Disappointing Products #1

Products that are not my cup of tea or in a sense, disappointing never really make it on to the blog as much as they should. I feel like most bbloggers, not just myself rave about the beauty gems they find and the rest are just forgotten about, for that reason I've decided that every so often I'll write a disappointing or not worth the hype post to remind everyone, that everyones skin works differently and different products work better for some, worse for others - oh and not everything you ever buy will you fall in love with, how pessimistic of me.

Foundations. I didn't realise how many I had included until it came to editing time. As I loved the Rimmel Stay Matte powder and a matte base at the time of purchasing, I thought it would be a winnner but oh was I wrong, no matter how many times I try to apply this differently it still looks awfully cakey on me, circa secondary school when no one knew how to blend makeup and had three layers of orange foundation. The Rimmel Stay Matte is also the lightest in the shade range but its still far too dark for me so sadly its barely been used.

The second foundation, the Maybelline Fit Me - a bit controversial, I know lots of people that love this foundation, me not so much. It just doesn't work on my skin at all, this isn't my shade either, I accidentally picked up the 130 shade for when I'm wearing tan (a rare old thing) and although I'm not fond of wearing it, I do whenever I'm going out as no one can really tell. The last foundation is the MUA, a lot of their stuff can be really good or not so, this foundation the latter, again its the lightest shade and although it actually suits my skin tone, the coverage is barely there - it doesn't cover anything and for someone who likes a bit more of a coverage its not the same. I might try and use it up in the summer though as a really light base.

Mascaras. Another thing that can totally work for one person and not for the next - it all depends on what you want. I usually like length and some volume but nothing too spidery - something thats very hard to find. The Benefit one is a big no go, apart from changing the colour of my eyelashes to black it didn't give any length or volume and out of the lot, this was probably the most disappointing. I was sort of put of for a while but after trying the They're Real, I can safely say just save yourself the time & money and buy that instead.

Also the Rimmel mascara, they always chuck them in if you spend over a £10 or something and sometimes they're good but this one just irritated my eyes and I don't even have sensitive eyes, the only good thing is I didn't actually buy this so it doesn't feel like money wasted. Lastly the accessorzie lipstick, I think I bought this solely for the packaging, look how cute it is? The lipstick however is way too creamy and slips & slides everywhere, unless I can find a really good lipliner and possibly not eat whilst wearing it I can't see it getting much use - its a shame because its the perfect brown. So you can see that's quite a few products to avoid, let me know if you like this kind of post?

Thanks for reading, Jenny xo
P.s what disappointing products have you tried lately?

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Highlighters: Drugstore vs High End

Highlighters; if you'd have asked me a year ago were a bit of a hit and miss, flash forward a year and I don't feel complete going out of the house without applying some - oh how things change! At first I didn't know where to start - torn between the big question: drugstore or high end? I'd used a highlighter in my sleek face form palette but it wasn't too pigmented so I was dying to try something a bit more glitter-y and ended up with these two little gems, one high end, one drugstore so I thought I'd do a comparison post or 'mini review' of them since my last one went down so well :)

L-R: MUA Undress Your Skin & MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Soft&Gentle

After lusting over the MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Soft & Gentle for what seems like years I finally picked up the courage to put it in my shopping basket and I haven't regretted it since. At the time I wasn't too interested in Lightscapade which is for the paler gals because I thought Soft&Gentle would be slightly darker for the summer months - turns out its not dark at all and produces the nicest shimmer once applied. I wouldn't advise applying a lot to avoid a disco ball scenario, its that pigmented but a light dusting definitely finishes everything off perfectly and brightens up any makeup look in the morning, even if you are faking the I'm wide awake look (something I seem to be doing more and more lately)  

Its definitely a staple in my makeup bag now and for the forseeable future, its hard not to, I mean it just looks so pretty and there's plenty of product so it'll last forever. The only bad thing is for some people its hefty-ish price tag and the newer MAC packaging which I'm not too keen on but aside from that its definitely worth it and if you're ooh-ing and ahh-ing in your head whether to try it or not, its a must or love at first swatch sort of thing. 

