e.l.f 100pc Marble Eyeshadow Palette

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I got a huge e.l.f. haul (I also just bought another huge haul minutes ago - oops). Anyway, I decided to play around with my 100pc Marble Eyeshadow Palette yesterday (before I got sick) and I thought I'd do a post on that using the pictures I took.

This is what the palette is packaged like (sorry for the glare):

The majority of the shadows are one solid colour, however a few are marbled. I took some close up photos so you can see this better:

There are a mix of matte and shimmer shades in this palette which allowed me to create a range of looks. The marbled shades mix together to create a new shade when you apply it to your eyes. I actually bought this mostly to experiment with colour, so have played around with the greens and blues etc. more than the neutral shades.

I swatched a couple of shades to give you an idea of pigmentation amongst other things:

These are swatches of the non-marbled shades and I chose two shimmer ones (on the left) and the rest are matte. As you can see they are not extremely pigmented but with a primer they work a bit better and also you can build them up using more powder.

The picture above shows some of the marbled shades I chose to swatch and as you can see they are less pigmented than the non-marbled shades. I hope these will improve with primer as I haven't used them on my eyes as of yet! I also took a picture of the fallout:

 

As you can see there is quite a bit of fallout, but I just apply my eye make up before foundation etc. to stop it causing a problem. 

I ordered the eyeshadow from the 'Last Chance' section on the e.l.f. website linked here.

It originally retailed at £15.00 but was half price at £7.50, however it is now out of stock, but this was the link.

Although they are not extremely pigmented, they are a bargain at £7.50 and I mainly bought them to experiment rather than use them everyday, so therefore I am happy with my purchase. I love e.l.f. as an affordable brand and I would probably buy this palette again, I really just wish they were a little more pigmented, but you can't have everything!

Do you have any must-have e.l.f. products? I wanted some more in today's haul but a lot of items were out of stock! 

Amanda xx

Velvetines!!

I have been waiting forever to get my hands on Lime Crime's Velvetines. My lovely boyfriend bought me them the day they got re-stocked and they arrived at my house today! He got me one Suedeberry and one Red Velvet, but as I've only had them a day I chose to wear Suedeberry today. Therefore in this post I will be showing you Suedeberry on my lips and be reviewing that shade with a review on Red Velvet probably within the next week if not the next few days!

So, this is what they looked like when they arrived:

I love fairy tales and magical things so I love their brand logo of a unicorn, it's right up my street! Also the packaging of the Velvetines is super cute! 

This is what the bottle looks like, it is similar to that of a lip gloss and it is applied the same way:

The product itself is a liquid but dries to a matte stain that has barely any transfer at all. 

This is what it looked like when I first applied it:

As you can see the colour is so intense and there is no bleeding of colour either.

This is what it looked like after 3 hours wear:

As you can see there have been no smudges as the colour is still absolutely perfect.

I decided to take a photo for you 6 hours later. The light is a bit different as it had to be artificial  but you can still see how much the product has stayed on my lips:

Although the rest of my make up has started to come off (for example my concealer coming off showing my dark circles) the Velvetine is still on my lips and still as opaque and perfect as it was 6 hours ago.

I love this product so much, I can't wait to wear Red Velvet next! It was definitely worth the wait for more stock and I don't want to be without it again. It stopped me having to re-apply any lipstick and I pretty much forgot I was wearing it because my lips felt like they had nothing on them! A must buy!

Have you tried either of the Velvetines? Apparently there's a purple shade happening in the Autumn which I'm super excited about!

Amanda xx

eBay Nail Art

I bought these items off eBay a few weeks ago but they arrived today as they were coming from China. They were auctions rather than 'Buy It Now' items so the prices vary depending on the bids obviously.

The first item I won was a small wheel of heart shaped nail art decorations:

The patterns have become a little bit mixed up but most are white in the centre with a coloured edge. My favourite ones are the purple and pink ones that say 'Love' in the middle and the black hearts with the bow in the centre. I won this item for 62p with free P&P (unbelievable right?). The material they are made of reminds me of the little edible character pictures I used to put on top of fairy cakes (the Disney ones).

