Sleek Blush By 3 - Pink Lemonade - Review

Hii Lovelies!

I'm a little late on the bandwagon with this one... Long story short: I'd been waiting on some free Superdrug vouchers (through the Sun+ sign up offers) and they took quite some time to arrive. Oh and nearly every time i saw these in stock in store someone had shoved their grubby fingers in every bloody one! Mini rant over... Onto the review!

I picked up both recent Blush By 3 releases; Pink Lemonade a gorgeous pink trio and a coral cream trio called CallifornIA, which I'll review later this week. This little beauty, as the name suggests, holds three blushes. Two are powder and the middle is a cream perfect for layering or wearing on its own for a more subtle look. I'm not normally a fan of powder and cream in the same palette because of fall out, but I'm pleased to announce I've had absolutely no problems with this particular one.

Icing Sugar - Macaroon - Pink Sprint 

Icing Sugar has definitely been my most reached for shade. Its the perfect subtle flush of pink on my fair skin tone, but could easily be built up for a more dramatic look. I've found it layers quite beautifully over Macaroon too for a little more oomph! Pink Sprint is a much warmer pink compared to the other two shades but is an equally gorgeous shade. I think I'll get a little more use out of this when the weather (eventually) gets warmer here. Texture wise these apply and blend well and i find them just pigmented enough that i don't fear of overdoing it and looking like Aunt Sally...

Overall Pink Lemonade gets a huge thumbs up from me and priced at £9.99 it doesn't break the bank either at £3.33 per blush... bargain! If pinks are your thing then you need to give this gem of a blush palette a quick look next time you're in Superdrug!

What is your favourite Sleek blush shade?

You can find these on the Sleek Makeup website or in Superdrug stores in the UK.

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xox

Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm Review

Hey Lovelies!

As soon as i spotted these in my local Boots i knew i had to have them, its no big shocker really considering my love for all things matte in the lipstick department! There are 10 shades in the matte range and i had to pop into three stores to find the shades i was after, annoyingly it seems smaller Boots are stocking just 4 shades while the larger are only carrying 8. Which leaves the purple shade firmly out of my reach at the moment... Sigh.

I did get my paws on 3 gorgeous shades to share with you today! These are currently on 3 for 2 in Boots or £7.99 each (Superdrug currently have £2 off) so keep your eyes peeled for offers if you are after a few shades. The shades i picked up were Unapologetic - an extremely bright warm pink, Elusive - nudish (for me) lightish pink and Audacious - hot orange. I don't think i own anything like these in my collection!

Matte, oh how i love thee. I really enjoyed the balm stains Revlon released in previous years so was SO excited to hear of the release of these beauties. I'll make the obvious comparison now... These are very similar packaging, smell and texture-wise to the Tarte matte balms. I haven't tried any of the Tarte permanent range shades but i did get one of their gift sets around Christmas which contained 4 smaller sized balms and i feel these are very comparable. They both share a similar minty scent, extremely similar packaging and both have a lovely creamy texture. Surprisingly I've found the Revlon ones pack more of a punch in the colour department, but this may just be because they have a brighter colour range. If you're not after an exact Tarte shade these are a great inexpensive dupe.

I like to wear a balm underneath as with any lipstick but for a matte shade i don't find them overly drying, i actually find these a lot more comfortable on the lips than Mac Mattes or Retro mattes. They are pretty much opaque after two swipes and i find the application really easy with these sort of chubby stick style pens. I've worn Unapologetic for around 7 hours before needing a touch up, it even lasted through eating and drinking although it did look a little dry by the end of its wear. I even forgot at one point i was even wearing a lipstick, so these get a huge thumbs up from me!

 

Overall the Revlon Matte Balms are a massive win for me, but i am a little biased towards mattes. They are comfortable, they wear well and they are affordable. So far are my stand out drugstore product of the year! If you love mattes you really need to go give these beauties a swatch. I'll now be hunting down that purple until i can eventually get my hands on it, oh and possibly a couple more shades while I'm at it... I know they're a new release and its wishful thinking, but i do hope Revlon release more shades in this range!