Theres plenty of alternatives around though and whilst wandering the drugstore aisles the MUA Undress Your Skin Highlighter caught my eye and I wondered if it would be just as good as the MAC version so of course into the basket it went. Its still a lovely product don't get me wrong but I feel you have to use twice as much product to get the desired effect. For the price, being what it is, somewhere around the £2/3 mark you can definitely afford a replacement but it just doesn't seem to have the same impact in regards to setting my makeup, 

I think if I hadn't of tried the Mac alternative and had nothing to compare it to, I would have been perfectly happy. The packaging again has a clear lid so its easy to grab in a rush, has an intricate pattern and is a lot paler in colour so if you're looking for a cheaper alternative to the MSF this is definitely a contender. Otherwise if you want to splurge the Mac version is definitely deserving of the hype it gets and it'll definitely be well loved for a long time especially as Spring and Summer are fast approaching! So there you have it, two lovely offerings, two completely different price tags, its up to you :) 

Thanks for reading, Jenny xo
P.s what highlighters are you loving/love? I'm having a highlighter phase, definitely!

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September Favourites

September has been and gone so quickly and Octobers right around the corner, that and with being on a spending ban (you can read about it here) I've had more time this month to have a good old hoke around in my room and use things that I would have previously forgotten about. Now I'm usually all for two favourite posts: beauty & non beauty but this month I'm combining them, I just haven't loved that much, plus I've been enjoying a few days away from blogging and finding new inspiration for posts but next month, I promise two posts.

The first favourite and probably the best of the month is The Maze Runner by James Dashner, I really wanted to read this before the movie comes out, nine times out of ten I can't read the book after I've seen the movie because then it sort of spoils the book, I like reading everything for the first time and getting lost in it all. I'm about halfway through at the minute and then I'll be on to book two, The Scorch Trails but I'm really liking it so far and its making me more excited for the movie which comes out next week I think, starring Dylan O'Brien (Teen Wolf fans will relate, what a cutie), Kaya Scodelario, Will Poulter and Thomas Sangster - fab casting!

Also on the non beauty front I've been using the Soap and Glory Flake Away travel sized tub to use it all up, it smells amazing, S&G know their scents and the product works wonders as an exfoliator. In fact when its used up completely (theres a little bit left atm) I might just have to pick up the bigger sized tub from Boots. My everyday go to perfume has been One Direction's Our Moment, I have too many perfumes to be normal and I'm trying to use them all up and this I've discovered is one of my favourites. It's the cutest bottle and has a fruity scent which I can't stop spritzing everywhere and I'm sure once I smell it their latest perfume You and I will be on the Christmas list ;) Another favourite of the month related to One Direction is their two newest songs released this month from their upcoming album FOUR, Fireproof and Steal My Girl, they're both a bit folky but I love them and if you haven't heard them, have a listen on Youtube :)

As for Beauty favorites I've been loving pink, can you tell? The Revlon kissable balm stain in Honey is so well loved all the packaging has rubbed off, I simply apply this right before I leave the house and I don't have to worry about it ending up all over the place, it stays put all day, isn't drying and is just an all round nice nude-y colour. My second lipstick is more of a coral-ly, its Crosswires by MAC, it has the classic mac smell which makes it amazing in itsef and although I wasn't too sure about the colour originally I absolutely love it once its applied and it hasn't been off my lips since, well worth a swatch. From MAC I've also been using their prep+prime skin visage sample and I've noticed a massive difference in my makeup, my opinion on primers has changed thanks to this little one and lastly on my nails I've had MUA's nail polish in Ameretto Crush and for a £1 I can't fault this, it hasn't chipped and I've had it on for a good few days and its a nice colour, I just don't feel like its time to crack out the purples and blacks yet - hopefully this sunshine lasts a bit longer, anyways thats all my favourites for this month :)

Thanks for reading, Jenny xo
P.s What have you been loving through September, beauty, books, tv shows, new songs?

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Drugstore Concealer Post

I've never really been a concealer kind of girl until about a year or so ago, I luckily didn't wear makeup on a daily basis to school (which I think saved my skin), didn't suffer from any bags under my eyes or mass breakouts and honestly I didn't think it made much of a difference if I had a high enough coverage foundation on my face. Oh how wrong was I?

Most University students suffer from a lack of sleep, although you'd think it would be the opposite... mine usually stemming from the early morning lectures, others usually because they were enjoying themselves far too much the night before but still, concealer has became a miracle cure to help me some how not look like death warmed up in the mornings. As of yet I haven't tried any high end concealers as I find these do the trick just fine and are super affordable for all budgets so I thought I'd compile a few of my favourites at the moment.

Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer: If you haven't heard practically everyone and their mother raving about this, I don't know where you've been. This concealer is raved about all the time and for good reason, before I even started reading blogs this was my concealer of choice mainly because it did the trick and was so budget friendly but I'd no idea everyone felt the same way. It provides the best coverage and the shade 'fair' is a perfect match for my skin, it doesn't emphasis any dry patches and lasts throughout the day. It hands down is my favourite concealer I've tried to date, the only downside being that the packaging rubs off and is left a bit unsightly as you can see in the pictures, or you could say well loved.

