Monday 29 October 2012

Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector

clarins

Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector
Rose Shimmer and Coral Shimmer
£16.00
Clarins

My cousin works in a Clarins beauty salon which stocks the whole Clarins line...heaven!
I popped along the other day for a loooovely facial and to get my brows tamed
I may be biased but it was actually the nicest facial I've ever had
I'd heard about these lip balms on various blogs before so was a little bit cheeky and used my cousins discount, but I couldn't just get the one I fell in love with both of the above shades.
The consistency is a cross between a lipgloss and a balm
It's moisturising but also glossy
And has the gorgeous toffee scent which everyone raves about
I love the smell, it's not overpowering of fake smelling like so many other sweet scents around
The colours are both very sheer but there is a hint of a rose tinted pink and coral shimmer left behind
They look gorgeous on top of a lipstick but also on their own
These have become a staple in my handbag since purchasing them and can tell it will be a very long love affair!

Have you tried any of the Clarins range?

Love
Belle
xoxo

Saturday 27 October 2012

Sleek Blush By 3 in 'Lace'

lace

Sleek Blush by 3 blusher trio 
Lace
£10.00

Recently I bought the blush by 3 in the shade Pumpkin and straight away knew I wanted to pick up the shade Lace as well
Unfortunately when I initially purchased it there was the Pumpkin palette in the Lace box... I only realised this when I got it home to take photos for the blog
I was pretty gutted as I couldn't wait to use it and put it on here
It took me around a week to manage to get back into Superdrug and get it swapped over
The customer sales assistant looked at me like I was some kind of criminal when I said I wanted to swap it as it was wrong, not exactly my fault the wrong product was in the box
Anyway... The shades are gorgeous and to me much more wearable than Pumpkin
I find bright blushers intimidating but these are easing me in gently, I guess the trick is a light hand which I'm now mastering
As the shades are all so pigmented you only need to swipe your brush on the surface lightly and you've got enough for your apples of your cheeks
It's easier to build up colour than to take it away after all

lace swatch

In the swatches I have heavily applied the shades on my arm
The first colour is a matte orange, normally this wouldn't get used but I find myself reaching for it on horrid, rainy mornings to add a bit of colour to my cheeks. Perks me up straight away
The middle colour is very similar to the Rose Gold shade which is deemed a dupe for Nars' infamous blusher Orgasm. I have Orgasm in my collection and will admit it's similar but not the same. Orgasm will forever be my favourite blusher but now I have something so similar I won't use it as much as I was...I don't have £20 to be spending on blushers on a regular basis after all!
The third colour is a lovely rich, coral. It seems darker than a traditional coral, even rose toned. It's a hybrid shade and again with a light hand this looks gorgeous 
I love this palette overall and think it's such good value for £10.00 you get three great shades

Have your tried the blush by 3 palettes?

Love
Belle
xoxo

Friday 26 October 2012

MUA Undressed Palette

mua

Undress Palette MUA
£4.00 from Superdrug
MUA is a fantastic British drugstore brand with all the products amazingly cheap but still great products
Being an eyeshadow fiend, especially nude colours, I was drawn to this palette instantly when seeing it all over beauty blogs but everytime I was in a Superdrug they always had no stock available. 
All the colours in the palette are dupes for the shadows in the Urban Decay Naked palette

swatchtop

Top Row swatches
The shimmer finish shadows are really well pigmented whereas the matte colours are a bit on the subtle side, luckily only two out of the twelve shadows are matte
The pigmentation is great considering the palette only costs £4

swatchbottom

Bottom Row Swatches
I kind of wish I'd waited for the inevitable dupe palettes to come out before buying the Urban Decay Naked palettes but then again it's nice to indulge in a bit of premium beauty sometimes...
I can definitely see this little wonder coming with me to New York next year, perfect shades for both daytime wear and evening 

Oh and if you have any recommendations for must sees in New York let me know!

Love
Belle
xoxo

Tuesday 23 October 2012

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable in Cherish and Darling

revlon

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain
£7.99 each
Top 'Cherish'
Bottom 'Darling' 

A few months ago I purchased this Revlon balm in Lovesick, a gorgeous, bright, fuchsia pink. It's a stunning colour but a bit bright for everyday wear, for me anyway I'm not one to embrace a bright lip on a daily basis..
I had been eying up the various colours Revlon have to offer for a while and finally decided to get some when Boots had their Autumn 3 for 2 on

lip

As you can see from the swatches both of these colours are pale and muted
They apply quite sheer but on my lips they give just enough colour to be noticeable 
I love the minty scent they have and that they tingle a little bit on application
Being a balm they are quite moisturising but not as much as other's on the market, al though with such good colour pay off it's not really an issue.