The second item I won is similar to the first but is flower shapes instead:

There are a variety of colours in this, just like with the hearts. This item cost me 52p with free P&P (even better)!

The third item I won was a pack of nail stickers:

These flowers have glitter on them and I love how sparkly they are. They will be perfect for Spring/Summer and they only cost me 16p with free P&P (amazing)!

Finally I bought some Marble/Dotting tools:

I will use these to create dots with my nail varnish and I may even learn how to marble my nail varnish! They cost me £1.00 with free P&P. 

So this post was to show the bargains that can be found on eBay for nail art. All my products amounted to £2.30 with free P&P which is so cheap. I did have to wait 2-3 weeks for them to arrive but that's to be expected when they are coming from the other side of the world. I can't wait to get back on eBay and find myself some more nail art bargains!

Have you found any bargain nail art products on eBay? Or have you found others?

Amanda xx

T Zone Spot Zapping Stick

I just had to do a post about this little gem of a product!

I'm quite lucky that I don't really get spots and this is probably due to my dry skin, however when I do get one they tend to be at the worst times and I'm praying that they disappear. This usually doesn't work of course so when I was shopping at my local Home Bargains a few weeks ago I spotted the T Zone Spot Zapping Stick.

It has a roller ball tip for easy and targeted application, you literally just roll it around over the affected area. It contains Manuka Honey, Tea Tree, White Willow Bark, Vitamin C and Salicylic Acid which all help to reduce the appearance and redness of a spot. I have used this many times and I honestly wonder how I coped without it. It claims to get to work in 4 hours which I think is true as I usually apply before bed and wake up to much better skin with the spot being significantly reduced in size and redness. I think I paid about 89p in Home Bargains for this product so if you visit one soon keep an eye out! I am also pretty sure I spotted it in Superdrug when I was shopping last week but it was around £4-£5.

Amanda xx

Superdrug Skin Care Haul

It seems every time I pass Superdrug I cannot help going in and spending money! The other day I decided to have a little browse and found quite a few goodies I liked. This is what I ended up leaving with:

I've been using some of the products for a few days consecutively now but some I have yet to try. 

First up I'll talk about the Naturally Radiant range.

I've mentioned this range in an earlier post that can be found here. I liked the majority of the products I bought last time, so when I noticed they were still on offer I thought I would give these two a try as they were out of stock last time. 

The Brightening Day Cream is shown below:

This product has an SPF15 which is good for protecting you from harmful UV rays. It claims to be for 'Normal to Dry Skin' and says it will 'awaken skin's natural glow' and give 'all day moisturisation'. There is also a list telling you how long to expect certain results. Instantly your skin is supposed to look radiant and feel moisturised which I have found to be true after a few days use. I have found it soothes my skin and make it soft but I have been using it before I apply make up so I can't say if I've notice a difference in radiance. After 1 week your skin is supposed to feel softer and smoother and more refreshed and energised. I have not yet been using it for a week so I can't really judge this, however with my other products from this range I did notice a difference after continuous use. After 4 weeks your skin tone is meant to appear refined and evened out. Again I have not been using it for 4 weeks yet but I am hoping this is true! Whilst I was shopping I heard a member of staff saying the offers in store would be changed the following day and since checking their website I have found this is no longer on offer. It is now back at the normal price of £5.99 and is available from Superdrug stores or online here. I personally would buy this again even at £5.99 as it has done a better job for me than some big name brands. 

Another item I bought from this range is the Brightening Micro Polish:

This product exfoliates dead skin cells, helping to refine skin's texture and clarify skin discolouration. I have yet to use this product but I am looking forward to comparing it to other exfoliating products I have. This is also available from Superdrug stores or their site here and retails for £4.99 which is a bargain in my eyes. 

The second range I bought a lot from was the Vitamin E Skin Care range. When I was shopping they were on offer as 3 for 2 but this has expired unfortunately. That being said the products are so purse friendly I would buy them even if they were not on offer!