MUA Hide & Conceal: This is an old concealer that I had lying around in my makeup stash but its well loved nonetheless as its almost empty, I think I picked it up on a whim one day in Superdrug. Its a close match to my skin tone and I used it not as a concealer as you might think but rather a highlight around my eyebrows and above my eyes in case I needed to fix something or brighten it up a little. Its slightly drying but I didn't use it all over my face so I guess thats a good thing, honestly for a £1 you can't really expect it to be faultless but who knows it might work better on others than it did for me.

Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer: This concealer is slightly darker than my skin tone, similar to its foundation but its ever so creamy in formula. As strange as this seems I don't actually like covering blemishes with it as similar to the foundation it provides a 'radiant glow' and emphasis them rather than hiding them. Therefore it is now my beloved under eye concealer/highlighter and it makes all the difference in the mornings giving the impression that I'm wide awake and got a whole 8 hours sleep instead of 5.

Seventeen Phwoarr Paint: I popped this concealer into my basket mainly because the packaging intrigued me, until recently I'd only used concealers that had a wand and this was something completely different. At first I wasn't really fussed with it because I couldn't for the life of me work out how to get it to sit right but after some playing about and a little warming of the product it is now my go to blemish concealer. It states that its 'heavy duty' and originally for under the eyes but I don't like anything too heavy under my eyes so this works just fine. I thought it would be a little drying but its sooo creamy and lasts all through the day, a lovely surprise! :)

Thanks for reading, Jenny xo 

Tag // I heart drugstore makeup

I think I may have mentioned in a post before how often I'm drawn to tag videos on YouTube and the same goes for blog posts, I see the word tag and I'm a goner. This being said, I shock horror, haven't wrote any tag posts of my own in the whole 4 odd months of blogging which is crazy. Since it's so overdue and I'm midst revision stress I thought it seemed fitting. The one for today as you may have guessed from the title is the 'I heart makeup' tag.
  

1. What is your favourite high street brand over all? 
This is a tough one, my favourite brands usually depend on who has the best releases and how much I've fallen in love with their new products which ranges from practically anyone but overall I'd have to say Rimmel, everything I own of theirs is wonderful.

2. What are your favourite face, cheeky and lip products? 

My go to foundations would surprise surprise be either the Rimmel Match Perfection or the Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation, just depending on what type of coverage I'm in the mood for or more importantly how generous my skin is being that day. Any drugstore makeup for your face wouldn't be complete without the use of the famous Collection concealer as well.

For cheeks I'm not really the biggest fan, I could easily go out with just foundation or concealer on but lately I've been making a conscious effort to try and my blush collection has seriously expanded! The MUA mosaic blush on one end of the drugstore scale is lovely and poses as a shimmery highlight too.

As for lips, I'm soo torn between the Rimmel Kate Moss lipsticks both matte and normal and the new Revlon Matte colourburst balms, can you tell I like matte? and crayons? Both are unbelievable and if I had to narrow it down even further the Revlon crayon Sultry is my absolute favourite.

3. What is your least favourite high street product? 

In general lipglosses, I'm just not a lipgloss kind of girl, I have a couple that I've purchased from different brands but again none of them have seemed to change my opinion.

4. What is your favourite makeup bargain?

Although I rarely venture into Superdrug anymore, curse my lack of free time MUA is still the cheapest and has the most surprising quality products. Overall my favourite would be the mua eyeshadow palettes or my trusty eyebrow pencil which is only £1, crazy I know! Also it'd be silly of me not to mention my baby lips in cherry me, I feel lost if I leave the house without it.

5. What is your favourite underdog product? something you love that often gets overlooked

I know that they were released absolute years ago but the Collection cream puff is a firm favourite of mine in the shade Fairy Cake, its matte and a little drying but if you prep your lips with some vaseline just before its not a problem. Its the absolute perfect colour and rarely needs a top up, even after eating.

6. What product do you find overpriced? 

Mascaras! In the drugstore you're lucky if you find one under £7 that actually does what its meant to do, its frustrating really because I don't have dark lashes and can't get away without wearing it. That and I haven't found my perfect mascara yet so please feel free to leave recommendations.

7. Your best bargain dupe? 
Either the MUA eyeshadow palette in heaven and earth for the naked palette or else the Rimmel Kate Moss Matte lipstick in 107 for Macs Rebel. Both amazing dupes!

