Sleek Pan Tao blush from the Avoir la peche collection

When I first saw the promo photos from this new Sleek collection I knew that the Pan Tao blusher simply had to be mine. I mean look how bright and peachy it is. Love at first sight. I had originally bought the ASOS Groupon voucher with the intention to buy Gina by Nars but it's not on there, however I'm not too miffed coz Pan Tao looks very similar (to me anyway) and is like £15 cheaper!

It's a very orangey peach. It actually swatches a lot brighter than it appears in the pan and you really need a light hand when applying. I have to say that I found it chalkier than my other Sleek blushes.

Getting my hands on this turned out to be a mission. I went to Superdrug a total of SIX times, the one near work and the one near my house, last Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. The collection officially came out on the 16th but the displays were up with the testers however only the palettes were in stock. In both stores I was told that the blushers and lip pouts hadn't been delivered yet. FAIL.

On Friday I sent the Mr to the Superdrug near his workplace with very detailed instructions. He is completely and utterly clueless when it comes to makeup. I even had to tell him that eye shadow goes on your eye lids...

I mean they're pretty clear right? (Note how I explained what blusher is) Yet he still had to ask a sales assistant for help haha.

I love this colour and will be buying another one as a back up if I can ever find it...

Btw I had to redraw the winner for my Avene Giveaway as the original winner never contacted me and it's been over a month. Congratulations to Ellie! xx

Make Up For Ever HD Blush

These HD blushes have been around for a while and I kept reading about how great and pigmented they were etc which only made me want them more. I managed to pick Star Struck (#14) and Quickie (#6) from a blog sale.

Unfortunately Star Struck (on the left) has dried up considerably making it a chore to blend and it barely shows up. Quickie on the other hand is a gorgeous coral pink which blends to a powder finish. This is unlike any other cream blush I've used before as it has immense staying power. The swatches on my arm didn't budge for hours. I used my fingers to apply but I think a small stippling brush would work better in evenly distributing the colour.

If you didn't already know, MUFE isn't readily available in the UK and this blush will set you back £24.75 (inc £3 shipping) from Guru Makeup Emporium. I think that's expensive for 10ml, even if you only need to use a little bit because who knows how long it would last before totally drying out? Anyway there's no way I would ever pay full price for these, I'll stick to blog sales thanks!

Have you tried any HD blushes? What did you think?

E.L.F Mineral Blush in Plum

"Create a subtle color definition to your cheeks that will add radiance and a glow, for a healthy look you can see. All our blushes are 100% mineral based with no parabens, no preservatives and no chemical dyes"

Although I have about 15 blushes, I couldn't resist adding this to my basket when I was buying some new brushes. There were only 7 colours to choose from so I opted for "Plum". I had recently swatched a Bobbi Brown shimmer blush in "Plum Wine" and fell in love but at £16.50 I talked myself out of it. I was hoping this E.L.F one might be a cheaper alternative.

It turned out to be nothing alike but I really like it. To be honest it's a bit of a faff applying it. You have to tap out the loose powder in the lid, swirl your brush in and apply - not something you can really do on the go. I wouldn't carry this in my makeup bag anyway. I just know it would come loose and end up everywhere!

Looks more pink than mauve but nevertheless a lovely and flattering colour.

Sorry my camera is pants, can't see much of the colour here but it's matte and you don't need to apply much. I find that it doesn't last long but maybe it's because I apply it straight onto my skin (no base)? At £3.50 for 3.4g, this is great value and next time I'm getting the shimmery "Peachy".

Have you tried any E.L.F mineral blushes?

Illamasqua Powder Blusher in "Excite"

I've been coveting some Illamasqua blushes for quite a while, but at £16 each I was a bit hesistant. I'm glad I bided my time, as I managed to get this from the lovely Karleigh in a recent blog sale.



Described as "vivid apricot", this matte colour looks really orange and scary in the pan but the trick (as with any highly pigmented product) is to build up the colour in layers.