I love these balms along with Revlon's Lip Butters
There are a few more colours I'm eying up, Rendezvous which is more of an orange colour slightly out of my comfort zone but it looks too pretty to miss. And Honey which is a more nudey colour.

As I'm going to New York next year I've also had a look into what colours they have available over there. 
There seems to be a lot of products from high street brands we have that are only available in the USA so I'm excited to try some different things out.

Are there any products we can't get over here which your eager to try?

Love
Belle
xoxo

Sunday 21 October 2012

Korres Bargains at TK Maxx

korres

Jasmine Shower Gel ~ £3.99
Quince Body Lotion ~ £5.99
Guava Shower Gel ~ £3.99
All from TK Maxx

Since trying a few lip balms and body cream from Korres and loving them I've been dying to try some more goodies
I kept hearing how TK Maxx always have such beauty bargains so I thought I'd take a little looksy
Imagine how happy I was when I saw some Korres products tucked away in the disarray that is TK Maxx's beauty section
The shower gels retailed at £8 each and the body lotion at £12.50
They also smell gorgeous as you would expect from Korres products
I'm still working through my penultimate bottle of Snow Fairy from last year's stash but am so eager to try these out
After looking at the Korres website I think they may be having a label redesign or something so that could explain why TK Maxx have got stock now
I also picked up a pack of four nails inc polishes for £15 and seven color club polishes for £8
Rather happy with my bargains and can't wait to go back for another rummage

Have you stumbled across any bargains lately?

Love
Belle 
xoxo 

Thursday 18 October 2012

Spread your wings my little butterfly

IMG_2129
Black Shirt with Gold Collar Tips ~ Tesco
Black Vest ~ New Look
Leggings ~ Next
Nude Studded Pumps ~ River Island
Necklace ~ Coast
Handbag ~ Luella

Worn for my Mum's birthday meal out

When I saw this shirt in Tesco I had to take a double look
It's so on trend with the collar tips and dipped hem, which you can't really see here
I love it, in fact I wore it for a job interview recently as well
It was only £14 I think as well which is amazing!

Love
Belle
xoxo   

Tuesday 16 October 2012

Accessorize 'Damselfly' Nail Polish

accessorize damselfly

Accessorize Nail Polish in Damselfly
£3.45 from Superdrug

On a recent rummage in Superdrug I saw a few new nail polishes on the Accessorize stand
These instantly reminded me of the Nails Inc Sprinkles polishes which I loved but still haven't purchased...seeing these for so much cheaper makes me think I don't need to though
This specific shade is pretty much exactly the same as the Pudding Lane shade
It's a gorgeous light blue, turquoise base with glitter suspended throughout the polish
It lasts so well and I've had so many compliments on it

accessorize damselfly swatch

I'll definitely be picking up the other shades, they are gorgeous!
I can't find anything on either the Accessorize or Superdrug websites about these new polishes so don't know what other shades are around..just have to keep hunting

Love
Belle
xoxo

Saturday 13 October 2012

Soap and Glory Kick Ass Concelaer

kick ass con

Soap and Glory Kick Ass Concealer
Three part Concealer Kit
£10.00 Boots

'Soap & Glory™ Kick Ass™ Concealer is a three - piece flaw camouflaging kit that includes an amazing undereye brightening concealer, an 'on the spot' as-you-need-it complexion concealer, and a weightless transparent setting powder.'


I'm a sucker for cute packaging, as are a lot of people.
Soap and Glory has the cutest packaging on the drugstore market
It's mixture of retro with a simple colour pallet of pinks, gold, black and white is used throughout the range
I like the consistency this gives the range, I'm a geek with colour consistency but it bugs me if products don't match in the range.

