Real Techniques Brush

After hearing such good reviews on the Real Techniques brushes I thought I would give them ago myself. The first one I thought I would try is the Strippling Brush.

I kinda got this for free really as I had enough Boots points on my card to buy it so it made my day. :)

I have been using the brush for about 2 weeks and all I can say is WOW. My foundation looks sooo much better. Compared to my other foundation brush I was using, this takes half the time to apply and the results are amazing.

I've been using the Real Technique brush to apply my Estee Lauder Double wear foundation. I've found that you only need to dab the brush into the foundation abit as a little goes a long way. The brush holds the foundation really well and you can apply the foundation to your whole face without having to keep on dapping your brush into the foundation to pick up any more. When I have used a traditional foundation brush, I usually find myself having to dip the brush back into the foundation as the brush seems to soak up all the liquid and isn't able to apply to in one go.

What I also think is great about this brush is that its really lightweight. Compared to the Sigma Flat Kabuki F80 Brush this is soo much lighter. While I liked the Sigma brush, my hand used to ache after I had applied my foundation. I found it too heavy. What also makes it a cut above the rest is that the bristles are not that long when compared to other Stippling brushes. By having shorter bristles you can really buff in the foundation, powder etc, where as when the bristles are longer your can't really blend and buff at all with it and the results aren't half as good.

This brush is just sooo brilliant. If you haven't got one then you need one in your life!!!

You can buy them from Boots.com and in Boots stores for £11.99 or from www.cocktailcosmetics.co.uk


I'm now tempted to try the other Real Techniques brushes after having such good results with this one. Can anyone recommend what my next Real Techniques brush purchase should be? :) xx

Maybelline - Color Tattoo 24th

If your like me, I have always struggled to get my eyeshadow to last all day. Even if I use eye primer it never lasts. I can put it on in the morning and by lunchtime it has disappeared :(

I was very excited when I heard that Maybelline have release an  eyeshadow that claims to last all day. Unfortunately, every time i popped into the Superdrug and Boots near me they never seemed to have any in. All they had were testers. I popped into Boots on Saturday and to my amazement they had afew on the stand. I dashed over and grabbed the two colours that were available.

35 - On and on Bronze on the left and 05 - Eternal Gold on the right.


I have to say, when brands claim that "its lasts all day" I'm quite sceptical. But this does exactly what it says on the tin.

This has amazing staying power. I applied the 05 Eternal Gold shade in store to test and 8hrs later it was still on my eyelids. It looked like I had just applied it. Very impressed!!

I am now hoping that the Boots and Superdrug stores get some more colours in as I really want to try the other colours that are available.

What do you think of these new eyeshadow? Have you tried them? If you have what did you think? :)xx

Beauty Box - Update

Hey,
You remember last month I was thinking about subscribing to a monthly beauty box. I was having trouble deciding between two. There were the Glossybox and Carmine Beauty Box. Well at long last I have finally made up my mind. And the winner is......

Hopefully in the next few days I should receive my Glossybox. I cant wait!!! Keep a look out for my reviews on the products I received :) xx

Shopping In Leeds

Hey,

On Friday I managed to get the day off work and decided to go for a shopping trip to Leeds with my sister. The main reason for going is because I wanted to get my hands on the MAC MSF Natural powder. We don't have a MAC counter in York so as soon as we arrived in Leeds I headed straight to the Harvey Nic's  store. Unfortunately, when I got to the MAC counter and picked the shade I wanted I was told it was out of stock!! :( I think I will have to order it on-line.

Fortunately the trip wasn't a wasted journey. I did manage to pick up afew things. From Primark I got these lovely blouses for £8 each. I couldn't decide between the two colours so I got both! I already have this scarf in a black and peachy colour but I  loved the style in this colour so it went straight in my basket. £3

From New Look I got these great Toms style pumps. At £6.99 I thought they were a great price and their sooooo comfy.  

The best thing about the trip was I managed to get my hands on the Sleek blusher in Rose Gold!! I have wanted this colour for ages and everytime I had gone into my local Superdrug it was always out of stock. When I popped into the Superdrug in Leeds I noticed the SA filling up the Sleek stand. I must have pushed past people to see if there was any Rose Gold blusher and there was!!! I have a feeling this could be my new favourite blusher! :) xx

Estee Lauder Bonus Time

Somehow I always manage to time it well with me running out of my beloved Estee Lauder Double Wear foundation and a bonus time event.

