Five Favs #2 | Blushers

If you recall, last month I started a new blog series called #FiveFavs, I didn't commit to how frequently I'd be writing instalments, but that they'd have different themes.  Well, this time it's all about blushers, and the ones I reach for the most.  I must admit, I do reach for more than this 5, but I had to limit it somehow, otherwise it'd be an endless post.

1.  NARS Dolce Vita*

I absolutely adore this blusher, it's pretty much matte and a beautiful deep berry tone, which is typically my favourite shade to wear on my cheeks.  The quality is fantastic - just as I like in a blusher, not crazy pigmented like Sleek blushers can be and other similar ones, but nice, and easy to work with and blend on the cheekbones.

2.  Sephora blusher in Healthy Rose

This really is a very pretty shade, and perfect for spring.  It's sort of a soft peachy-coral with a hint of pink and a bit of a duskyness to it.  It's also completely matte, which I love - sometimes I love a matte blusher, as it looks really natural, and other times I love having a shimmery cheek, but this is a blusher for natural looking cheeks.

3.  Smashbox blusher in Chiffon

This really is a gorgeous shade, very similar to NARS Orgasm.  It's rose gold with a nice shimmer/sparkle.  I wouldn't call it a dupe as it's pretty much the same price, but if you didn't want to buy the NARS one, for whatever reason, this is a great alternative.  It's a great texture, nicely pigmented and very, very pretty on the cheeks.

4.  Eddie Funkhouser blusher in Peep Show*

This was in a Wantable makeup box some time ago.  I'd never heard of Eddie Funkhouser before and haven't since, but this blusher is something special.  Yes it's a bright pink, but it's pigmentation balance it's great, not too much and not too sheer, and it looks really pretty on the cheeks, almost like you've just come in from outside.  And, it's matte, so a winner for me.

5.  MAC Mineralize blusher in Gentle

The newest blusher in my collection and the one I've been wearing almost every day for the last 2-3 weeks since I've had it.  It's leaning towards berry-toned, and has a soft goldish shimmer, but it's not rose gold, which I like.  I feel like too many blushers have jumped on that bandwagon in the last couple of years, it's nice to see a shimmery blusher that's a bit different.  This sits on the cheeks beautifully, looking soft and 'gentle' with a very soft shimmery glow.

So there's my top 5 blushers as the 2nd instalment of my #FiveFavs series.  I have quite a few others planned, but if there's any you'd like to see, like foundations, palettes etc, anything really, just leave it as a comment below :)

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*Some of these blushers were PR Samples

April 2014 Favourites

I usually do my monthly favourites on my YouTube channel, but seeing as I haven't uploaded to there for 2 months, I thought I'd do it on here :) 

I haven't been wearing 'that' much makeup this month, mostly just eye makeup.  If you saw my 'Yes to Cucumbers' review, then you'll know why I haven't been able to wear foundation until the last few days.  Thankfully, even though I still have some dry patches on my cheeks, I'm able to get away with wearing it again.

So, here's whats been on my face :)

Chanel perfection lumiere velvet

A full review will be coming of this in the next couple of weeks, so do not fear!  Either way, I love it! Perfect for oily skin, but be careful if you have lots of dryness as it does highlight dry skin.

Giorgio Armani eyes to kill mascara in 01*

This is a pretty mega-awesome mascara, another one where a full review is imminent.  It thickens, lengthens and helps curl, gives great volume and just generally makes your lashes look pretty sweet.

Yves Rocher volume vertige mascara*

Another awesome mascara, I've already done a full review of it here.  One coat is not so impressive, but 2-3 coats and your lashes will look spectacular!  

Smashbox 24 hr photofinish shadow primer*

This little beauty I reviewed on the blog earlier in the week, I really do prefer it to the Urban Decay primer potions I've been using for the past few years and will 100% replace it when it runs out, it's great if you have really oily lids :)  Review here.

GOSH forever eye shadow pencil

This little beauty (combined with the Smashbox primer) is amazing - put this on top of the primer, then your chosen eye shadow on top and you'll have some serious staying-power.  I get about 12+ hours out of it before any creasing starts to appear, which is unheard of for me :)  Review here.

Dolly Wink liquid eyeliner*

I never thought I'd find a liquid eyeliner that I'd prefer to my Chanel one, but here I am and Dolly Wink has stolen me away!  It has a really fine point on it so you can create a beautiful wing, it lasts all day, doesn't transfer onto my lid and is a great black (not a grey-black), here's my review.

Giorgio Armani eyes to kill silk eye shadow

When I went to the Giorio Armani event, I fell in love with this and just couldn't leave without it.  It was the first piece of makeup I'd bought in ages too, so I didn't feel too guilty about the price :)  It's a beautiful combination of purple with flecks of gold - it's very similar to the L'Oreal infallible shadows in that they're pressed, and come presented in a similar way.  It's long wearing and just beautiful :) Review here :)

On writing this up I'm aware lots of these favourites are items that were PR Samples (as noted by the *) but these are products I genuinely love and recommend.  I'd never review a product stating I liked it, if I didn't, and I certainly haven't been asked to include any of these in my favourites, these are just what I've been reaching for above everything else this month :)

What's been your favourites this past month?