Have you tried the Revlon Matte Balms yet?

What are your favourite matte lipsticks?

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xox

Bourjois Bronzing Primer - Review

Hey Lovelies!

How late am i on the bandwagon with this one?!

This is one of those products that i nabbed back in the summer, put it in my "new things" drawer and then totally forgot about it... oops! Well its now certainly back out of my drawer and into my daily makeup routine.

The Bourjois Bronzing Primer made quite a splash in the beauty blogging world as many comparisons were made to Soleil Tan De Chanel which is made by Bourjois parent company (i think I'm right there?). Sadly, there will be no comparisons in this post as being pretty darn pale spending thirty odd quid on a bronzer far too orange for me didn't really float my boat. But the Bourjois offering is a whole different story...

I find it a lot less orange than the Chanel offering (from in store swatching) and a completely different texture. Its quite soft in consistency so heavy handed me has to be a bit careful, but saying this it blends out like a charm so even if my sausage fingers pick up a little too much product its really no biggie. I generally use this under foundation to warm up anything a little pale for me, or to just give my face a little more warmth. If I'm feeling really fancy (or just got an extra minute or two to slap my face on) I'll use this with a Real Techniques Contour Brush and attempt to contour my face. In reality, its a little too warm for the latter on my skin tone but looks pretty reasonable applied lightly.

  

What i really enjoy about this product are two things.... It works great over and under foundation and blends seamlessly (that counts as one thing, right?). Secondly its lovely to find a cream bronzing product that isn't overly orange, I would love a slightly cooler toned offering but this does just the trick for now. The ease it blends really helps it work for even my skin tone, so I'd really recommend this for anyone with fair to medium complexions.

On the budget side the Bourjois Bronzer Primer is a middle of the road £9.99, not the cheapest but still affordable on a budget. Boots and Superdrug often do 3 for 2 offers or something along those lines so you can often pick up a few things at once and save some pennies. If you're really keen on trying this out (and are late on the bandwagon like moi) you can snag this from Asos currently with free postage for £6.50 here.

Overall I'm really enjoying this. I picked it up on a whim and for once its one that's payed off! I just wish I'd hooked it out my drawer a little sooner and got some good use of it during the summer months!

 

What is your favourite Bourjois product?

 

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xox

 

John Frieda Full Repair Range* - Review

Ello Lovelies!

The John Frieda Full Repair* range has been on my radar for quite some time, but over the last year or so I've been pretty much stuck in my ways when it came to haircare. I was extremely excited to try this range as it had been something I'd been meaning to pick up for a good few months, so was overjoyed to be sent some to test out. For reference i have thin, over processed, coloured hair that although it is damaged is prone to greasiness... Wow that was a mouthful! In other words, my hair is a pain in the bum. 

I love volumising and nourishing/strengthening hair products, but most of the time i have to choose just one which can be quite annoying. I'd previously use a more nourishing shampoo and conditioner plus a thickening spray or vice versa... Its a lot of products. So to find a range that has volumising and repairing qualities within the same product line is a pretty rare find for me.

John Frieda - Full Repair Shampoo and Conditioner* - £6.99 each

I popped all my regular shampoo and conditioner away for a good few weeks while testing these out and I've actually not hooked them back out yet, so safe to say this little review is going to be on the positive side!

"Bodifying formula, with Inca Oil rich in omega-3, repairs the look and feel of over styled hair as it weightlessly restores bounce for full, flowing styles. Detangles strands, reducing the risk of breaking and snagging when combing or brushing."

Simply put, I'm a fan. I normally opt for a more clarifying shampoo as i find the majority of brands I've tried tend to weigh my extremely fine hair down. I'm happy to say this isn't the case with Full Repair! It lathers up a treat and has a nice fresh fragrance that i quite enjoy. It is also safe for colour or chemically treated hair, which is a god send considering just how much dye and bleach my hair has seen over the past few years. I may sound crazy here, but while lathering up it does give your hair that feel certain thickening shampoos do (i can't be the only one who notices things like this?) which i quite like as the other ingredients like Inca Oil work to leave you hair feeling thicker and healthier without feeling heavy.