The first item to catch my eye was the Skin Oil:

It is described as a light, yet penetrating oil which soothes, moisturises and softens the skin. It contains Vitamin E (as suggested by the label) which is apparently a powerful antioxidant that will help to protect skin against environmental damage and also premature skin ageing. I found the texture of this to be the same as Loreal Extraordinary Oil, which meant that although it is an oil one applied to my face I was not left with a greasy residue on my hands. My face did feel a lot softer and I had to stop myself from stroking it too much (don't want to clog my pores!). This retails at £2.99 and can be bought from Superdrug stores or from their website found here. For £2.99 you really have to try this as it is so cheap yet such a good product. I wish I'd stocked up while they were on 3 for 2 but I didn't know I would like it so much. It's a 30 ml bottle too so it can fit in your handbag if you're travelling!

The second item I spotted was the All Over Body Cream:

The first thing you should know about this tub is that it has a huge 475ml of product in it, I could not believe how much there was. I have mentioned before I have really dry skin, especially after I've had a shower so I wanted to give this a try. I usually use my Garnier Ultimate Beauty Oil, however I wanted to find a cream I could use too and this seemed perfect. I have used it twice since I bought it and I am really happy with this product. It soothed my dry skin after a shower and it left it feeling really soft afterwards. It smells lovely and works a treat and for £2.99 for 475ml I really don't see anything to complain about. You can buy this is Superdrug stores or from their website here.

I decided to try two of the face creams from this range too with one being a night time cream and the other being an intense cream. 

The night cream shown above I have obviously been applying before bed and letting it work overnight. I have noticed my skin is a little softer when I wake but there isn't much of a difference as of yet which I'm hoping will change after continuous use. I chose this as one of my free products as I already have many moisturisers. It does have a lovely smell and for £2.99 it is pretty cheap too. This can also be found in Superdrug stores or on their website here.

I chose the Intensive Moisture Cream as my second free product too (as I bought 6):

 

I liked the idea of this cream being intensive as when my skin is incredibly dry it needs intense hydration. I've used it a couple of times when my skin has felt particularly dry and although it did soothe it I do have other moisturisers that worked just as well so I probably won't repurchase this item. I only say this as I need to get through all my other moisturisers first, however if I didn't own any other intensive ones then I probably would buy this again as it is only £2.99. You can find this in Superdrug stores and on their website here.

As summer is approaching I decided to buy an exfoliating body scrub to keep my skin in top condition and just in case I felt like applying a bit of fake tan:

I haven't used this on my body yet but I have squeezed a little in to my hand to get a feel for the texture etc.

It says it contains apricot granules to exfoliate and when I did squeeze it out on to my hand the product contained a lot of granules in just a small amount. I'm glad this is the case as I have bought body exfoliators before which didn't have many granules/beads in the product so it either didn't do a good job or I ended up using an awful lot of product. This also smells absolutely lovely and I really can't wait to use it in future. For £2.99 it is definitely a good buy and it can be found in Superdrug stores or on their site here.

I also spotted a Shimmer Body Lotion which will look lovely worn on the skin when the sun is shining:

This product contains light reflecting pigments to give a healthy looking glow. The sun hasn't really been out in rainy Britain as of yet so I'm not sure when I'll get to try it out on my body, however I did apply some to the back of my hand and it really does reflect the light and make your skin look dewy and beautiful. I can't wait for the sun to appear and to wear this little beauty! This also retails for £2.99 and I will buy this over and over as it is a lot cheaper than other brands. You can find it in Superdrug stores or on their site here.

Finally, as I was leaving the skin care section I spotted Summer Body by Garnier was half price and I couldn't resist:

 

I chose the light version as I don't want to end up too tanned! It is a moisturising lotion that claims to build a tan in harmony with your own skin tone. It also has an apricot fragrance which smells amazing and makes me excited for summer! I was going to buy the 250ml for £2.54 (also half price) but then I noticed that this bottle was 400ml and only £3.57 so I chose this bottle instead! I haven't used it yet as it isn't quite warm enough to bare my skin so it would be a little pointless tanning at the moment but I am super excited to use it. You can find this in Superdrug stores and online here.

This was an extremely long post and took an awful long time to do so I hope you find it useful if you're looking for skin care products! Do you think you may give any of these a try?

Amanda xx

New camera!

I've got quite a few posts to do this week but I've been getting really annoyed using my iPhone to take pictures so I took the plunge yesterday and bought a dslr camera. So excited for it to arrive and to get using it!

