense colour eyeliners are no exception!

I opted for a dark brown given I own far too many black eyeliners and my brown Stila retractable liner dried out (boo). I wasn't really expecting much and I was so pleasantly surprised with this eyeliner. 

As you can see it is smooth to apply and richly pigmented. I would definitely say this is the best value and best quality eyeliner for the price on the highstreet, that's just my humble opinion of course.
 

I'm very picky so the only negative I could comment on was some transfer onto the top of my eyelid towards the end of the day. It was very minimal however and nothing to rant about, I had expected it to disappear long before that!

 It is perfect to apply and smudge out for a smokey effect. When I last used it I did a winged eye look and just ran over the eyeliner with some dark brown eyeshadow to soften things up, I loved it! 

This eyeliner more than gets my seal of approval and I highly recommend you guys give it a try. It's comparable to my Avon Supershock gel eyeliner and similar ones 5x the price. It's worth it just for the sharpener never mind the eyeliner as well. 

Have any of you tried these eyeliners? What are your favourite budget liners? 

Much love, 

                        Natalie x

Boots Botanics - A mixed bag

Hello there! I recently decided to delve into the Boots 'Botanics' range.

I think the general ethos is that it's all to do with the 'power of plants' and this intrigued me.

The line is totally reasonably priced across the board and if you're looking for low-cost, but totally natural, skincare this could be for you. The line is broken down into a number of categories: 

- All Bright (Brightens all skin types)

- Radiant Youth (Protects all skin types)

-Organic (Nourishes all skin types)

-Ultra Calm (Soothes sensitive skin)

-Shine Away (Mattifies oily skin)

-Hand and Body (Intensively moisturises)

I only sampled two things; one from the 'All Bright' range and one from the 'Organic' so I can't advise you on everything!

*Please excuse the shoddy camera work in this post.*

I tried out the Soothing Eye Make Up Remover (£3.99) and the Rosewater Toning Spritz (£4.99)

As you can see they're both reasonably priced. But one outshone the other rather drastically...

 Firstly, the least impressive (and that's putting it politely), of the two. The Soothing Eye Make Up Remover. The packaging  reads: "The clear oil phase effectively sweeps away impurities and make-up, including waterproof formulations. The aqueous phase is given it's colour by hibiscus, and helps to soothe the eye area and condition lashes"

As you can see from the description and the picture below the product is by-phase, so you have to shake it really well to mix both the oil and water layers and then it's good to go. 

My main problems with this product are the promises it simply doesn't live up to. I have to scrub at my eyes with the cotton pad to get it to break down the makeup effectively - something I thought would come with ease due to the oil. The oil leaves my entire eye area feeling particularly greasy and unpleasant. The smell is also VERY off-putting. It's hard to describe but it smells slightly medicinal and just horrible..

The hibiscus is supposed to act as a natural brightener but I can't say I've seen any difference at all. 

Something which also caught me off guard was how much it stings if you get it in your eye... god it packs a punch. I know you're not supposed to get it in your eye but it happens!

I flapped around my bathroom fearing I'd lost my eyesight for a good 2 minutes.

I ended up going back in with a face wipe straight after I used this anyway so I thought to myself, "What's the point?". 

I VERY rarely actually decide to stop using something after I've paid good money for it (I'm stubborn like that). But this I will not be picking up again.

Secondly was the rose toning spray and I was pleasantly surprised by this product!

The packaging reads: "Enliven your sense and refresh your skin with this revitalizing organic Rosewater Toner. Spritz generously after cleansing to visibly tighten pores and remove the last traces of make-up. Skin feels smoother, fresher and prepared for moisturising."

I bloomin' love this toner. Now I will confess I do not actually use this for its intended purpose. 

In my skincare routine post I made clear my love for the Liz Earle Instant boost tonic toner and I remain faithful to that for my day and night use. However.. for refreshing and perking up my skin throughout the day this is wonderful. I find myself grabbing it when I walk past and giving my skin a nice spritz. 

The liquid mists out as opposed to just soaking your entire face which is lovely. It's cooling and smells absolutely divine (if you're a lover of rose scents like I am). 

I have also noticed that, like it promises on the bottle, my skin does infact feel smoother since I started using this. This gets a definite 'thumbs up' from me! :) 

Have you guys tried anything from this range? impressed or not impressed?

 let me know in the comments bellow! 

Thanks for reading as always :)

Much love, 

                          Natalie xxx

L