8. What high street beauty product do you think isn't worth the hype? 

This is probably going to be an unpopular one but the Barry M Gelly nail polishes did absolutely nothing for me at all, there was so much hype that I left it a while and when Boots had a cheeky 3 for 2 on I picked one up. I thought they would be amazing but it was probably one of the worst polishes for staying on my nails, I think it chipped within 2 days and it had like 3 coats or something. Dissappointing because I'd tried their normal range of polishes and loved them, weird!

Thanks for reading, Jenny xo
p.s feel free to do this tag yourselves or let me know what your drugstore favourites are! 

FOTD;

I thought I'd share with you lovely readers my FOTD, I was only popping into town for a few things and it was just one of those days when I had little time and didn't want to spend hours doing a full face of makeup. It also seemed a bit wasteful and for this reason I opted for a fairly quick and natural look. 

For my base I experimented a little and mixed together my Wake Me Up Foundation in shade 100 - Ivory and my Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in the shade 51 to create a flawless base (I'll definitely be using this duo again in the future). I then used my Real Techniques powder brush to apply my Stay Matte powder just to make sure everything would stay in place and after that used the Rimmel Sun Shimmer Bronzer on my cheeks to give them a pop of colour. I then used my MUA brow pencil in blonde to fill in my brows and after touched them up with the darkest shade of eyeshadow in my MUA heaven and earth palette - I cannot express just how handy this little palette is. I usually just apply eyeshadow and mascara in the mornings and eyeliner on a special occasion but strangely enough today I decided to go without eyeshadow and apply eyeliner instead, weird right. The one I applied along my upper lash line was my Collection 24 hour felt tip liner in black and then I applied a black pencil along my lower lash instead. Then for mascara I used the new L'oreal Miss Manga mascara which really makes all the difference to my natural lashes. And for lips I used my Babylips in Hydrate to ensure my lips were moisturised and then my Rimmel Kate Moss Matte Lipstick in Shade 101 - definitely keeping the neutral theme going on. (oh and I apologise for the topsy turvy photos but the landscape photos of my face just didn't show the make up at all).  

Thanks for reading, Jenny xo

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Beauty Haul

You know you have a problem when you go in to Boots to buy the Stay Matte Powder and you come out with a heck of a lot more. There's so many amazing offers across all of the brands at the minute and I couldn't help but be lured in yet again oops. 

When I walk around the drugstore I tend to forget about why I actually went in and get distracted by all of the other amazing products instead - I really should start making shopping lists. Firstly I picked up the MUA eyebrow pencil in blonde, this may seem a little odd since my hairs now been dyed brunette but strangely enough it still suits and does all an eyebrow pencil needs to do and more. I then saw a huge stand in Boots advertising the new LOreal Paris Miss Manga Mascara, this and the numerous adverts on my t.v (I'll blame them) made me pop it in my basket. My lashes are quite short so I'm always on the look out for something which will both lengthen and volumize them so here's hoping. Once I've used it a couple of times I'll be sure to post a review letting you lovely readers know whether its been a success or not.    

Also Rimmel in particular has loads of great offers on at the moment and I was able to repurchase my trusted Wake Me Up Foundation in the shade 100-Ivory as my one at present is definitely on it's way out with it being my everyday go to foundation and all. Then I popped in my basket the famous Stay Matte Powder (the one thing that I actually needed) - an essential for every makeup bag. Whilst at the stand I realised that although the foundation is one of my favourites I'd never tried the Wake Me Up Concealer and with it being £2 cheaper than normal I decided this would be a good time to, picking up the same shade as my foundation 'Ivory'. Since I was going a little concealer crazy I also picked up the MUA concealer stick in 'fair', I remember buying this months ago and I haven't a clue where it disappeared to so hopefully this one won't do the same. 

Finally I decided to purchase one of the new(ish) Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipsticks. There was an offer in which these ever so popular lipsticks were only £4 something and when I popped in to the shops there were very little left, maybe I just picked the wrong day to go shopping. As there were so little I was only able to pick up one in the shade '180-Vintage Pink', it's the most amazing colour and it really stood out to me as a nice wearable everyday shade. I'm definitely going to purchase a few more of these and I'll be sure to write a little review when they've been tested out properly. 

So that's a couple of the things that I've picked up over the past week (I know its a lot but I got my student loan in and treated myself). Has anyone else been bought anything nice lately? Or any of the above products? Let me know :) 

Thanks for reading, Jenny xo