MUA LUXE Velvet Matte Lipstick Review & Swatches

Today's review is going to be of the newly released Velvet Matte Lipsticks by the MUA LUXE range. I saw these new lipsticks recently on the Superdrug website, and for a bargain price of only £3 each, I thought it was worth buying one to try out. 

In the past I've tried the Velvet Matte Lip Lacquers, which are amazing! So I was hoping for good things from these new lipsticks too!

First off, the packaging of the lipstick is beautiful! It looks high end, and has nice weight to it too. I did notice that my lipstick was a little bit stubborn to open and shut, but that may be just an issue with the lipstick I got.

The actual lipstick bullet has a pretty design on it, but it is quite thin so it does feel like the lipstick could easily snap. The shade I got was 11, which is a pretty peachy nude colour. I was impressed with the shade range available, as there were a lot of shades to choose from, and all seemed to be really lovely colours.

When I swatched the product, the first thing I noticed was that the consistency of the application was VERY matte. When I think of a 'velvet matte' lipstick, I think of it being not fully matte, and having a little bit of moisture to it. But this finish is a very drying matte finish, and it makes the product difficult to apply. I did notice that the lipstick bunched up in certain areas, probably because it was so matte.

On the lips the colour looks very pretty. But you can see that the finish is very drying, and the product settles into every line on your lips. You also have to apply two layers to get a good finish. The lipstick didn't feel too bad to wear. It definitely felt dry, but it had a smooth, lightweight feel to it. 

It did seem to last really well on the lips, which I was surprised about.
Overall I don't think I will be buying anymore of these lipsticks. First impressions of it have not been good, and it's put me off wanting to try anymore. Of course it may just be this colour in particular that is not that great in formula. But I would be interested to know if anyone has tried any other shades of these and what they think of them?

Check out these lipsticks on the MUA website - https://www.muastore.co.uk/makeup/lip-makeup/lipstick-113/mualuxe-velvet-matte-lipstick

Tanya Burr My Escape Eyeshadow Palette Review & Swatches

Today I am going to be reviewing and swatching Tanya Burr's 'My Escape' eyeshadow palette. In the past I've tried a few of Tanya's products, but I've never tried her eyeshadow's before, so I was excited to see what they were like!

The palette retails for £5.99, so is very affordable. The packaging is a little bit chunky, but still very pretty. Inside there is a heart shaped mirror, and you get 4 eyeshadows. I was very excited to try these out as I've heard great things about Tanya's eyeshadows, and also I had seen Pixiwoo do a look using this palette on Youtube - which looked amazing!

The colours in the palette are really pretty. The top 2 colours are shimmers, and the bottom 2 are mattes. I do feel like the 2 matte shades are quite similar, and it doesn't really warrant having both in the palette.

When I swatched the colours, they felt very buttery. But, upon application on the skin, they lacked pigment hugely! When you apply the colours onto the eyes, they are even worse. You really have to build up the layers to get the colours to show up. In the picture below, I applied 3 layers of the green shade (wild jungle) all over the lid. With one layer you could barely see it at all. But even after 3 layers I don't feel like the colour really shows up that well.

I used the matte shades throughout the crease, and they seemed to work a little bit better. But they were a little difficult to blend. The lightest shade (new perspective) was again a colour you needed to build up. I used that one on the inner corners and to highlight the brow bone. 

Overall I think this palette is a huge dissapointment and I would not recommend it. It doesn't put me off trying any of Tanya's other eyeshadow palettes, as I've heard the others are great. This one however, lacks pigment and is not easy to work with.

Have you tried this palette? If so, let me know what you think!

Check out Tanya's products on the Superdrug website - http://www.superdrug.com/microsite/tanya-burr

Jeffree Star Summer Chrome Collection! - Crystal Ball Skin Frost Review & Swatches

This year has already seen many amazing trends within the makeup world. One of my favourites has to be the trend of duochrome! Of course if you've seen my last 2 posts then you will already know that!

Needless to say, I was VERY excited when I heard the news of Jeffree Star bringing out a limited edition summer collection of makeup products, entitled the 'summer chrome collection'. Now I am a massive fan of Jeffree Star, and I already own a few of his products which I think are fantastic, so I was excited to see what was on offer in this collection.

There are a great selection of products in this Summer chrome collection, which includes lipsticks, liquid lipsticks, lip scrubs, and highlighters. In the UK you can buy Jeffree's products from Beautybay - http://www.beautybay.com/jeffreestarcosmetics/

Jeffree had done a reveal video on his youtube channel, along with swatches of the new products to be released. I made a little list, but unfortunately could only afford to realistically buy one thing from the collection (damn you mortgage saving fund!!).

I ordered myself one of the Skin Frost highlighters, which was the shade 'Crystal Ball'. It looked amazing being swatched on Jeffree's video, so I knew that was the one for me! The highlighter itself was £25.50, which in my opinion is quite expensive, but with the skin frosts you do get a lot of product!

