BONUS POST - Mini Make Revolution & MUA Haul

There are many great drugstore make-up brands out there but there is one that seems to have caused a stir amongst the blogosphere.  It is funny to think it has only been 10 months since the brand first released it's products but the amount of positive feedback has catapulted its way to the top of most bloggers wishlists.  Makeup Revolution is an affordable drugstore brand that gives purchasers high end products at ridiculously low prices.

Reading other blogs, you cannot get away from a post or two of reviews from this brand and not actually seeing them sold in stores put me off a little bit...OK a lot.  I like to see the make-up in person, maybe swatch a few things before deciding whether or not to purchase it, so I wasn't so hyped up about purchasing anything from their line.  It was only as time went on and there were more posts around showing swatches and reviews of products that I thought about maybe buying a few products to test out and you know how it is...once ordered you cannot wait for the order to come.  Well that is how I have been this week and when they came, they came straight out of the packaging and were photographed immediately!

I chose three items from the line plus one little thing from MUA.

Makeup Revolution

Makeup Revolution Redemption Palette Iconic 2

This palette was the one palette I wanted to get in this order as I have heard it is a dupe for Urban Decay Naked 2 palette and I wanted to see how it compared to its higher end counterpart. (comparison review coming soon) 

Makeup Revolution Aqua Seal Liquid Eye Primer

I have used some eye primers in the past and they were all creamy so when I came across this eye primer, it intrigued me so into my cart came this product.  I am curious to find out how this works and whether it helps with keeping shadows lasting longer. (I am fortunate to not have oily eyelids.)

Makeup Revolution Focus & Fix Eyebrow Shaping Kit

One of my personal resolutions is to keep the upkeep of my brows to a standard and what better way to do this by using a brow kit.  I chose the medium dark kit as I have quite dark hair and I thought the lighter kit would be a waste of money as it wouldn't show enough.

MUA

MUA Pressed Powder in Shade 1

I needed a pressed powder as this now was the only thing I was missing in my daily make-up routine and when I saw this, I put it straight into my cart.  I have tried other products from this brand and have been impressed with the brand so far so I know that I will like this product.

So that is my mini haul.  I have been excited for my order to arrive and have high hopes for Makeup Revolution so I will keep you posted on what I think.  Reviews will be up in due course.  I already know what my next Makeup Revolution products will be and they have been added to my wishlist.

Both Makeup Revolution and MUA can be found on their websites respectively and can also be found at Superdrug.

Hope you enjoyed this little bonus post and there will be a main post up later on today (Friday)

What Makeup Revolution products have you tried?  Would you recommend anything else from this brand?

Bye for now.

Jess. X

Boots and Superdug Haul

As if it is 2015 already and my little blog is over one month old and a lot has happened.  As much as I as I would like to say I have been busy on holiday...I can't.  I have been doing University work and I would like to thank you all for being patient while my pile of work got smaller.  There will be a more regular schedule from today as I am sorting out a schedule for myself.  Enough of that, on with the post.

Recently I have done a bit of shopping, both on the internet and in shops...oops!  And as much as I would like to show you what I have bought on the internet, I really want to wait until I have everything I have ordered so for now, here is what I have bought...

(everything you see here I bought with my own money and am not being paid to write this :)  Also, this may be a picture heavy post)

The first place I went to was Superdrug and I spent a fortune in here...to be honest, I could have spent more but I stopped myself.

 I bought a shower jelly from LUSH back in September and it has just been sitting on my desk staring at me to use it.  So after many hours of looking at reviews, I was informed that using a 'poof' or what ever they are called work the best with a shower jelly, so this was on the top of my list

 Next up is lip balms.  For some reason I have been addicted to buying these recently and altogether I have bought a total of 4 lip balms albeit 2 are the same product!  Both lip balms I bought from Superdrug are from Nivea.  First is Nivea' Fruity Shine lip balm in 'Peach'.  I adore all scents to do with peach and I knew when I saw it, I had to have it and this little fellow came home with me.  the next lip balm is Nivea's Lip Butter in 'Blueberry Blush'  I have two others from this range and I love them.  They are so moisturising and smell amazing!  I have enough of them to make a blogpost (ooo ideas!)  Next on the Nivea train is a skincare product.  Now I have to put it out there that my skin has never got on with Nivea before and I have always skipped this brand when choosing skincare but I liked the sound of this product and thought I would give it a go and boy am I happy I had.  This little beauty is Nivea's 'Soothing Cleansing Moose' and while it looks like a toner or water, this actually pumps out a lightweight foam that cleans so well.  I could write more but I am going to wait until I do a blogpost on it which will come very soon!