This time it was Debenhams turn for the bonus time. There were two gift options to choose from. A make-up based gift and a skin care gift. I decided to go for the skin care gift set.

What was included in the set;

• Perfectly Clean Splash Away Foaming Cleanser
• Perfectly Clean Fresh Balancing Exfoliator
• Idealist Even Skintone Illuminator
• Daywear Advanced Multi-Protection Anit-Oxidant Creme SPF 15
• Advanced Night Repair Eye
• Pure Colour Long Lasting Lipstick
• Sumptuous Bold Volume Lifting Mascara
• Cosmetic Bag

Of course I picked up another bottle of the Double Wear foundation in Fresco. I have mentioned before how much I love this foundation so I won't go on again about it.

Now this is where the hard part comes. I can never decide what my second purchase should be to get the lovely gift set. I didn't know if i should get another foundation, concealer, blusher or lipstick. Unfortunately, there wasn't a proper SA on the counter so i decided to play it safe and picked a concealer brush.

What really made me fall in love with this gift set was a sample bottle of the Idealist Even Skintone Illuminator. I was so excited. I have wanted to try this for ages but as the bottle ranges from £46.00 - £62.00 it was abit out of my price range. Keep a look out for a review of this soon as I will be definitely trying this!!

What do you think of this gift set? What would have been your two purchases? Let me know :) xx

Help!!!

For my birthday two months ago my kind sister got my £25 worth of River Island vouchers. The problem i am finding is what do i spend the vouchers on!!! When I think i've decided i change my mind. There's just so much i want.

After looking on the website I have managed to cut it down to 7 items.

Which one of these items do you think I should get? Or have you seen anything else in River Island that you would spend the vouchers on. Let me know :) xx

Beauty Haul

Today I thought I would treat myself to afew treats from Boots and Superdrug.

From Superdrug I picked up;

MUA Eyeshadow Palette in Heaven and Earth - £3.00 - I have been wanting this palette for ages but everytime I popped into Superdrug they were either sold out of the few they had in were all open and had been tested :( So i when I was in there today and saw they had some on the shelf, unopened I popped one straight into my basket. It also had a pound off so I was even more happy. I have bought other eye shadows from the MUA range and think their great so I can't wait to try these.

MUA Lipstick Shade 3 - £1.00 - I've always been tempted to try the lipsticks from this range and after reading good reviews from other bloggers I thought I would give one a go. I love all the pinky/red shades that they do and at £1 I think these are a great bargain. I will be trying this for the next week and if its a winner I will be definitely be going back to get some more. 

Sleek Blush in Sunrise - £4.29 - I currently use the Sleek Blush in Pomegranate and I love it. It definitely my favourite blush ever!! I thought I would try out another shade as I feel I needed abit of a change. The Sunrise shade is a lovely bronzey colour so should give me a nice bronze glow. Could this be my new favourite blusher??

Nivea Creme - £1 - This is currently on offer in Superdrug so I thought i would stock up as I'm running low on my current pot. I absolutely love this creme. I have mention in a previous post that this is my life saver moisturiser when I find I have dry skin. Pop abit of the moisturiser onto the dry skin and watch it disappear. I always carry a little pot with my just in case. I will never be without this!!!

Neutrogena Visible Clear Pink Grapefruit Cream Wash - £2.99 - Again another bargain i picked up in Superdrug as its currently on offer. I sometimes use the Facial Wash from the Pink Grapefruit range but because recently my skin has been awful i thought I would give this a go instead to see if it improve my skin. 

From Boots I picked up;

Real Techniques Stippling Brush - £11.99 - Im sure I don't have to talk about this product much as you've probably read all the amazing reviews on other blogs. I had £14 on my Boots card so I thought I would treat myself to this brush. Really can't wait to try this out. I use the Sigma F80 brush and alot of people have said how they would choose the Real Techniques brush over this one. Will I be a converter too? Keep a look out  for my review of this brush soon!! 

Have you tried any of my beauty haul products? What have you thought of them? Let me know :) xx