MAKE UP REVOLUTION HAUL

Well, this post has taken a while to find itself on here but I've just been so distracted by Pretty Little Liars. I know I'm also late on watching that one too, which appears to be a common theme at the moment... hmm. Every evening when I sit down and watch PLL I think I'll get blogging too but I can't draw my eyes away - t's just too good! 

Anyway, onto something else very good. I placed this order a few weeks ago when Make up Revolution had an amazing offer on, which gave you loads of free products with your order and £10 off so I think I only paid just over £20 for all of the above. They actually have a free product similar offer on at the moment so I'm starting to think it's not so bad that this poor post has taken so long to get here. As a make up junkie/hoarder I'm always interested in more make up and especially when it's free! I wasn't expecting too much from the free products, as well they're free but the majority were actually really nice and one of the lipsticks has even made it into my hand bag and has become my go to quick and easy lip colour.  I think it's called 'Never be a Millionaire' and is a sheer beige nude colour. You also got another nude lipstick, a dark red lipstick/gloss which will be nice for winter (is that still a forbidden word atm)? and a pink duo lipstick and gloss. Two eye shadow palettes, one pigment, a primer and a few single eye shadows. It was exciting me enough opening up all of the freebies, so much so that I nearly forgot I had more stuff that I had actually chosen! 

Now onto the products that I actually ordered! When I placed my order it was right when the new contour palette was released so of course I had to buy that.  I only recently nearly caved and bought the Anastasia contour palette so I'm now so glad that I didn't. I had also been eyeing up the two Iconic Pro palettes as they appear to be very good dupes of the Lorac palettes which are just too hard to get in the UK. They are gorgeous and the brushes that come with them actually seem pretty good too. As if I didn't already have too many eye shadows, I also bought the Flawless Mattes palette  as you always need every matte neutral shade in your life. The last item that I ordered was The One Concealer which seems to be a dupe of one of the Benefit concealers that I've been wanting to try for ages. I also had my eye on some of the lipsticks, the concealer palette and some of the blushes but I thought I would behave myself and save those for another time. 

What are your must haves from Make up Revolution, that I can add to my list?

MY CURRENT FAVOURITES

Originally this was intended to be for my June favourites but I had a stage of not really feeling like blogging and then as we got further into the month it just seemed too late to post, so here we have it my current favourites instead as I couldn't ignore these products that have been doing me so well recently.

My absolute essential product over the summer months is self tan. With everyone jetting away and coming back so tanned, I just feel like I have to be tanned too. I can embrace the lighter natural skin during the winter but when I'm showing more skin I feel better when it's tanned. I recently posted my tanning routine which you can read if you want more detail, 'here'. I absolutely love Lauren's Way. I love all of the ones that I've tried but I discovered the spray formula during June and think that is makes the application much easier and quicker and doesn't feel heavy or sticky on the skin. I love the Rapid tan as it develops quickly, you don't need to make sue you've got over 8 hours for it to develop every time you want to apply self tan. Full review here.

Of course, with beautiful tanned skin, come the chore of exfoliating a lot!I can't believe during all of these years of wearing fake tan I have never bought exfoliating gloves; they're amazing! I bought these from Primark and I don't think they were more than a couple pound if that.

My next favourite is the Make Up Revolution Iconic Blush Bronze and Brighten palette in Smoulder. I recently did a post showing all four shades of this palettes but Smoulder is my absolute favourite and I have used it pretty much everyday this month. The other day I found MAC Peaches, which I loved last year, I tried wearing it and just didn't like how it made my make up look at all, I needed the pretty pink in Smoulder. I love the highlight in this palette too as it's just so pretty. I even got complimented on it from a very unlikely source at work - who knew men notice that pretty thing on your cheekbones?!

For ease in the mornings I always tend to opt for easy neutral brown eye shadows, but recently I have been branching out a little and I mean a little as it's only a small extension of the usual brown family. I've been enjoying using slight plum/purple toned shadows, like Quarry from MAC and the Naked 3 palette from Urban Decay. It obviously still looks very neutral but it's a nice little change and I feel that the colours really brighten up my eyes and emphasis the green in them.

My go to lipstick lately has been MAC's Kinda Sexy; it's a gorgeous neutral nude shade, which leans more on the peachy tone making it really flattering and I find that is such an easy shade to pair with most make up looks.

Onto jewellery now. I always love the look of lots of cool and simple jewellery but I'm pretty rubbish at buying any. My money normally goes on make up then clothes and maybe shoes. I then struggle to justify more on jewellery and bags etc. While I was in Forever 21 a month or so ago I decided that I was definitely going to make the effort to chose a necklace that would go with lots of outfits and just make them look more stylish and like I've made more effort. I love how you can just wear very plain clothes but with the right accessories it looks so much more stylish. I picked up about five different necklaces as they were only a few pounds each, so hardly broke the bank. They are all gold, very simple and some quite unique and I've loved incorporating them into my outfits. 