 Next is a trio of Superdrug's own Vitamin E skincare brand.  I have recently been on the look out for inexpensive but effective skincare to kick start my skincare routine and I picked up these three to start the ball rolling.  First we have Superdrug's 'Leave-on Moisture Mask'  I have only used this once and using it once doesn't leave me much to go on for a review so I will keep using it and get back to you but I am hoping it is going to be a good thing to keep stocked up as it seems to be a good product so far.  Next is Superdrug's 'Moisturising Day Cream with SPF 15'  I got this as a morning moisturising cream and I am not really enjoying it as I find it a thick cream for a morning but I am willing to give it a fair go until I can get a thinner cream.  Lastly is Superdrug's Nourishing Night Cream.  This stuff smells so good and is a thin, almost gel like cream that my skin seems to like.  All will have a full review sometime in the future.

Next is another Superdrug own brand of skincare called 'Naturally Radiant'  I bought a few products from this line with the first being a 2 in 1 Moisturiser and serum.  I haven't tried this yet but I am hoping to use this as my morning moisturiser.

 Another product from the 'Naturally Radiant' Line is their 'Glycolic Overnight Peel'  Again, I have only used this once and so far I am impressed and am wanting to try some more of this sort of product in the future.

 Next is Garnier's Moisture Match.  I saw this and thought that it could brighten up my skin while moisturising it at the same time.  I haven't used it yet as I want to see if the 2 in 1 moisturiser and serum does a good job as a morning moisturiser.

 I bought this as I read somewhere that this is good for exfoliation and boy was they right!  I have never seen or felt my skin being so smooth since using this.  I use it mainly with my cleansing foam and this is so gentle and yet removes the dead skin cells that are on the top layer of my skin.  I can see this being a product I will keep repurchasing as and when it is needed.

 This is yet another Superdrug own brand called 'Clearly Youthful' and from this collection I have two products.  The first is their 'Hydrating Day Serum'  I have only used this a handful of times and yet I am enjoying using this.

Another product from the 'Clearly Youthful' Line is their 'Resurfacing Night Serum'  I am enjoying this product also and it seems that my skin like this as well.

 This product was recommended by Hayley from London Beauty Queen (She can be found here!  Check her out, she is amazing!)  I like her and probably thousands who use hairspray hate the smell of the chemical ridden scent that seems to come with all hairsprays but 'Urban Fudge's Iced raspberry and Vanilla hair spray is just what we needed.  This has very little chemical smell and as for the hold of this product, I am yet to find out as I haven't tried this yet but I have high hopes for this!


Now onto the few boots products I bought while I was in Leeds the other day.

 Whilst browsing through the high end skincare and beauty section, I came across this brand that I hadn't heard anything about, Ioma.  This brand was only exclusive to the UK on-line or in Harrods stores and they have now branched out into the larger boots stores.  The product I bought from them was Ioma's 'Astringent Toning Foam' and the woman at the store said it was a toner and cleanser all in one and it smells like coconuts which I love the smell of!  I have very high hopes of this brand and this product so a review will be coming soon.

 I have heard of this foundation raved about by so many bloggers and youtubers that I had to buy it to see how good it is.  Chanel's 'Vitalumiere Aqua Foundation' is a highly popular and raved about foundation and I am in the lightest shade in shade 10.  I haven't used this yet but I will in the short term and there will definitely be a review coming soon!

Along with the Chanel foundation, I also bought Chanel's 'Le Blanc De Chanel' which is primer.  I have also got high hopes for this product and this smell amazing.  I will pair it up with a few other foundations that I own and see if it holds up to them too. 

Because I had bought a couple of products from Chanel, I got a cute little sample of their 'Hydra Beauty Micro Serum'  Again, I haven't tried this but when I do,  a small review will be on its way!

Phew!  That was a long post.  If you are still with me then thanks for reading.  What skincare and beauty products have you bought recently?

Bye for now.

Jess. X

Blogmas day 23 : Make-up and hair haul

I went and did a bit of shopping today and got a few things to make my Christmas a bit more beautiful.

I first went to Boots (which is a drugstore on the high street in the UK) and got a few things. 

I wanted a curling wand as I wanted to curl my hair on Christmas Day but knowing my hair doesn't keep the curls, I wanted to get something that would give them a bit of structure whilst also looking and feeling soft. I bought Umberto Giannini's Natural Curls Styling Cream. I thought this would be good to give the curls structure. I will give you a blogpost once I have tested it a few times. 