The conditioner gets a thumbs up from me too, I've not tried anything quite like it before. Its nourishing without adding weight to the hair, for such a lightweight formula its surprising how soft and healthy it actually leaves my hair, I'm impressed. I still like to use my home made purple hair mask once a week to eliminate any brassiness that comes alongside with being blonde, but other than that I've been using these two pretty steadily for the past three weeks or so.

John Frieda - Full Repair Repairing Oil Elixir* - £9.99

We all love a good hair oil and this one is no exception. I was a little bit sceptical about the results i was going to get with the Repairing Oil Elixir as I've been using the same oil for a good few years now, but yet again i was pleasantly surprised. 

It claims to "Reverse the look and feel of damage with every use" which is a pretty big statement to make. I've been using this on wet hair, just a small pump through my mid lengths and ends after every wash. It has a thinner consistency to a lot of the oils that I've tried and having ridiculously thin hair i actually prefer the texture of the John Frieda offering. A lot of thicker oils i have to be incredibly careful with the amount i apply otherwise i look like a greasy mess... A small pump is ample enough for my hair and with the bottle being a generous 100ml i think this is going to last me an awfully long time, so great value for money there.

Overall I'm pretty darn impressed with John Freida's Full Repair range, so impressed that when I'm done with these I'll definitely be repurchasing them. The hair snob in me has well and truly been proven wrong and i actually think these out perform my more expensive shampoos and conditioners, so in future I'll be saving my pennies and picking some more of these up when I'm next in Boots!

For more information on the Full Repair or other John Frieda ranges check out their website and how to oil dry hair.

Boots currently have a 3 for 2 off on the John Frieda Full Repair Range!

Have you tried any of their products?

What are your favourites?

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xox

* Product sent for review consideration but all opinions voiced on My Makeup Obsession will always be 100% honest and my own. You can view my disclaimer here.

Not another haul?! Debenhams, Boots and Superdrug bits and bobs!

Hey lovelies!

So I've been going a little haul crazy lately...

I just can't Christmas shop without buying things for myself... I try, but it never seems to happen. So i thought I'd share with you the bits and bobs I've picked up lately but don't seem to fit in any other haul. I've pretty much finished my Christmas shopping now (as my bank balance breathes a sigh of relief) and am firmly putting myself on a low-buy for the next few months, which will inevitably fail on boxing day, but oh well!

Optimum - Super Antioxidant Grape Eye Cream

   Well over a year ago i did a little review on quite a few products from the Optimum range. I have trouble finding eye creams that don't sting my eyes like a bitch so as this was half price and i remembered enjoying it i thought I'd give it another bash!

Tanatomicals - Holy Grail for the Deathly Pale

Got to admit, the name sold this little beauty to me. Since my trip to the USA I've been mourning my long since faded tan and being "deathly pale" I'm pretty damn scared of fake tanners in general. So far, i am loving this little beauty! I'm trying out a couple of sunless tanners at the moment and will probably do a little series on the good, the bad and the orange in the new year! 

Estee Lauder - Advanced Night Repair

Biggest splurge ever... I'd been lusting after this little beauty for a while and with a combination of Boots online coupons i managed to get around £12 off my big Christmas order which included this. At around £55, it wasn't cheap but I'm really enjoying using it!

 

Olay - Instant Hydration Eye Cream

30+... Ooops, I'm still using it! Another half price Superdrug little bargain.

YSL - Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stain #14

Another splurge! I was really after their Matte Lipstick in 202, but annoyingly my Debenhams doesn't stock that range yet. With my £15 of beauty points burning a hole in my pocket i just had to pick it up and i am sure glad i did. I'm not gunna go into detail because this little gem is going to be my next review.

Are you just as bad as me at Christmas shopping?

xox

Boots Soap & Glory Haul

I love Soap and Glory.