This months Biggest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Jaina from Which Beauty Box UK

 

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Smashbox 24-hour photo finish shadow primer

After 12.5 hrs wear with the GOSH forever shadow stick - only *just* beginning to crease (this image was instagrammed at the time)

As you'll probably know, Smashbox are famous for their primers, specifically face primers.  So when I discovered they did an eye shadow primer I was super duper intrigued.  When I had a play with it I saw that it's quite a matte texture and very thick and heavy (as in, freakin' hard to get out of the tube!).

That aside, this is quite possibly the best eye shadow primer I've used.  I've always been Urban Decay for eye shadow primer since I discovered it existed, but unless I let the tube get to about a year old (to start drying) it creases on me in about 6 hours, even the Eden one (I'll be doing a review on that some time soon too).

So how does this compare?  Well, if you saw my GOSH forever eye shadow review, you might remember me mentioning this there.  By itself, it out performs Urban Decay by about 3 hours, if I apply the makeup about 7:30am, it'll crease about 3pm ish.  But, with the GOSH forever eye shadow, I get about 13 hours out of it before it starts creasing at all.

That's, freaking, amazing!  If you're not away, I have possibly THE oiliest eyelids known to man, well the right lid anyway.  Everything creases on it, and I mean, everything.  But, with this and the GOSH shadow, it doesn't.  My left eye doesn't show any creasing at all even when I take my makeup off after like 17 hours, but my right (oily) lid creases after about 13 hours with that combination.

So, as a stand-alone primer, it's very good, the best I've tried.  With the GOSH product, it's in a whole other league :)

You'll be able to buy this product later on this month :D

This months Biggest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Jaina from Which Beauty Box UK

 

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*This post contains a PR sample, all opinions are honest and my own

Chanel and Smashbox Haul (and MAC, and L'Oreal)

Hey guys - I just wanted to share a few things with you that I've bought recently, I've done a Haul video to go with these too which you can check out below :)

So the first purchase I was and still am, super excited about! It's the Chanel single eyeshadow in Fauve (90). Lots of the youtube beauty guru's I follow have raved about this colour so I felt it was worth a trip to Chanel to pick up :) And I'll tell you what, it does not disappoint! It's the most beautiful colour, and depending on the lighting, depends on what colour it looks like. It's got brown, mauve and taupe in it.

The swatch on the left (above) is a dry swatch, and the one on the right is a wet swatch. The left one doesn't really do it justice, it's a stunning colour and I just can't get enough of it :)

Also from Chanel, I bought their Le Vernis Nail Colour in 521 Rose Cache, I do have quite mixed feelings about this colour. It's my first Chanel nail polish, and before judging the entire line, I will try other colours first. With this one, I had to apply it 3 times before I couldn't see my nail colour underneath, so I was a bit disappointed, but that could be the colour itself because it is very nude, which is what I was going for :) It's a bit orangy in the pic but, nice to see it on the nails too :)

Ok - on to Smashbox :) Really pleased to see them here in the UK and in Cardiff, hadn't seen them here before so I was very happy about that :) I'd initially gone to Chanel to buy their new Spring 2012 blusher, howerver, it was £45 and as amazing as it was, I just didn't want to spend that much money on it, so I decided to get a smashbox blusher instead :) It's in the colour Chiffon - it's a beautiful peach toned blush with tiny teeny sparkly bits in - but not too many :) The blush was about £18. The Chanel nail varnish was £17.50 and the eye shadow single was ..... £22 I think!

Since I bought those, I've also been back to visit MAC to pick up the Mineralize Skinfinish blush in Blonde - on launch day here in the UK! So excited! It's so so so pretty, you've basically got 4 pinks running through it from darker to light - the lighest one I'm tending to use as a highlight on the top of my cheekbones, and the darker side as the actual blush, it's actually really nice on top of my Chanel blush in number 18 Orchid Rose or on top of the Smashbox blush. This cost... £22 I think - maybe 50p less, but there abouts.

Then, today I had to pick up a new liquid eye liner as it seems my cat has hidden my Chanel one. And by that, I mean that I chucked the eyeliner on the bed, then went to pack it away later and it was gone. My cat is notorious for throwing things on the floor, then playing with them until they're hidden from hooman sight :) So, as I can't find it, I thought I'd grab the opportunity to try a new one, whoop! I picked up a L'Oreal Perfect Thin Super Liner in Intense Black, it has a foam applicator which I love love love! This takes me back to an old Max Factor one I used to use, so I was really happy with that. I applied it on top of the gel liner I was wearing when I got home and it's still going strong with no bleeding etc so I'm really happy with it. I think it was about £7-8, so watch this space for a proper review on it :)

That's it for now, thanks for reading :)

Here's the video

Pixi3

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