The next item I bought was Charles worthington's Volume & Bounce Texturising Spray. I bought this so that when I don't straighten or curl my hair, my hair can have some texture and my layers can look better. 

I had left my hair spray back at uni and because I am curling my hair, I wanted something to hold the curl once curled. I bought John Frieda's Frizz Ease Moisture Barrier Hairspray. 

I wanted to try a red lip this season and because I didn't know which red lipstick would suit me, I went to my local No7 counter and asked them what the right shade of red would be for me and they told me that I would suit red lipstick which had a blue undertone, which I was rather surprised to hear as I always thought I would suit and orange toned red. I bought Rimmels's Apocolips in Big Bang.

I bought another red lip product to try and so I can have a varity of shades of red. I bought a Revlon Colourburst Matte Balm in Standout. I have always wanted try this lip product and will have to get some more shades if I like it.  I hope it doesn't disappoint.

I then went to Argos and bought my curling wand. This is BaByliss's diamond Radience curling wand. It is not your usual curling wand as it has a few waves down the barrel. I have seen a video and the curls looked amazing so will will have to see. 

I will do a full blogpost of reviews of each of the products. 

What is your Christmas treat for yourself this year?  

Bye for now. 

Jess. X

Blogmas day 15 : Another mini haul.

I have been shopping again!  I know, I know...bad isn't it?  I swear I needed the items I bought.  Again this haul is only two items as that is all I needed.

I needed some make-up remover wipes as I had forgotten to bring some from Uni so I picked up the Yes to Cucumber Facial Wipes.  I have used this brand once before and found that they was so gentle yet they managed to take off my make-up and they smell so good.  I have tried others since but non were as good as these and once I get my student finance, I will stock up on them as I don't think the boots near Uni sell them which is a shame as I love them.

I first saw them on a few youtube videos and they seemed to be only sold in the US so when I was shopping in Boots one day earlier in the year I was so happy to see the Yes to range had come to boots that I snapped up the Yes to Cucumber wipes straight away.  They retail at £3.99 for 30 wipes which compared to the other wipes in the range is better as they are being sold at £3.99 for 20 or 25 wipes so to get an extra 5 or 10 wipes for the same price is not to shabby.  I will always get these wipes until they are sold no more.

I was in ASDA looking for a new shampoo and conditioner as I was running low on my current one when I saw this Miracle Frizz Taming cube.  I only needed enough to last me until I go back so this was a perfect size set and I was pleased to see that it also includes a heat protection spray (I had forgotten mine!)  The kit comes with a travel size shampoo, conditioner, heat protection spray and a comb.  I have never tried this brand before so am looking forward to trying this out.  The cube is priced at the moment in ASDA for £5 so for that price I don't think is bad.  The have four in the Andrew Barton range, the 'Smooth' cube, the 'Blonde' cube, the 'Volume' cube and the 'Curl' cube (These are not the actual names but you get the idea of the types they do)  I got the 'Smooth' cube as I find when I straighten my hair, I get a lot of flyaway hairs and it doesn't look as good so I thought I shall try this before trying more products to combat my frizzy hair.


What products have you recently bought?  Are they a repurchase or are they brand new to you?

Bye for now.

Jess. X

Blogmas day 13 : A very tiny Boots haul.

As I am going home for the holidays, I needed to pick up two items to go in my make-up bag.  These are staples that will forever be found in my small but growing make-up collection.  In fact these will be found in any make-up collection of any beauty fanatic.

Eyeliner can come in different types and in different forms.  The two I prefer at the moment are felt tip liner and pencil liner.  I will always try different brands and there is one pencil liner that I have found that I will use for a while or until I find another one that fits my needs.  Recently, however, I have gotten into felt tip liner and am in the process of trying different brands.  These were the two staples that I needed to stock up on.

Rimmel Scandeleyes eyeliner has been my staple pencil liner for a few
years.  I like the fact it is so creamy and doesn't pull at my eyelids.  It is easily smudge-able if you need to but dries and doesn't smudge once dry.  As it is waterproof you do find that once removed, there can be some leftover but that soon goes after a night of sleep!  I use this mainly for my waterline but sometimes I use this on the top lid depending on what look I want to go for.  I have tried other pencil liners but sadly non have been up to scratch to this.


Collection's Extreme 24 hour felt tip liner is my newest item to my collection.  I have never tried this but I have read some good reviews and am looking forward to trying this.  I use felt tip liner on my top lid and feel that it gives a clean line and looks nice paired with eyeshadow.  I only do a small cat eye as I am only starting to get used to using felt tip liner.

What brands do you use?  Have you got any suggestions for eyeline?

Bye for now.

Jess. X