Boots had some extra points offers a little while ago and i just couldn't resist picking up a few Soap and Glory bits! These were also three for two, so even more of a bargain. If i had some sense, i would have waited for the large sets to be a Boots Star Gift, but i have no patience! But, if you love Soap and Glory, keep your eye out for the large £60 gift sets as the last week before Christmas they generally go down to around £25, less than half price!

Hand Food
Everyone loves a good hand cream. I'm probably on my fourth or fifth tube of this little gem. It has the lovely traditional Soap and Glory scent and keeps my hands soft and hydrated. One of my holy grail products!

Wish Upon a Jar
A bit of an impulse buy… I'd heard Miss Budget Beauty rave about it and as there was three for two i thought, why not? I'm not keen on the scent of this one; it’s a chocolately orange scent... But then again I am probably one of the few people in the world that hate chocolate orange! I've seen no big changes so far, but I’ll do a full review at the end of the 28 days.

Original Pink Eau De Parfum
I love the Soap and Glory scent. It smells a lot like Miss Dior Cherie and for £16.50 is a LOT cheaper. It doesn't last as long on the skin, but for around a quarter of the price, who cares?

Make Yourself Youthful Serum
Again with the chocolate orange scent, ugh. Another impulse buy, I'd been considering starting to add a serum into my skincare routine for a while now and thought this was a relatively inexpensive way to start. To me, it feels more like a light cream than a traditional serum. Again, I'll review this fully after I've given it a good old bash!

Clean On Me Shower Gel
The only shower gel I've purchased in nearly two years. At around £5, yes it’s not the cheapest one, but it’s a whopping 500ml so lasts me a good two to three months, making it excellent value for money. It like most of the other products has the traditional Soap and Glory scent i love. A little goes such a long way with this too, i love it!  

I think that will be it for Soap and Glory splurges for a while. But i fully intend to take advantage of the Boots Star Gift offer next month!

What’s your favourite Soap and Glory product?

 xox     

Review: Ecotools Bamboo Bronzer Brush

 

Ello lovelies!

In my last haul post i showed you some of the bits i picked up on my travels and this one had to be the first thing i reviewed. I'd been a big ol' snob when i came to Ecotools. I had pretty much turned my nose up at high-street brushes other than Real Techniques and I'm now seeing how very, very wrong i was...

Ecotools Bamboo Bronzer Brush (try saying that three times!) is pretty fucking fantastic. It has SO many good qualities; its extremely soft, its dense, it has a nice weight to it, it has minimal shedding, blends like a dream and finally its pretty damn affordable too! I use this primarily for bronzer, my face is on the chub side so i use this for an all over bronze or some very lazy contouring. I also think this would work wonderfully for setting powders but its a little too big for blush.

I am gobsmacked at the quality of it, its one of the softest brushes i own. It makes applying bronzer a dream. It's dense enough to pick up enough product and fluffy enough to blend it out with ridiculous ease. It sells between £9 and £10 from most retailers but you can always find offers on it, at the moment Boots has them "buy one get one half off". At around the same price in dollars as it is in pounds it does work out a tad more expensive here. But considering the superb quality if i lost this I'd literally be running out to get another one!

This is probably my favourite discovery of the past few months and considering my giant Florida splurge, that really is saying something. I really cannot recommend this brush enough!

Ecotools Bamboo Bronzer Brush is available from a ton of retailers including the Boots website here.

Have you tried any other Ecotools brushes? Let me know!

xox

Current Favourites & My Everyday Face

 Heya lovelies! My favourites posts are few and far between, but as I've been loving a whole load of new and rediscovered products i thought I'd share the best of the bunch with you lot! I'm never going to be a monthly favourites kinda gal, i just don't change up my routine enough so those posts would be pretty samey, but from time to time i love to show off the bits and bobs in my collection that have been getting a lot of love recently...

Royal and Langnickel - Flat Top Kabuki Brush
I picked this little beauty up at IMATS. Now if you've watched a lot of IMATS videos you'll have seen these pop up quite a lot over the years, normally to be never seen in a video or post again but lately i have been LOVING it. This had been sat on my shelf for a good few months without use, so after cleaning all my brushes i hooked it out and was determined to give it a fair ol' use. I've been using it to apply my Dream Matte powder, its perfect for setting foundation by just pushing the powder in to the skin. Its ridiculously soft and only cost me around £6 with the IMATS discount, but can be found on the Royal and Langnickel website for about £12.

