FENTY BEAUTY by Rihanna

By now everyone and their mama knows about Fenty Beauty. Hell, I blogged about the launch of their second collection last week. What I didn't/haven't done is to give my two cents on the products from the first launch. So here it goes.

Rihanna launched her first ever makeup brand on September 9th 2017 and I must say this was one of the most anticipated makeup launches ever! (well at least for me it was). The collection consists of a primer, foundation, highlighters, contours, brushes, blotting powder, blotting paper and a lip gloss. This collection isn't just one of the best makeup I've bought this year but one of the best makeup I own. The foundation is now my favourite and even though Trophy Wife may not be an every day go to, it's still to die for.

R E V I E W | Morphe x Jaclyn Hill **FINALLY!**

 I thought this day would never come. I had to sit in my bedroom and watch while this little square box go on sale and sell out and then back on sale and sell out again overseas. Meanwhile, I'm sat in the UK contemplating on whether to pay the ridiculous shipping + tax fee just to get this amazing pot of goodness in my hands. Well, I'm glad I waited! It's a lot of months to wait for but boy was it worth the wait. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the lovely people at BeautyBay for bringing this palette to the UK. We all love you and are very grateful for it. I got free shipping and no bloody tax man at my door asking for more money. Bonus!

FENTY BEAUTY Galaxy Collection by Rihanna

photo from tototalbeauty.com

So by now you've already heard about THE Collection and/or own one. I'm referring to the Fenty Beauty Galaxy collection by Rihanna that launched last Friday. I picked mine up on the day of the launch at the Harvey Nichols store and I must say I was surprised there wasn't a lot of people queuing up for it. I didn't buy the first collection until about a week after the launch and there still weren't that many people at the store, which is really surprising, considering this was one of the biggest makeup launches this year. I'm very pleased that Rihanna's line isn't marketed and distributed like Kylie Cosmetics where everything "sells out" in two minutes. There's a shit tone to go around so you never have to worry about queuing or staying up all night for a launch. That said let's move on to the actual review, which I presume is what you're hear for.

UPDATED Skincare (Night) Regimen | BANISH

Let me take a few minutes of your time to show you the latest addition to my skincare routine. I came across this brand about a month ago and got the chance to try out a few of their products. I've been using the Banish Starter Kit for about 3 weeks now and I must say, I really, really like it. One of the main things I like about this brand, is what they stand for. If you get the chance please read Daisy's Story (Founder of Banish) on the About Page of their website. Very touching and inspiring!

R E V I E W | Bodyshop Matte Lip Liquid

Okay so let's do a quick review on these bad boys that I've had sitting on my desk for quite a while now. I think aside eyeshadows, lipsticks are my next favourite things to play with. I love trying new colours, different formulas and also new brands. I have two sets of 4 drawer Acrylic makeup organisers filled with lip products to the brim. I can never grow tired of them. So about a few months a go, I went to Bodyshop to do a re-stock of my usual skincare products. Now when it comes to skincare, Bodyshop is my number one go to stop. If you read My Current Morning Skincare Routine post from last year, you would know that majority of my skincare products are from Bodyshop but I never really give their makeup a second look. 

I know they dabble in Makeup but for some reason, I've just never been enticed to it. I do own a few makeup products from them but not a lot. I own probably about 3 makeup products from Bodyshop and this is from about 3 or 4 years ago when I started to 'invest' in more makeup but on a budget, so I was hunting more for cheap/affordable brands. This new lip range however, has made me rethink the way I look at Bodyshop makeup forever.

R E V I E W | Modern Renaissance Palette by Anastasia Beverly Hills

I'm not sure if there's any need to bother with an intro for this palette. This was one of the most hyped product of 2016. Every YouTuber and Instagramer owned this and it was such a massive craze I'm sure everyone and their mother know about it. So without rambling on for ages, here's my Review on the Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance Palette (in my opinion, one of the best palettes of 2016....just saying).

This palette retails at £41 from beautybay and cultbeauty. It is so popular that it's always out of stock. So if you really want to get your hands on one, you have to be really quick. It's literally taken me about 4 months to get my hands on one.

The palette comes with 14 eyeshadows; 11 mattes and 3 satin with a mixture of neutral, highlighting and a lot of reds, berries and orangey shades. It comes with a mirror and a double-ended eyeshadow brush, which serves as a perfect crease, applicator and blending brush. I actually really, really like the brush. I don't own any Anastasia Beverly Hills makeup brush, but if they are all as good as this, I may just invest in some.