On my skin it's not as loud and far more muted. In terms of longevity I don't think it's superior to any other brand (high end or otherwise)- every blush I wear disappears after a few hours on me anyway. However I do adore this, especially the packaging which is a bit chunky but swish! I can't seem to get enough of colours such as Excite.

Do you have any Illamasqua blushes you can reccommend? Although I think I want them all!

Mac Fabulous Felines: Utterly Game Mineralize Blush

I don't really get carried away with new Mac collections but after seeing this on Temptalia it had to be mine. It's a beautiful peach/coral colour and I think my photos speak for themselves. I can't see myself tiring of this anytime soon.

 

I don't need it but I WANT it!

 Image: Sephora

Givenchy Le Prisme Blush in Blooming is oh so pretty and I must have it in my life. Has anyone got a spare £33 lying around?

Monthly Favourites: July 2010

 I know we are halfway through August but better late than never!

1. Aussie Dual Personality Heat Protection and Leave in Spray - Rolling over from last month, I am still loving this product, especially as my hair is really dry and damaged at the moment. I often spritz this onto my hair when I feel that it could do with a bit of moisture and it does a great job without feeling sticky or greasy.

2. Cutex Moisture Guard Nail polish Remover - Nothing outstanding but it does what it says and does it really well. The big plus is that it doesn't have a strong chemical smell, so I can use this with ease without the fear of passing out from fumes (as is the case with most other removers).

3. Vaseline Sheer Infusion Mineral Renewal Body Lotion - Bought this on offer and it isn't like anything I've used before. It has an almost gel like consistency but is really moisturising (without feeling sticky) and smells so good. It also claims to contain "enriching minerals like those found in healthy skin" but to be honest I don't really know much about that...

4. Coconut Oil - I've already done an entire post on this but also wanted to add it here as I've been using it every day! My ends are really dry despite using an intensive conditioner, so I try to lock in moisture and keep them in good condition by rubbing in a pea sized amount.

5&6. Mac Mineralize Blushes in Warm Soul and Dainty - I'm not really wearing any makeup at the moment but can't get enough of blushes. These are great in summer as the shimmer really reflects in the sunshine (when it decides to make an appearance).

Benefit Coralista and some pondering

My sister recently went to an in store Benefit event and to my delight, came home with a little bag of purchases. Finally, a chance to steal and play with her makeup as she does to me!

I was really keen to try the much talked about Coralista and began swatching and applying away. And what did I think? Not worth the hype and slightly disappointing. It took a few layers to get it to show up on my cheeks and even though I love coral blushes, this one is just "meh". The colour looks alright but it isn't anything special.

The sheer colour and the amount of shimmer reminded me of Nars Orgasm which is pinkier but much preferred. Even in terms of quality you can see that Coralista is slightly chalky. The packaging may be cute but it's impractical - the dinky box would take up half of my makeup bag. And at £23.50? Pah, I would rather spend £19.50 on a sleek, and highly pigmented Nars blush (which has a mirror and would slot neatly into my bag!).

Moving onto Dr Feelgood - "a velvety comlexion balm". Apparently it is an "invisible refiner, blended with Vitamin C to smooth away the appearance of fine lines while leaving skin feeling and looking more silky, flawless and matte to the touch. It is a colourless, weightless miracle worker".

It came with a smooth sponge puff which I used to apply to my skin but I didn't see any change. It just seems like a gimmick. Looking at the ingredients, the main one is modified corn starch along with wax, parfum and other complicated sounding ingredients that need to be googled. Why not just buy some loose/blotting powder? I don't get it.