Firstly I want to applaud Jeffree on his packaging, because not only the actual compact, but also the box it came in is stunning! Its almost like a pink mirrored affect, similar to the Sleek highlighting palettes.

On the inside of the compact you have a good sized mirror, and the usual Jeffree Star logo embossed into the powder. For those of you who have never seen a skin frost highlighter before, let me tell you, they are big! You get a lot of product, and usually a little does go a long way. In terms of grams, you get 15g of product!

The colour of the product is described as being an 'icy white duochrome with a pink shift'.

When I first started to swatch the product, I noticed that the consistency of the powder felt a lot different to one of the skin frost's that I already have. It was much more of drier formula. But that's ok, because of course it is a different finish to the standard skin frost highlighters. However when I proceeded to swatch the product on my arm, I noticed that it wasn't swatching as smoothly as I'd expected. It also was not as blinding as I'd expected either! It almost seemed like the product was bunching up in certain areas on the skin, and you really had to smooth it out to get it to look nice. There was also a lot of kick up when you start to apply the product using a brush.

On the skin the powder does look really pretty, and there is definitely a pink duochrome to it. Although I feel the pink doesn't come through as much as i'd like, you can still see it when shifting the product in the light. I do feel like you do have to work with this powder, as a lot of the pigment does seem to stick to certain places, so blending is needed. 

I do like how the product looks though, it's more of a subtle highlight in my opinion. Do I think it's worth the £25.50 I paid for it?? Absolutely not. It's not an extremely awful product, however I don't think it's as fantastic as it was made out to be. 

I would be happy to try out more products from this collection, especially some of the liquid lipsticks!

Let me know if you've tried this product out and what you think!

Kat Von D Alchemist Holographic Palette Review & Swatches

Another day, another holographic palette. I am so in love with the latest trend of holographic makeup. Whether it be eyeshadows or highlighters, I'm just into it all!

If you haven't seen my last post, I reviewed the new holographic highlighting palette from Sleek, but today I am going to be reviewing the Alchemist holographic palette from Kat Von D!

I have been a huge fan of Kat Von D for a long time, and more so of her amazing makeup brand, which we can get here in the UK from Debenhams - http://www.debenhams.com/

When I heard about her holographic palette, I was very excited. Originally the palette was an exclusive only for Sephora, so when it came out in Debenhams, I snatched it up straight away. The palette is limited edition, and retails for £22.50 in the UK, and I am unsure how long it will be available for. It contains 4 holographic shades, which can be used as lip toppers, eyeshadow, or highlight.

The packaging of the palette is just beautifully designed. As with so many of Kat's products, she designs the packaging herself and puts so much time and effort into it.
One thing I was quite surprised about, was how small the palette actually is. In size comparison, it is slightly smaller than my hand, and the size of the pans within the palette are an average eyeshadow pan size.

I do have to say that I was originally put off by the size, as I felt like the price was quite high for the amount of product that you get. But upon trying the shades out, I do now think the price is reasonable for the quality of the powders, and also how little amount of product that you actually need to use.

Shades shown left - right: Emerald, Saphyre, Amethyst, Opal.

The powders swatch beautifully, and as you can see from the pictures, are very pigmented! They pick up a lot of pigment, so you really only need a tiny amount as a little goes a long way. They also feel very creamy, and blend really well.

I feel like the colours in the palette are very versatile, so look lovely as a highlight, as well as a eyeshadow. 

Overall I think the palette is a great purchase. If you like holographic shades that whack a punch, then I think this is a palette well worth adding to your makeup collection!

Sleek Distorted Dreams Highlighting Palette Review & Swatches

Hello all!

I make my return back to blogging with a post about a highly anticipated new highlighting palette from the brand Sleek.
Sleek is a UK brand, which can be found in Boot's and Superdrug. They also have a website as well, which they do ship internationally from - http://www.sleekmakeup.com/uk
The brand used to be well known for their amazing eyeshadow palettes, but more so recently they have been putting out some amazing highlighting palettes, which has led to international success. Oh, and did I mention that their products are also affordable!

One of the brands most famous products is their Solstice highlighting palette, which has gained many fans around the world. If you like a blinding highlight, I would highly recommend that you check that one out!

Recently they jumped on the bandwagon with the new holographic trend that has been hugely popular over the last few months with different makeup brands. We've seen huge success with brands like Anastasia Beverly Hills releasing holographic highlighting palettes, so when I heard that Sleek was going to bring out their own holographic palette, needless to say I was very excited!

I was not the only one to be very excited, as many hoped for amazing things after the success of the Solstice palette.