A recent discovery, which I am blaming my mum for as she bought me it first is the Sweet & Salty Poshcorn. It seems a little odd really raving about a pop corn so much, but it's the best that I have ever had. It's the perfect combination between sweet and salty and is just so addictive!

My final addiction favourite recently has been the TV show Desperate Housewives. I watched the later seasons when they were originally on the TV and a couple of years ago I think they were all on Netflix, so I watched them all then. They have recently come onto the Sky boxsets so I've been watching them like crazy as they just don't ever get old. I've even managed to get my boyfriend Jamie into them, which is really funny as he was sure he wouldn't like it at first but now he sits and watches, asks questions and moans when he doesn't like certain characters. 

Those are all of the things that I have been loving recently, what have you been enjoying lately?

MAKE UP REVOLUTION PRO CURVE CONTOUR BRUSH COLLECTION

I don't think I have ever bought anything as quickly as I did these brushes; somehow, without even thinking, I saw them, saw their offer, found an extra discount code, picked a couple of other items and then before I knew it, Make up Revolution were thanking me for my order. This all happened within minutes of getting home, as Jamie was telling me about his day - which I think we can gather, maybe I wasn't paying the most attention to. Make up Revolution had an offer on that you could buy all four brushes for £15, which for four brushes is a very good deal. I was most intrigued to the the contour powder, foundation and highlighting brush, which would have come to just over £16 anyway. If you sign up for the newsletter you can get 20% off of your first order, which meant I got all four brushes for £12 - if my maths is correct! 

Pro Curve Contour Powder Brush PRO-C FP01
Probably my favourite of the collection; it's lovely and soft, yet dense enough to create a neat, precise contoured look to the cheekbones. I mostly use it with powder products but it does work well with cream products too. It's amazing for the cheeks the cut and shape of the brush make it absolutely perfect as it just fits the cheekbone perfectly. I have also tried this brush with foundation and it does work well for that too as it's very dense but still soft so it's really comfortable to use all over the face. This was the brush that initially triggered my excitement to the collection as it looks like a dupe for the Estee Lauder Sculpting Foundation Brush. When I first saw that brush I was very intrigued as I had never seen anything like it but at £37 I wasn't going to buy it, just in case the shape of the brush wasn't that useful. I do really like this brush for foundation and I assume it must be a fairly good dupe for the Estee Lauder brush as they do look very alike. 

Pro Curve Contour Foundation Brush Pro-C FF01
I have tried to use this brush for foundation but it's just too small. It would work well as it is a great shape to fit all around the face, but due to it's size and stiffness, it would take a long time to cover the whole face. I do love this brush for concealer, as it's so easy to blend around all of the nooks and crannies around the nose, lips and jawline etc. It's also good for liquid or cream contouring as it's a good shape and the firmness of the brush does make it good for sculpting out the areas that need contouring. 

Pro Curve Contour Blush and Highlighting Brush PRO-C FH01
I love this brush for highlighting. I normally use a fan brush to highlight the tops of my cheekbones but sometimes I feel like I need a bigger brush to blend it in a little more, which this brush does. Likewise to the other brushes, the cut makes it fit the shape of the face so well and it blends so easily as it's really soft and fluffy. I tend to keep this brush for highlighter cream or liquid, but it does do a good job at blending out concealer too; as it's fluffy but dense enough and is the perfect shape. 

Pro Curve Contour Eye shadow Brush  PRO-C EE01
I like to use this brush for quick application of shadow along the lash line, as it's shape makes it ideal. I've tried it for a cut crease look too and it does work but I still feel that you need something a little finer. I think it would work for contouring the nose but I don't really know what to do with this brush as much as the others. It's nice to have but I probably wouldn't have bought this brush if it wasn't in the set offer with the other brushes. 

I would definitely recommend these brushes as they're really affordable, beautiful looking and really unique. I like the look and design of these brushes and they definitely look and feel a lot more expensive than they are. I haven't tried any other Make up Revolution brushes so I don't know how these compare but I am now interested to try some, so if you have any recommendations let me know! 

REVIEW: MAKE UP REVOLUTION ICONIC BLUSH BRONZE & BRIGHTEN PALETTES

L-R: Golden Hot, Smoulder, Rave, Flush. 

When I first saw the Blush Bronze and Brighten palettes by Make up Revolution I immediately thought they looked identical to the Urban Decay Flushed palettes. I love those palettes, so to potentially find a dupe for them at a very affordable price was very exciting - so much so, that I obviously needed all four shades. I really like how compact these palettes are as they are slim and lightweight, yet also contain a large mirror, which makes them great for taking out and about. I also like the idea of having a bronzer, blusher and highlight all in one palette as it's very travel friendly and even if using it at home, it comes in handy if you're running out of time and need to be as quick as possible, without having to hunt out each product. 