This made me think about Benefit cosmetics in general so I compiled a list and my thoughts on all the products I've tried:

• Erase Paste - Loved this at first but then I discovered Mac select moisturecover which rendered this obsolete. I don't like the way it looks so obvious and it has been rotting in my makeup drawer for the past year.
• Posietint - Doesn't really show up on my skintone and there are many other cheaper dupes.
• Highbeam - Really liked the trial version but I wouldn't buy the full sized product. Especially after realising the iridescent white eyeshadow from my Ben Nye palette was better.
• PowderPop trio - Colours are okay but I never reach for it.
• Badgal Lash Mascara - This mascara was too natural for me and didn't enhance my lashes in any way.
• The Glamour Freebies - Badgal eyeliner pencil was absolute rubbish. Not pigmented at all so it made lining my eyes difficult. Rubbed off so easily as well. Eye Bright didn't do anything and I have no idea why I bought the It concealer stick which was aout 4 shades too light.
• Big Beautiful Eyes kit - Already did a review about how it did not work for me.

With the exception of their creaseless cream eye shadows, I don't rate any of their products at all and feel that they don't work for me and my skin tone (or any darker skintones). I think it's really overpriced and that I'm actually paying for the cute, retro and sometimes impractical packaging (which suckered me in, in the first place!). Obviously this is my own personal opinion based on my own personal experiences with the brand. I know there are many others who swear by many of the products I disliked. I just wanted to share my thoughts.

Mac Mineralize blush in Dainty

The only items of makeup I seem to buy these days are blushes. I can't get enough of them and this is my most recent purchase.

Mac mineralize blush in Dainty.

When I first got it I couldn't stop cooing (like a loser) over how pretty it is.

A light pink with sheer golden shimmer (which doesn't show up here does it?). It's very sheer and the colour has to be built up but I think it's a great colour for summer. I  like wearing it to work with simple winged black eyeliner and mascara.

Are there any other Mineralize blushes you would recommend? (I already have Warm Soul). What's your favourite blush at the moment?

Oops (I did it again)

I was in Westfield the other day waiting for my sister to finish work and I found myself gravitating towards Inglot - it's so sleek, colourful and inviting. I've seen many other bloggers rave about Inglot and I was keen to have a look for myself. I went straight towards the blushes and started swatching away to my heart's content and to the annoyance of one of the SA's who seemed irritated that I didn't need his help :\

I ended up buying these two blushes - one powder in shade #30 and one liquid/cream in #86.

Now the title of this post is in reference to the fact that my reasoning for buying the powder blush was "Wow I love this colour and I know I don't have anything else like it". Then I came home and realised this could almost be a dupe for the Coral blush by Sleek I already own. I do this all the time with nail polishes and end up buying around 5 in the same colour pink. I think it's a disease!

They look REALLY similar to me but perhaps the Inglot blush is more pink? Sometimes I can't tell the difference. However I suppose all is not lost as I find the Inglot blush easier to work with and lasts a lot longer than my Sleek one.

And onto the disappointment that is the liquid blush........

I love the colour but the formulation has really let me down - it took 4 pumps to get this colour and I had to wait for each layer to dry before applying the next.

As you can see it's a bit watery, so the colour doesn't show up when I apply it to my cheeks and it doesn't *set*. Considering I paid £10 for this I am really annoyed and expected much better. I am going to see if I can thicken it by leaving it in the sun because shaking it 100x doesn't seem to make any difference!

Has anyone else had this problem?

More Sleek Blusher Love

If you are a regular reader of this blog then you know how much I love Sleek products, especially their blushers. I promised I would complete my collection and I am almost there! The two above are Flamingo on the left and Sahara on the right.

Sahara is a matte brick brown/orangey colour which gives my cheeks a really nice natural glow. Flamingo is a  hot pink with subtle shimmer - you only need a tiny bit of this as it's so bright.

I now own 4 out of their 5 blushers and all I need is Pixie Pink!

Sleek blushers are £3.29 and can be bought on their website.

MAC Ripe Peach Blush Ombre

I have never bought anything from any of the collections that MAC release throughout the year because I know I don't need any of it. However after seeing the swatches of the new Spring Colour Forecast collection on Temptalia, some kind of madness came over me and I became besotted with the blush ombres - especially Ripe Peach.

I love the gradient!

From L=R: the coral, the peach and swirled together.