concealer

The product itself is a three piece little concealer kit
Including two cream based products and one powder based
As you open the pot you flip up the top powder layer to get to steps 1 and 2 
The left hand side being step 1 and right hand side being step 2
I've got the kit in shade light as I'm super pale
The cream products have such a smooth consistency and they blend into the skin so effortlessly
Some cream concealers I've tried have been so hard it's hard to even get product out of the container
If I'm in a rush I just use one side and it's fine and good to go
Other days when I want something to last indefinitely I'll use both creams
According to Soap and glory the pinky toned of the two is an eye brightening concealer with PUFFEASE-8 technology, it works really well under the eye area and does have a brightening effect
I don't suffer from puffiness though so I can't comment on that bit
The other half has SUPERWEAR lightscrambling on the spot technology
To me this just means it's got really good coverage which it does

con

The third stage is the powder to set the concealer
It can feel a bit backward to set the concealer before putting foundation on and then proceeding to set that too so I've tried a few things
Firstly I gave it a go setting before the foundation but found my foundation didn't like mixing with powder
Then I tried just doing the cream products then applying my foundation and setting it all with my normal powder, this worked well but I wasn't benefiting from the actual stage three powder
The process I like the most is to apply foundation, cream concealers, setting powder and the powder concealer on the areas needed.
The powder has an INSTA-FIX technology in it so like I said I wanted to benefit from the powder's ways and have my concealer not budge

I love this concealer and will definitely be repurchasing
I did get this free whilst Boots have their 3 for 2 Autumn offer on but £10.00 doesn't seem too much for a decent product when you look at high end products and how much a mediocre concealer costs
I recently wore this for a 12 hour day at my Grandad's funeral and it held up through lots of crying and tissue dabbing so to me it's a real winner

Have you tried any of the Soap and Glory Make up range?

Love
Belle
xoxo

Friday 12 October 2012

Look Make Me Blush in 'Flirt'

looks blusher pan

Look Blusher
Flirt
£8.00

I've wanted to pick up a product from the Look make up range for a while now after seeing it popping up on a few beauty blogs
My local Superdrug has recently had a makeover and now stocks the range, whoop
I behaved myself and only bought the one blusher but was eying up a few lipsticks
The whole range wasn't out yet though so I couldn't have a proper swatching session
I chose the colour Flirt which is a stunning corally pink
It looks quite bright and intimidating in the pan but is gorgeous on
The shade is buildable so your able to sheer it out for a more subtle wash of colour or layer it up for a punch of coral

look blusher swatch

As you can see in the swatch above there is a slight shimmer/glitter in this shade
It's a shimmer finish rather than matte
The glitter does translate onto the skin but it isn't in your face
Just a subtle shimmer
Over the course of the day this glitter disappears but the colour stays strong

Have you tried anything from the Look range?

Love
Belle
xoxo

Wednesday 10 October 2012

I can see the pain behind your eyes, it's been there for quite a while

IMG_2138
Lace Blouse ~ Next
Nude Vest ~ New Look
Dark Skinny Jeans ~ New Look
Black Suede Heels ~ Next
Handbag ~ Luella

I wore this for a recent meal out with a few girlfriends.
I felt really comfortable which makes a change as I usually feel a bit bleb and don't go out much (loser I know).
These long vests from New Look are brilliant, their only £6 and go so well under sheer tops, short jumpers or just on their own. I've stocked up, can never find nice, fitted, long vests.

Love
Belle
xoxo

Sunday 7 October 2012

Next Banana Pumps

nude pumps

Nude Sequinned Banana Heeled Pumps
Next
£38

nude pump

I caved... and I love them
However they kill my feet
Most definitely a sit down dinner kind of shoe
But they are simply gorgeous!
The nude suede makes legs seem that little bit longer, not quite as effective as the nude patent loubs I've got my eye on though
And that little bit of sequinning on the toe bit is just enough to not be tacky but to still add that little something to the shoe
I've worn them for a few drinks but the 10 minute walk to the pub and back was pretty much agony, more so on the way back 
I'll just wear them in ;)

Love
Belle
xoxo

Thursday 4 October 2012

Sleek Blush by 3 in 'Pumpkin'

blush by three

Blush by 3 Blusher Palette
in 'Pumpkin'
Sleek ~ £10.00

(L-R) P Pie, Squash, Lantern
The colours and names of the three blushers seem so apt for this time of year
I love autumn and all the colours and textures associated with it
In all honesty I meant to pick up the 'Lace' version of this compact and may have to return and purchase it
Three blushers for £10.00 is a bargain in my eyes, around £3.33 for each shade and they are all full sized

blush by 3 swatches

Same order as in pan
As with all Sleek products all three blushers are highly pigmented and you don't need much to achieve a good colour
I'm very heavy handed when it comes to applying blusher so use a very very light hand when applying these
I've never used an orange blusher and have to say find it quite intimidating in the pan
'P Pie' is my favourite of the three colours, it's coral in tone and I love corals
My blusher collection is brimming with corals but I stand by the fact they are all slightly different :P

Love
Belle
xoxo