Natural Collection - Apple and Lime Body Spray

I was introduced to this one a month or so ago by the bestie and I've got to say other than being a teenager and drowning myself in the vanilla version I'd been a bit of a snob about these. After a girly night i could smell DKNY Green Apple, so being nearly out of mine (and about four other favourite perfumes, sob) i asked her if i could have a squirt of hers, turns out it wasn't DKNY at all, but this little beauty. Now on further inspection it isn't an exact dupe as it has a lime element to it that the DKNY doesn't have and it isn't quite a sharp, but its pretty damn close. At £2, its a real bargain if you're not in the position to splash out on the real deal, and if you have an unsophisticated nose like me, you may not even be able to tell the difference! It obviously doesn't last as long on the skin, but for the price difference, who cares?!

Revlon - Kissable Balm Stains

I want more of these and i want them now! Near enough the only thing on my lips for the past month, i just wish they had more shades! For someone who isn't a fan of creamy lipsticks, this is perfect for me. It adds gorgeous colour without me feeling conscious of smearing it across my face, win! The stain lasts a good few hours for me and the chubby stick like packaging makes it ridiculously easy to apply. I'm planning to get my paws on a whole bunch of these while I'm in the USA next month.

Origins - Drink Up Overnight Mask
I'll keep this short and sweet. Gorgeous mask, leaves my skin feeling soft and moisturised without feeling greasy. 100ml for £20, so not bad at all price wise! I've recently reviewed this beauty here.

 China Glaze - I'm Not Lion

I'm Not Lion is an absolutely STUNNING shade. Its a beige, champagney glitter that would work beautifully for both warm and cool toned skin. I've been wearing it for every night out over the last few weeks! Its opaque in two coats and in any form of light sparkles like an absolute dream. Me and my amateur camera skills haven't been able to capture its full beauty yet... But google swatches... Do it NOW! If you don't have this, you need it!

Maybelline - Dream Matte Powder

 Another product that had been sat in my drawer for quite some time, i think i have faaar too many of those! Up until recently I'd preferred quite heavy coverage and had been loyal to setting my foundation with either Elfs HD Powder or Mac Studio Fix, but as HD isn't really travel friendly and Studio Fix is on the heavy side i hooked this out of my collection. Its matte without looking heavy and powdery, its not the longest lasting powder but its easy enough to shove in your handbag and reapply on the go.

Milani - Corallina Baked Blush

 My only coral blush, although I'm still eyeing a few! After seeing these all over American blogs and Youtube channels i caved and eBayed one of the Milani Baked blushes. Its a gorgeous orange coral with quite large silver shimmer. Now at first the silver shimmer REALLY put me off, but it buffs away to be mostly unnoticeable, so i can live with it. I think these cost around $6 but i payed a little over £8 with delivery which isn't too bad. The only downside is that my Mother has taken a shine to this blush, so i am constantly having to steal it back from her!

Mac - Cream Colour Base Pearl

Possibly my favourite highlighter ever! Stunning goldy, pearl, cream highlighter. Gives the face a real radiant glow! I absolutely love it! And taking into account how little product you need to use, I've actually hit pan on this which says it all really!

Wow this post is getting lengthy! I've worn this look for about 75% of the last 4 - 5 weeks, i should really change it up soon but I'm really loving to easy it is to apply in the morning. And as it involves quite a few of my current favourites i thought I'd share it with you!

Eyes:
Makeup Forever - Smoky Lash Mascara
Mac - Omega Eyeshadow (brows)

Lips:
Revlon - Kissable Balm Stain in Rendezvous

Face:
Missha M - Perfect Cover BB Cream
Maybelline - Dream Matte Powder
Mac - Cream Colour Base in Pearl
Milani - Baked Blush in Corallina
Nars - Laguna Bronzer

What are you're current favourites?

xox