Body Shop Honey Bronzer in 04 Dark Matte

Hello!

I'm really excited to be reviewing this product! I've been wanting it for so long, especially after seeing my favourite blogger and YouTuber LLYMLRS blog/vlog with it. I just thought it looked beautiful on her and had such lovely packaging - I needed to try it! I'm very influenced by my favourite bloggers, it's starting to get ridiculous how much I trust in blog reviews for products now!

I've been on the lookout for a decent bronzer for quite a while now. Blushers unfortunately don't suit me (apart from my Sleek Rose Gold), so I decided bronzers are probably the way to go in making my face look more alive and healthy! 

I've tried many different bronzers recently (testing my friends various bronzers mainly!) and I didn't like any. After seeing a few videos and posts of this bronzer and literally watching the popularity of it spread, I decided to take the chance and purchase it. Another one of my "best purchases ever"!

The colour suits me very well, the warm brown matte is fairly dark on my skin as I'm currently quite pale, however summer is just round the corner so I'll be way more tanned soon! When swatched, it does look orange, but it is actually incredibly natural once blended into the skin. It just makes me look so much healthier, I already couldn't be without it on my daily face.
It applies incredibly smoothly and blends out really well. For my daily face, I apply this with my Real Techniques retractable kabuki brush and it just feels so nice on my skin, especially when combined with the softness from my brush. It is also a really buildable product, I could probably get away with the slightly lighter shade and just build it up! I also find it's perfect for contouring, I just use my Real Techniques contour brush in the usual places and it applies just as smooth!
I would say the wear time is around 7-8 hours, after that I would reapply with a light hand just to get the warmness back. As I'm typing this I've been wearing it for 10 hours and I can still see it, it just doesn't have the same "warmness" it did when I put it on at 9am this morning!

The packaging is lovely. A dark amber simple, round compact. Just on top is a honeycomb pattern, nicely fitting in with the "honey" name! Inside there is a handy mirror for on the go, and the product is also shaped in honeycombs!

I really love this bronzer, and I will definitely be repurchasing. It is great as an everyday product, and can also be used for contouring (which I tend to save for going out!). I'm really happy that I bought this!

The Body Shop Honey Bronzer retails at £13, which for me, is incredibly expensive! I would say it is definitely worth the money though, you get an awesome product with lovely packaging.

P.s. Again, I'm sorry about my image quality. I haven't been able to use my living room for a few days (I get the best light in there) so I've been stuck to my bathroom, agh!

E.L.F Haul!

Hello!

So today pretty much everything I'd ordered over the past few weeks arrived all at once today. Absolutely crazy! I'm swamped in make-up and clothes, and to be quite honest I love it.
I'm so ridiculously behind on my blog posts at the moment, I keep not having time to take pictures and sit down to properly write a review/do a post on something. I'm planning to get things done over the next week or so however!

Last week I placed an order, as I'd never tried E.L.F before however I've seen a few people enjoy their products. 

As I spent £20, I received a free "Mystery Package" which was also worth £20. I was really pleasantly surprised at how good my free package actually was! I chose mine in the colour scheme "Loco" which has a range of pretty pink/nude colours. Unfortunately, this offer has now ended!

Items I purchased:
Essentials Eyelid Primer in Sheer - £1.95
Essentials Eyeliner Brush - £1.95
Studio Lip Exfoliator - £3.95
Mineral Eyeshadow in Trendy - £3
Essentials Nail Block - £1.95
Studio Single Eyeshadow in Butter Cream - £3.95
Studio Eyebrow Kit in Dark - £3.95

My "Mystery Package" Items:
Essentials Primer Eyeshadow in Coco - £2.50
Mineral Lip Gloss in Bare - £5
Mineral Lipstick in Rosy Raisin - £5
Essentials Blush with Brush in Coy - £2.50
Essentials Duo Cream Eyeshadow in Berry Mix - £1.95
Mineral Eyeshadow in Sweet - £3

I think I got a pretty good deal on all of these seeing as it all only cost me £20! At first glance, I quite like E.L.F. Right now, I'm unsure whether or not I would reorder, but that's mainly because I haven't tried all of the products yet. I will be doing full reviews for each of these items in time - keep your eyes peeled!

I think at the moment my favourite thing is the Lip Exfoliator and Brow Kit, these are the only items I've played around with so far!

Bourjois Mega Liner Pen

Hello!

A few days ago I picked up the Bourjois Mega Liner as I'd heard a lot of bloggers rave about it and I needed a new pen liner! I decided to go for this one, mainly because of the reviews and the fact I want to try more products from different brands.

Bourjois say that "its ultra-intense black formula provides a striking look from the first sweep, with up to 24-hour hold. The colour does not smudge - 100% agree."

Well, I agree about the super-black formula. It's awesome. A lot of eyeliner pens I've used look almost grey as they lack pigment. This is definitely not one of those eyeliner pens! I absolutely love how pigmented this is.

It applies extremely easily due to the pointed tip and it is so easy to create the perfect wing as you get a nice sharp line across the lid and a perfect point of the tip of the wing.