The biggest thing I dislike about the palette is the velvet cover that the palette is made out of. It collects dust and stains very easily and it becomes quiet hard to clean. When I'm doing my makeup, my entire room becomes a warzone and it's normal for things to get makeup residue on them but usually a simple swipe of makeup removal does the trick. This palette on the other hand is not as easy to clean and that can be quiet frustrating (for me anyway). Other than that, this palette is really great. So on to the formula.

R E V I E W | NYX WARM NEUTRAL PALETTE

I wish you could hear me squeal at how excited I am to review this palette. I don't know what it is about warm neutral tones that make me fall so madly in love with them. Maybe it's because I enjoy natural looking makeup over super glamorous looks. I'm more of a 'No-Makeup-Makeup' look kinda girl, so I guess that explains it. 

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I tend to do a lot of research on a product before I purchase it for a review. I look at hand swatches as well as makeup looks on different skin tones on YouTube, Instagram and sometimes on Pinterest. I also sometimes read other blog reviews before making up my mind. But I didn’t go through all that hassle with this palette. I just came across it at boots and I instantly knew that I would love it. The kind of quality you get from this palette is what I would expect from some high end brands and I don’t mean this in a negative or condescending way towards NYX or the high end brands. I mean this as a compliment to NYX. 

Makeup is expensive (I know, because I have a ton of it) and the majority of high pigmented, long lasting eyeshadow palettes are usually in the £40+ range and not everyone can afford that price tag, regardless of how amazing the palette is. Even though I’m a blogger and it is my job to purchase and review these products, I still cry when I have to click the ‘Buy Now’ button. Ooh yes! Believe that! So to find a palette that is equally comparable to high end brands at a much cheaper price is more than a bargain.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! HAPPY 2017

It's great to be back to a routine after three weeks of prepping for interview, travelling and eating my heart out at Christmas. I'm finally back in Leeds in my apartment and slowly getting back to a routine. I like the New Year! It makes me feel like I'm born again. Like every 'wrong' thing I did the year before have been scrapped and I now have a fresh page to start all over again.

2016 was actually a brilliant year for me, for a lot of different reasons. I finally made the decision to get back to blogging and for once I actually stuck to it for a full year. I did a lot with my blog this year than I ever had in the past 3 years and I hit a lot of milestones and exceeded expectations I set for myself - 27K+ views on the blog and 1K+ followers on instagram to me is mind blowing. I never thought I could achieve this much in one year.

I don't talk about my personal life in detail here on the blog as I try to stick to makeup and fashion related topics but I'm super proud of this one. Aside the blog, I have a normal 9-5 job just like the rest of you and last year I managed to bag myself a promotion after a very challenging and hard working year. Super thrilled and ecstatic about this achievement. Massive pat-on-the-back for this. Time to turn the dial even higher, aim higher, work even harder and achieve greater things!

R E V I E W | Caramel Melange & Blanc Fusion by ZOEVA

So for my birthday last month I got these two beauties from my sisters. I'd been hinting for a couple of months ever since Zoeva announced their release and I'm so happy I finally got my hands on them. I absolute love Zoeva. Their brushes and eyeshadows are my absolutely favourite and I still don't understand why they're so underrated. If you haven't tried Zoeva before, you should definitely get your hands on one, especially this festive season with sales everywhere. Zoeva launched two new shadows as part of their Plaisir Box (£48) which is inspired by delectable cholatey confectionary. The box is made up of three shadows - Cocoa Blend, Caramel Melange and Blanc Fusion. All three palettes are filled with warm, neutral, cholatey shades that I think everyone will enjoy. 

Continue reading for my full review and some Christmas/New Year's makeup look ideas.

R E V I E W | Makeup Revolution Precision Pro Brush

Okay! Okay! I’ll admit I was one of the sceptical ones when these oval brushes first started circulating and becoming super trendy. I didn’t see the appeal of them and the price tag didn’t really help boost my interest in them. Yes, there are now hundreds of dupes out there, especially on eBay and Amazon and I have tried and reviewed one on my blog in the past but I still wasn’t madly in love with them. To me they were okay but not comparable to my Beauty Blender (£16) or my Real Techniques Buffing Brush (£9), until I found The Precision Pro Oval Face Brush by Makeup Revolution.