The colour is from the Coral line and it is a peach with a pink/peach coral. It also has a very subtle gold shimmer which doesn't pick up in my natural light photos but can be seen above with flash. The colours swirled together produce a beautiful coral which was unfortunately washed out by my flash. For much better swatches, see Temptalia.

I was slightly disappointed by the pigmentation of Ripe Peach because I found it to be a little bit chalky (probably as the main ingredient is talc; see a complete list here) . I also found that it needs several applications to build the colour up. I wore this to work yesterday and by lunchtime it hasd disappeared so it does need to be reapplied throughout the day. Despite this, I still love it because the colour is gorgeous!

Next on my wish list is the Azalea Blossom blush ombre....

Review: Barry M Blusher in Raspberry

I was excited when I heard Barry M were bringing out a range of blushers because I knew the colours would be fantastic and I was not disappointed.

I have so many blushers so I resisted Raspberry's charms at first but it was futile. I fell in love after a good swatching session in Superdrug one dark and dreary December afternoon.

I'm not so crazy about the packaging - it looks cheap, plastic and tacky, but I do love the colour payoff.

(I wouldn't necessarily wear the blusher as heavy as it is in the swatches)

It is marketed as a sheer blusher but I disagree as it's so easy to over apply - you only need a small dab and you have to blend LOTS to avoid looking like a clown. The upside of this is that it lasts for ages! I've also managed to successfully use this as an eyeshadow.

It also says on the website that the blushers "contain the anti-oxidant Vitamin E to protect and condition the skin and keep it smooth and supple." Though I can't say that I've noticed any difference in my skin in regards to that.....

At £4.50 for 7g, I think it's a bit pricey compared to Sleek blushers which are £3.29 for 8g (and their packaging is far nicer). I don't think I would repurchase this colour again but I would like to try out their more muted colours like Rose and Teracotta.

Nars Orgasm

I finally managed to get my hands on the super famous Nars Orgasm blusher. The colour is a peachy pink with shimmer and this made it hard to photograph as the colour varies in different light.

The photo on the left was taken with my SLR whilst the one on the right was taken with a compact digital. Both were taken in natural light, at the same time. They look like two complete different blushers but I assure you it's the same one. I think the true representation would be a mixture of the two (if that's any help at all?).

Some close ups.

 

 It's so sheer that it doesn't show up much in natural light. In the flash photo you can see the shimmer reflecting in the light.

On days that I don't want to wear so much makeup, I wear Orgasm on it's own, and being sheer, I can build the colour up to my preference. Other times I wear this on top of another blusher (usually a coral one).

This is my first Nars product and I'm happy enough, but next time I would like to try other colours such as Mounia or Dolce Vita. I also think the £18.50 price tag is a bit steep so I'll be keeping my eyes peeled on ebay/blog sales.

Love love love Sleek blushers!

My most recent makeup purchases have been two blushers from the Sleek makeup range.  I can honestly say that Sleek is my favourite drugstore brand - every product I have tried of theirs has been outstanding and these are no exception.

The packaging is great and doesn't look cheap at all. It even has a real mirror, not those cheap plastic ones with a reflective coating (shame on you Benefit!).

The two that I picked up are Coral (with the fingernail dent) and Flushed.

There seems to be little difference between the colours in my natural daylight swatches but the ones with flash are a better representative of their true colours. You can't see from the photos but they both contain very fine shimmer which only show up when reflected by light. Flushed (on the left in the swatches) looks like a very dark berry colour in the pan but comes out sheer on the skin and is a lovely colour. Coral is my absolute favourite and I have been wearing this everyday. I have never owned a blush in this colour as most drugstore corals are too light and do not show up on my skintone (e.g  Revlon Hushed Blush). However Sleek products are formulated to compliment all skin tones and this one is highly pigmented and  gorgeous.

There are five colours in the range and no doubt I will be buying the other three to complete my set. The blushers are priced at £3.26 from Superdrug and there is no better time to purchase as they have a 3 for 2 promotion across all makeup lines!

Sample Sale: Markus Lupfer