Amanda :) xx

e.l.f. smoky eye kit review

I decided to give my new Ultimate Look - Smoky kit from e.l.f. a try this week. I'm not usually a fan of greys and blacks on my eyes because they never seem to look right on me, however this set was such a bargain that I thought I'd give it a go. I tried my best to use products only by e.l.f. on my eyes in this post rather than turn to my staple items. 

This is what the set looks like:

As you can see you get quite a few items in this box including mascara, pencil eyeliner, an eyeshadow brush, three eyeshadows, false eyelashes with glue, a pencil sharpener and sponge applicators. I've said many times in my posts that I hate sponge applicators so these immediately went in the bin. Plus, the fact you get an eyeshadow brush in the set anyway makes these applicators pointless in my eyes.

You can buy this set for £5.00 off the e.l.f. website here. 

There are instructions on the back of the box to create the smoky eye which is useful if you are a beginner:

I followed these instructions so as I could accurately review this product, rather than create my own look. As I said before I binned the sponge applicators so I used the brush throughout instead, whereas they suggest to use the brush just to blend.

This is what the eyeshadows look like:

I personally feel that the eyeshadows are not very pigmented and required a lot of building up. That being said the overall look they created was nice and soft. I applied the lightest colour to the inner corner of my eyes and the medium colour across the middle of the eyelid and blended. After this I applied the darkest colour in a 'V' shape at the corner of my eye and slightly in to the crease and blended thoroughly.

Next I wanted to line my eyes before applying the lashes, so as they were not at easy to detect. I found the pencil liner very hard and it didn't really work for my upper lid so I used this on the inner rim of my eyes and instead used the e.l.f. liquid liner I also bought as part of my haul. I would normally use my Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner when applying false lashes but as I'm reviewing e.l.f. products I gave this a shot instead:

As far as the application of this eyeliner went it really was great. The applicator is very fine so allowed me to create a perfect black line across my lids easily. However, as you'll see from the pictures at the end of my post it did not really work well with the false eyelashes. As soon as the glue on the lashes touched the eyeliner it began to smudge and I found myself continually going over the line to get the eyelashes to blend with my natural ones. I'd probably recommend this eyeliner for day wear as it was easy to apply. I refrained from turning to my Bobbi Brown gel liner to make the look perfect as I wanted to give you an honest view of these products, therefore you can see in the full face pictures later that the liner and eyelashes are very messy. The eyelashes themselves I found hard to work with as when I tried to bend and shape them to fit my eyes before applying them they didn't hold the shape at all. This meant when I placed them on my eyes they became very fiddly and I had to work harder to get them to stick. Also, no matter how much glue I used the ends still came away from the eyes which is not good if you want them to last all night. That being said the whole set cost me £5 and you are getting a complete kit to do your eyes.

This eyeliner cost £1.50 and can be bought off the e.l.f. website here. It may not have been perfect for false eyelashes but for day to day use this is an absolute bargain!

The mascara was pretty good as I had no clumps on my lashes but I'd probably use it in the daytime as opposed to night as it is creates more of a natural look than my YSL mascara which I would use of an evening for longer, darker lashes. The wand of the mascara itself allowed for precise application so I had no smudges around my eyes which is great.

I did my eyes before the rest of my make up in case there was any fall out from the product. This was a good decision as there was a little bit of fall out and by doing my face make up afterwards it stopped me ruining it as I removed the fall out.

I went through my usual combination of MAC Studio Sculpt foundation, MAC bronzer, MAC Soft and Gentle to highlight, MAC blusher in Warm Soul and MAC Select Moisturecover concealer for the rest of my face. 

After this I used the new eyebrow stencils I purchased from e.l.f. which come packaged like this:

I used the soft arch stencil and just placed it over my eyebrows, took my eyebrow brush from Crown Brush and used my Illamasqua Eyebrow Cake to fill in the stencil. I do have a bit of a 'Scousebrow' look going on with this look but that's because obviously my hair is very light due to highlights but my eyebrows naturally are quite dark. If I applied a lighter eyebrow colour it would look a bit ridiculous, so unless I dye my hair brown in the near future I just have to embrace the 'Scousebrow'. These stencils are really simple to use, you just need to make sure your hands are steady while you fill them in! I'm really glad I purchased these and will be using them a lot more in future. Underneath my eyebrows I used MAC pigment in Vanilla to highlight the brow bone.