These were launched a few months ago and I did contemplate for a very long time on whether to pick them up or not. In my mind they were going to be just as good as the eBay or Amazon ones. But boy was I wrong! These brushes are amazing and totally worth the buy. The brushes are sold individually at different price points or you can buy them in a set. They come in three different sets. You can buy the entire collection for £61 (now on sale for £45) or you can opt for the eye or contour set. The Precision Eye Set (which is what I have) comes with three different brushes – Oval Eye, Eyeliner and Round Blending Eye. The Contour kit comes with Oval Face, Oval Cheek, and Oval Shape. 

R E V I E W | Makeup Revolution I Heart Makeup Molten Chocolate

Okay so Makeup Revolution has the tendency of making dupes of a lot of Too Faced products and I for one don't mind that at all. Too Faced is a high end brand and if we were to splash cash out on every single product they released, majority of us would be broke. So it's great that brands like Makeup Revolution make dupes that everyone can afford. I actually own a lot of Makeup Revolution products, especially their lipsticks and eyeshadow palettes. I love their Lip Lava, which is a very good dupe of the Too Faced Melted Liquified Long Wearing Lipsticks. They've just recently launched the I Heart Makeup Molten Chocolate which in my opinion is a little bit glossier than the lip lava.

R E V I E W | NYX LID Lingerie

Sometime this year I did a post on the NYX Lip Lingerie and because it was one of my most popular post, I decided to do a review on the new NYX LID LINGERIE EYE TINT. Unlike the lip lingerie, there wasn't a lot of hype, especially on YouTube about this product which I was very surprised about. The lip lingerie was one of the biggest beauty hype of this year and because it was so successful and popular, I expected the lid lingerie to follow in the same footsteps but unfortunately it didn't.

I came across the lid lingerie by accident on YouTube. I can't really remember how, I think I was looking around to see swatches of more of the NYX SMLCs and one video of the lid lingerie popped up as a recommendation. So after seeing a few swatches online, I was 100% sold. All I had to do was pick some up, try it for myself and hope it met my expectations. So after my gym session on Saturday, I popped into Boots, walked straight to the NYX counter, swatched a few colours and picked up my favourite four.

R E V I E W | MAC x Selena Collection

I have been waiting on this collection for ages, ever since it was announced last year that MAC will be releasing a limited edition Selena Quintanilla collection. Selena is one of the biggest Mexican American Tejano musician, whose life was tragically cut short when she was shot to death by her best friend and fan club president after Selena and her family found out she was embezzling money from the club and Selena’s other businesses. Selena means a lot to a lot of people including myself. Aside her music and her amazing raw talent, her love for her fans, her humbleness, her realness and her kind heart is what made Selena so special. It’s what made her standout and made her so unique.

This is the only M.A.C collaboration I’ve been dying to get my hands on. I’m usually not too fussed about limited edition makeup or any kind of collaborations because let’s be honest makeup is makeup. How many different shades of red can you have really! It’s usually if I get it – great! If not eeh! But this I was definitely itching to get. The collaboration was made possible by one dedicated fan (Patty Rodriguez) who started a petition about two years ago to get M.A.C to create this line and thank God everything went according to plan. M.A.C worked with Suzette (Selena’s older sister) to make this dream a reality. She said in a statement released by the brand that she wanted this line to be about Selena personally, what she wore both on and off stage.

R E V I E W | FLO Accessories Fragrance Atomizer and Celebrity LED Mirror

So a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to get gifted this product. The people at FLO Accessories were kind enough to send me their Fragrance Atomizer as well as their Celebrity LED Mirror, which I will be reviewing for you today. I was super excited and eager to review this product but I knew that I had to really use this product long enough in order to give you guys my genuine and accurate review of it. So that's the reason why I'm posting this about 3 or 4 weeks after I received it.

Over the past few weeks I have been travelling a lot so this came at the perfect time. It gave me the chance to use it, drop it, refill it, pass it around and throw it around. I got the best use out of it by using it extensively. If you haven't heard of FLO Accessories, they are a company that produces stylish beauty accessories mainly for travel and on the go. Aside their fragrance atomizer and LED mirror, they also sell things like LED Tweezers, Perfume Necklace (which I need to have), Travel USBShavers, the list goes on. Most of their products are inexpensive so if you're travelling this summer and looking for travel accessories to take with you, you should definitely check them out.