The new palette is called 'Distorted Dreams', and retails for £10.99 in the UK. The palette has gorgeous outer packaging, a reflective silver design which can easily be used as a mirror! The palette does have a mirror inside, which I do have to say is probably one of the best mirrors to come in a palette that I've ever had!

There are 5 holographic shades in the palette, 2 powder and 3 cream. Upon first glances, the colours are very pretty. You get a pink and a gold shade in the powder finish. And for the cream you get a pink, blue, and green.

The palette just seemed like it was going to be perfect, but that was until I started swatching the products!

I first swatched the powders, which didn't seem to give off much pigment at all. You had to do a double swatch to get the colours to show up. The pink powder was definitely more worse than the gold, but both really were not spectacular at all.

The cream shades did seem to pick up more pigment, however you still need need to do a double swatch to get them the swatch nicely. The creams also felt very greasy in texture, and seem to slide around a lot. One thing I did notice with them, was that when you swatched them, they seemed like the creams contained a lot of chunky glittery pigment which nearly always stuck to one area when swatched.

The first two shades shown swatched are the powders, followed by the creams.

Of course I wanted to give the product a good chance, as sometimes when you swatch things, they can look completely different on the skin.
But even still, I found the products hard to work with on the face. The powders didn't show up, and the creams felt greasy and like they could easily move your foundation base.
The one way I did get to create a decent highlight was to layer a powder over the top of the cream highlights.

Overall I was very disappointed with this palette. I did expect so much more from it, especially after the Solstice palette which just slays everything!
It almost felt like Sleek rushed to create the palette, as the products themselves felt very poor in quality. 

For me, this is a palette that I will not be recommending.
Have you tried this palette yet? If so, let me know your thoughts!

December Birchbox 2016! What did I get?

So it's that time of the month for my Birchbox arrival! And I was extra excited for this months box as it is the December box, and I always feel like the December boxes are the best!

This months box was very sleek, with a different style of opening it compared to the usual boxes. I did feel like the box itself wasn't very christmassy, and I would of liked to have had some kind of Christmas design on the box.

Inside the box, you get your usual magazine that has all the info about your products in your box, as well as tips and tricks. The products themselves came in a cute little burgundy drawstring bag, which I liked a lot.

So now onto the products that I got!

                                   

                                   

In my box this month I got 5 products. The first item was this Fierce Flicks felt tip eyeliner from Ciate London. I was very excited to see this product in my box, not only because its a full size product, but also because I'm loving felt tip eyeliners at the moment. 
This eyeliner retails for £15, which is already worth more than the value of the whole box! This is why I love Birchbox, you get so much for your money!
The eyeliner swatches beautifully, and seems like it's going to be perfect for creating the ultimate sharp winged eyeliner! The felt tip feels sturdy, yet flexible, and isn't too thick either.

                                 

Next in my box I got the Percy & Reed Hair Wonder Balm, which is a 30ml sample size. This retails for £18 full sized, and is a multi use product that claims to moisturise, boost shine, smooths, softens, protects and speeds up styling of the hair. I haven't tried this product as of yet, but I am excited to see what it has to offer.

                                 

I got a skincare item from Dr Brandt, which is the PoreDermabrasion. This product claims to unclog pores, even out skin tone, and give your complexion a brighter finish. This is a little 0.25oz sample size, and retails for a whopping £43 full price!! I'm always interested in trying out new products to help with my pores, so I'm hoping this will be a winner.

                                  

                                  

One product that I was most excited to see was this sample of the Benefit Dew the Hoola. I've seen this product floating around on YouTube a lot over the past few months, and I'm intrigued to see if its worth the hype! This retails for £22.50 full price, and is a liquid version of the famous Hoola Bronzer. I own the powder Hoola bronzer and absolutley love it. Swatching this liquid version, I have to say I'm not so convinced so far. The colour does look very orange when swatched, despite the powder Hoola being more cool toned. However, for the summer it could be a great product to use.

The final product that I got in my box was the Caviar eyeshadow stick from Laura Mercier. This is in the shade Amethyst, and I absolutely adore this! This product retails for £22 full sized, and is a gorgeous bronzy, purple colour. I love cream eyeshadows as they are so easy to wear. This one feels buttery to apply, and the pigmentation is amazing. I know this is going to become a big favourite of mine, so I may have to buy the full size soon!

That is all of my goodies in my December Birchbox. I really love all the items that I got, although I do wish the box itself was a little bit more Christmassy! If you got a Birchbox this month, let me know what products you got and what you think of them!

Thank you for reading x

Ordering from Kylie Cosmetics? What's it like?

Kylie Cosmetics. Anyone who is into their makeup will have more than likely heard of the brand! Created by Kylie Jenner, this is her makeup brand which is famous for her matte liquid lipstick kits. 