The stencils cost £1.50 and can be bought from the e.l.f. website here. I personally think this is a complete bargain and would recommend this to everyone. It really makes shaping your eyebrows much easier to do!

This is the finished look:

As you can see the eyelashes and liner are not perfect and I'm showing you them like this so as not to give you a false idea of the look. I realise the make up is not perfect but that's the idea of me showing you these pictures, to show you my result using e.l.f. products alone. I used Illamasqua lipstick in Sonnet with their gloss in Artifice over the top on my lips.

Overall I would recommend this product as it is on sale for £5.00. The eyeshadows although not extremely pigmented do create a nice soft smoky eye and the brush that comes with the set is not bad too. The set is great value if you take in to consideration that you are getting three eyeshadows, an eyeshadow brush, an eyeliner pencil, a set of eyelashes with glue, a pencil sharpener and a mascara as these products would definitely amoutn to over £5.00 if bought individually! Some products I will most likely use again, for example the mascara, the eyeshadow and the sharpener. I would use the eyeshadow brush again but I already have a few a love and a Real Techniques one in the post. Although the brush did the job well, I did not love it as much as my others, but if you do not own a brush then this would be a really good starting point. 

As I have said in other posts I tend to stick to earthy colours with my eyeshadow which is why I bought this set as an affordable way to experiment with greys and blacks. If you're unsure of trying grey and black eyeshadow then this could be a perfect starting point for you, or if you want to try a smoky look at a really affordable price. 

Have you tried any e.l.f. products you love? Would you give this a try for £5.00?

Amanda :) xx

My week, purchases and future posts...

It's been a very busy week for me this week! I ended up going to Wales for a few days with my family which was a nice change of scenery. I've also been ill for weeks on end (immune system is failing me!) and I've had various appointments with my doctors. So, after a gap in posts I'm back. I've accumulated an awful lot of stuff this week, more than I realised actually! I'm a bit unsure of what to post about first because I bought so much stuff, so this post is going to be a general list of what I bought and then over the next few posts I'll talk about the different items in more depth.

The lovely Wendy at painttheukpink.blogspot.co.uk shared a 50% off code at e.l.f. on Twitter last week and I just could not resist! I ended up spending close to £100 (eek!) but after the discount it worked out just under £50. I know this is a huge amount but two of the items which I'm in love with should have cost me £28 alone so I see this as a complete bargain! This is what I ended up buying from their website:

 

I'll review these items in more detail over the coming weeks but my next post will be about the eye set I bought (the white box at the back). Generally I'm really happy with what I bought and the amount I saved and I'll tell you more about these soon!

Another website I ordered off was Fragrance Direct and I spent just over £33 there which I think was a bargain as some of the items I got have quite an expensive RRP. This is what I bought from them:

I bought various items from various brands including Dainty Doll, Toni & Guy, Revlon, Essie, Sally Hansen, Maybelline and many more. I've tried a few of these items and will be posting reviews in the coming weeks.

I went food shopping yesterday and couldn't help but pop in to Superdrug (I have zero will power). Most of what I bought was on offer which somehow justifies my purchases in my mind! I bought some VO5 hair products and some MUA make up:

The VO5 products are Dry Texturising Spray, Tame & Shine Spray, Dry Backcomb Spray and Volumising Spritz. I'm going to try these products out over the next few weeks and let you know what I think about them. The MUA products are the Undress Me Too palette, Shimmer Highlighter, Extreme Contour Liner and the Radiant Under Eye Concealer. As with the VO5 products I'll let you know what I think once I've tried these out.

As you can see I've got a lot of things to get through in the near future as well as all the beauty products lying about my room (I'm clearly an addict). I'll try and get through them as quick as I can! 

I've also got some Real Techniques brushes on their way to me so I can't wait to get my hands on them! 

Have you tried any of these products? If so, how was your experience with them? Have any of these items been on your wish list?

Amanda :) xx