5 Beauty Products I'm Loving Right Now | Zoeva, NYX, MUG, LA Splash, Gerard Cosmetics

I like trying new beauty products every now and again. Some of which make it on to my blog and some just don't make the cut. Today I will be sharing with you 5 Beauty Products that I am currently loving. Most of these products are drugstore and/or very affordable. The best part is that they are all available in the UK and international. Very easy to get your hands on. Some of these brands I've been using for years and some are new additions to my collection. So let's start!

R E V I E W | Too Faced Sweet Peach Palette

If you are YouTube & Makeup obsessed like I am, you are probably aware by now that Too Faced launched another palette similar to their Chocolate line back in April. This palette was only available on the Too Faced website and (correct me if I'm wrong) Sephora. It's limited edition and sold alongside their Summer 2016 collection. This palette sold out in the blink of an eye on the day of launch in the US. This meant for everyone based in the UK who wanted this palette your best bet was to pay a hefty shipping fee via the Too Faced site or Sephora.

Now regardless of how much I love Too Faced there was just no way in hell I was spending over £50 on an eye shadow palette. So I waited patiently (for a whole month) for it to be launched in Debenhams to grab a hold off one. I purchased mine on the 12th of May but because I've had other post that was of "bigger priority" than this I had to push this post a bit further away. But never mind you, it's here now so don't worry. I hope you enjoy the read as well as the swatches.

R E V I E W | GOSH Smokey Nudes Palette

So by now you know that I looooove buying makeup, I mean that is what my entire blog is based on. But what I love even more is getting them for free. No I didn't get this as PR, although I wish I did. I got it as a birthday present from my sister. She knows me so well, she knows exactly what I love (thanks sis). 

So amongst all the eyeshadow palettes and makeup that I own, I actually don't own any GOSH products whatsoever, so this was definitely a good one to have. The palette comes with 10 different shades ranging from light to dark. It has a mixture of matte, shimmery and satin finish. It has a mirror at the top and also comes with a double sided brush which for the life of me cannot remember where I put it. It's not one of those useless buffing brushes that you normally get with eyeshadow palettes. One side is a flat eyeshadow brush perfect for you water line, brow or gel liners and the other end is a soft fluffy blending brush.

R E V I E W | NYX LIP LINGERIE

So I've had this post pre-written for about a week now, patiently waiting to push the Publish button and then my charger went and died on me so I wasn't able to post it on time like I planned...boooo!!! So we'll just have to settle for today instead :) 

Today's post is going to be on the long awaited NYX Lip Lingerie.  They were officially launched in the UK on the 11th of March. If you are obsessed with makeup and +NYX Cosmetics  like I am, you'll know that these bad boys have been out and about for quite sometime now and we've all been tormented by the constant videos and swatches by american based YouTubers, hoping and praying that maybe just maybe +NYX Cosmetics will have pity on us poor brits and our lack of good drugstore makeup brands and throw some our way. Well our prayers have been answered. Hallelujah! The idea that this is one of the most exciting news I've had this year is quite worrying. That I find this news to be bigger than anything in my life at 25 is pretty sad lol!

R E V I E W | Makeup Revolution (Triple Baked) Blushing Hearts Blusher + Bronzer

Okay I know, I know, this is the second time in a row that I am doing a blush & bronzer review but I feel like this one had to be done. Makeup Revolution is one of my favourite drugstore brands. They are the perfect definition of 'good quality products at affordable prices'. I cannot stress enough on how amazing their products are. They're well known for making excellent dupes of products from high end brands like Too Faced, Real Techniques, Urban Decay and Lorac Pro. They're fairly new in the market, I believe they just celebrated their 2 years anniversary about a week or so ago. If you haven't heard of them before or tried any of their products you definitely should. If you're wanting to buy the Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette but you don't have £39 to splash out on, Makeup Revolution is your best bet of getting the closest dupe at a fraction of the price.

R E V I E W | Miss Sporty Insta Glow (Blush + Bronzer)

When I first got into makeup, probably when I was about 16, there were two things I loved the most - Lipsticks and Blushes. Yes, I was that girl. The girl that drenched her face in a tub full of blush. I just couldn't get enough it. Fast forward 8 years and my love for blushes have not withered. Although now I've eased up on the amount of blush I use. Less is more I tell myself. We contour to bring some kind of structure back into our face after we've applied foundation and concealer and blush does the same but even better. It's a great way to plump up our cheeks, amplify the roseness in our cheeks and bring life back to our face and that's the reason why I love blushes.