Everyone has gone crazy for Kylie's products, with new releases and limited edition collections selling out in minutes! I too have been sucked into the hype surrounding her brand, and I've made a couple of orders to her website.
You can't really miss seeing just about everyone on Youtube using Kylie's products, so naturally I had to order myself some items to try. 

Since showing her products on my Youtube channel, I've had a lot of question about the order process for Kylie Cosmetics. Whether it be the customs charges you may encounter, down to the packaging that it arrives in. So, I wanted to dedicate a blog post to giving my experience from ordering from Kylie Cosmetics. I have also done a swatch/review video on my Youtube channel of all the products I currently own from the brand.

If you would like to see what products I own, go give my video a watch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07e34fHhLm8

                                    

So now onto what it is like to order from Kylie Cosmetics!

I have placed two orders directly from Kylie's website, which is the only legit place to get her products from. I did order one item from someone on Depop, but I did do my research into the seller, along with getting proof that the item was the real deal before I purchased it. Depop is a great place to get Kylie's products from, but you do have to be really careful as so many people sell fake products. I would personally recommend to order directly from Kylie's website - Kylie Cosmetics

What's it like ordering off the website?

The order process on the website is super easy! The only time I can imagine that it can be a little bit harder to order, is when they do new releases of products. There tends to be a mad rush and everything goes out of stock very quickly, and the website can sometimes crash. But on a normal day, it's super easy to choose your items and check out.

The shipping prices are a little bit pricey though. For domestic shipping, it's $8.95. And for international, it's $14.95. They do currently have a deal on the shipping where if you spend over $40, you get free domestic shipping, and $60 for international. I'm not sure if that deal if a permanent thing, or just for a selected time, but I think it's a great deal especially as it's quite easy to spend a lot on the Kylie website!

Check out is very easy and simple, you just fill in your address and bank details - then it's job done! Once your order has gone through, it will show a little map of where about's in the world your address is, which I liked because being an international customer, I wanted to make sure my address was spot on. You also get a confirmation email, and on both occasions that I've ordered, they dispatched my item within 3-5 days.

Once your items have been dispatched, you'll receive another email, and in the email there will be a tracking link so you can keep an eye on where your order has got to in the world! Both of my orders got to me very quickly in under two weeks, which I think is good coming from the US!

Customs charges

Living in the UK, when you order items in from another country, you can sometimes be charged a customs charge. On both occasions I ordered from the Kylie website, I was hit with a customs charge both times. I have heard that some people have managed to get away with not getting a customs charge when they should of been charged, however I'm not entirely sure why that was. 

A UK customs charge is split into three sections. Any items brought into the country over the value of £15, will get a VAT charge. Anything over the value of £135, will also encounter customs duty. Then there is Excise duty, which you do not need to worry about, as that is to do with importing cigarettes and alcohol (which I'm 100% sure Kylie Cosmetics do not stock, ha!). All you need to worry about for your Kylie order, is the VAT & customs duty charge. If you want more information about customs charges, then head to this website to get a better idea of what to expect - Customs charges

The general idea is that if you spend over £15, then just expect a customs charge.

The exact price you will be charged really does depend on how much you order. With your Kylie order, once it is in the UK, it will be delivered by Royal Mail. With any packages that have a customs charge on them, Royal Mail add on an £8 handling fee, which is what makes the entire customs charge so expensive. So not only will you potentially have to pay VAT & possibly customs duty, but you'll also have that £8 handling fee added in too.

To give you an example of what I have paid with my Kylie orders - 

The 1st order I made came to $44 in value, so in charge I had:

£6.79 VAT Charge

£8 Royal Mail handling fee

2nd Order was the value of $57:

£9.28 VAT Charge

£8 Royal Mail handling fee

That will hopefully give you an idea of what to expect with your customs charge (UK only).

So how do you pay your customs charge? Once Royal Mail have your item, you will receive a grey card in the post titled 'you have a fee to pay'. There will be a reference number and the value you need to pay. You can either pay your charge online on the royal mail website, or if you head to your local post office depot, you can pay there. I paid both my charges online which was very easy, and once the charge is paid you arrange for your item to be delivered to you. If you don't pay your customs charge, Royal Mail will send back the package to the sender after 21 days. But when you get your grey card in the post, that will have all the information you need on it to sort out paying your charge.

What will your items come packaged like?

All Kylie Cosmetic's orders come in a plain black box, and when opened it will look like the picture below.

The box it comes in is nice and sturdy, and your items will be wrapped in a foamy material to keep them safe in transit. I had ordered an eyeshadow palette on my 2nd order, and I was 100% sure it was going to turn up broken, BUT they packaged the box so well that the palette wouldn't even move! So I was very impressed with that.

I think that's everything I can cover for the process of ordering from the website. It can seem like a bit of a daunting thing, especially if you don't order products from international companies. But once you've done it once, its a piece of cake to do again. If you have any questions then feel free to leave me a comment.

Thanks for reading! xo