The shades Golden Hot and Smoulder are the closest matches to the Urban Decay Strip and Native Flushed palettes - the colours really are identical. I find Flush and Rave to be very similar to each other; you definitely don't need to own both. Rave's highlight shade is a touch more golden than Flushed, making it similar to Urban Decay's Streak Flushed Palette. The Make up Revolution palette which is least similar to the Flushed palettes is ironically the shade Flush. The Urban version is a lot more of a rosy pink blush shade, where as Flush is a lot more coral. 

My favourite is Smoulder, which was also my favourite in the Urban Decay equivalent - Native as I just love pink blush. Golden Hot would look really great on darker, more tanned or olive skin complexions as it has the darkest bronzer and a pretty golden highlight. I think Rave would be great for lighter skin tones as it has the lightest bronzer, closely followed by Flush. 

The formulation of these palettes is really good; they're very pigmented, blend well and last all day on me. They have a silky smooth texture, so much so that I was able to mould my Rave palette back together as sadly it was delivered smashed. The only thing I will say is I don't find the highlighter shades as pigmented as the bronzer or blush shades, but sometimes this isn't always a bad thing if you just want a subtle glow. Formulation wise they are good and especially amazing for the price but they don't beat the Flushed palettes. However, if you want to have a choice of four shades for less than the price of one Flushed palette then these are a great idea and I would really recommend them. 

Have you tried these palettes or any other Make up Revolution products, What are your favourites?! 

MAKE UP REVOLUTION SUGAR & SPICE PALETTE

I'm so late to the party, but I have finally got around to trying Make up Revolution. I always think I'm lacking in blusher, in actual fact I'm really not and I think this will be confirmed when I finally get around to sorting and tidying my make up, but something always tells me I am, which is why I was so drawn to this palette, being my first Make up Revolution product.

The palette contains six matte shades of blush, one shimmery pink shade and a white highlight shade. I chose this palette as I it is quite heavily pink based and I love pink blush on myself, as I think it really gives a more, fresh and pretty look to the complexion. There is also a coral/peach shade and two more neutral nude brown/pink shades, so you still have a fair amount of variety. The two more nude brown shades (first and second shades on the top left) are designed for contouring. I personally don't use them for this as I just don't think they are the right shades, but I do think they're nice to mix with the more pink blush shades. All are very well pigmented,blend onto the skin well and last all day. I often think that blusher is one of those products that doesn't need to be high end to be a good quality, which is why I absolutely love the idea of this palette, as it was only £6 and you have lots of shades to chose from. I often find myself mixing a few of the shades together, which obviously isn't necessary but when you've got the choice of six, why just use one!? Although I do prefer pink blush on myself I will probably end up also getting the Hot Spice, more coral and peach shade palette. The only issue now is that like everyone else - I now want more! 

I have already got my eye on the new Mermaid eye shadow palette and a couple of the other eye palettes and some more blush and bronzer palettes... let the list begin!

You can purchase Make up Revolution products from their website, or from Superdrug. 

JUST ANOTHER HAUL POST...

I don't know what it is about this time of year but it's always the time when I come down with a very strong case of the 'feeling spendy' flu. As much as I try to avoid it, I can't help myself. Normally I'm very good with money but this time of year just kills me and I end up wanting everything and some how justifying it (as you will see if you've seen my previous posts recently). I think this year is probably worse as I've now finished education (for now) so I don't have anything serious to focus on, so my mind is filled with pretty make up. The biggest stress in my life at the moment is deliberating over which lip liner colour I want to buy... seriously - not as easy as you'd think!

I justified all of these products on the fact I'd planned to buy them prior to going shopping, therefore there was no impulse buying, which I guess is a positive. Superdrug had a 3 for 2 offer on and I knew I really wanted to try Make up Revolution and especially their blush palettes. There is so much more from the brand that I want to try but it was too busy to really look so I just grabbed what I originally planned for. I chose Sugar and Spice as I love pink blush on myself. I'd also been planning on getting the new Sleek Del Mar Volume II eye shadow palette; I bought the first Del Mar palette last year and really liked it so I'm excited to use this one in the summer months. For my final product in the 3 for 2 offer I picked up the Maybelline Super Stay 24 Hour Powder. I knew I needed to buy a powder but hadn't decided on which one. I have never tried this one before and haven't actually heard anything about it so I'm intrigued to see how well it works. 

The next product needed no justification as I was able to use my loyalty points for the whole payment, which always feels so good. I chose to buy Urban Decay's Lip Liner in Manic. They are the best lip liners I have ever tried; they're so creamy and just glide over the lips so easily, sit well all day and still feel comfortable used all over the lips. Manic is a pretty rosy pink shade, that's just a richer shade of a natural lip colour so it's really complimentary and easy to wear. 

I also bought the Clarins Instant Concealer after hearing so many good things about it and the Clarins Aquatic Treasures Bronzing Compact. I loved the bronzer last year but didn't get round to buying it so I just had to this year as it is so beautiful! 

I'm looking forward to trying all of these products and I'm sure they will be featuring more on the blog, once I've had a chance to play with them. Have you used any of these?