I would say it probably does last for 24-hours, I can't actually comment on that though as I haven't worn this for 24-hours straight! I do have some issues with Bourjois' claims of it not smudging though. All 20 women they originally tested on said it doesn't smudge, however, it does. A lot. I may be the only person that finds this product smudges, if you've tried it and it's smudged please let me know that I'm not the only one!
I found after 6 hours, I had smudging underneath where my wings are. It was easy enough to wipe off, but I was pretty annoyed to find it. When I got home - I saw it there again! This will have been after around 12 hours use. 

I do quite like the packaging, it is nothing overly special but it doesn't look cheap, always a plus for me.

My final thoughts is that it's good, and I would probably repurchase. My only complaint is the smudging I've experienced, it's not the most attractive look to be walking around with half-panda eyes. But the pigmentation and ease of use this eyeliner provides kind of pushes me above that to say I do actually really quite like it. 

The Bourjois Mega Liner is priced at £7.49 and is available at any Bourjois stockists.

P.s. sorry for the bad quality photos, the lighting in my bathroom is awful!

Real Techniques: Core Collection, Eye Starter Set & Retractable Kabuki

Hello!

I have finally bought the Real Techniques brushes I've been lusting after for months. I could of probably bought these ages ago, but I've always wimped out at spending so much on some brushes. As I had some birthday money, I just went for it. Best decision ever!

Boots currently have a 3 for 2 on make-up brushes, I'm unsure on when this offer ends but it's a brilliant one so I'd head down to your local Boots ASAP if you can!

As of now, I've tested the retractable kabuki brush, detailer brush (from core collection), pointed foundation brush (core collection), buffing brush (core collection) and the base shadow brush (eye set). Each of these brushes are incredibly soft, high quality and apply make-up like a dream. I also adore the packaging that Real Techniques have. The brushes look high quality and just so lovely with their gold or pink metal handles. They look very professional-looking on my dressing table!

Retractable kabuki brush - I use this to apply my bronzer and it just feels so lovely to apply with. It's so soft and blends out my bronzer so well (I guess part of that is having a good bronzer, I use Body Shop's Honey Bronzer) and leaves it looking flawless.

Pointed foundation brush - I'm a bit iffy with this one, it still carries the same quality as all other Real Techniques brushes, however I just find it slightly tricky to use as well as time consuming. I prefer to use bigger brushes to speedily apply my foundation, especially if I don't have that much time! However, I can see it being useful to build up different levels of coverage in different areas of the face if needed.

Buffing brush - I love this brush! Even though it is described as a powder brush to apply powders or mineral foundation, I've just gone ahead and applied by liquid foundation with it. It blends in my foundation perfectly, leaving my skin looking almost airbrushed. It gives such a better finish applied with this brush compared to when I used my fingertips and other brushes.

Base shadow brush - Again, I love this brush. It is just so soft and feels lovely when applying shadow. I'm currently using the MUA Undress Me Too palette, and I found with other brushes I had a lot of fall-out and the shadows just didn't seem to blend - however with this I had no fall-out (no more tissues under the eyes, hooray!) and a little went a long way on my lids.

I can't wait to try the other brushes in my collections, I already love the 4 I've tried! Real Techniques definitely deserve the hype they get from bloggers and vloggers - if you're wanting high quality brushes I would definitely recommend Real Techniques.
The sets cost £21.99 and my kabuki cost £11.99 from Boots. I purchased these within their 3 for 2 on make-up brushes offer!

April Instagram

Hello!

I've been a more regular user on Instagram recently, so I've managed to build up quite a few pictures over last month! I quite like some of the things I've shared, so I thought it would be a nice little post for a Saturday morning.

[from top left to bottom right]

My grey marl bomber jacket paired with a floral blouse and leather shorts

A spring daisy!

A reversed ladybird?

Candy King treat

A handmade Easter biscuit

Coffee and cake out in Jewellery Quarter

My cut-out boots and pineapple socks

O.P.I Mother Road Rose

Gold details from this blog post

Chickens!

My lovely Totoro birthday cake

New Look acid wash high-waist shorts

B. Cosmetics Review

Hello!

I've known about B. Cosmetics for a while now, however I never really took much notice of it until they had a half price sale on when I was in Superdrug a few days ago. B. Cosmetics are a brand that are exclusive to Superdrug, and as far as I am aware, they do not have a Twitter or Facebook page. They are a vegan skincare and makeup brand, and do a wide range of products.

I actually really like the range of products that they sell and their prices are very reasonable, even better whilst they're on offer! I like their packaging too, it is simple but looks a lot more expensive than it is. I like fairly simply packaging - I always think it looks better than over-the-top designs.

I picked up 2 glosses, currently priced at £3.45 and the regular price is £6.99. I bought Raspberry Coulis and Bourdeux.

Raspberry Coulis is a pretty red-pink colour, which looks very natural on my lips. My new favourite everyday gloss! The longest I've kept this on my lips is a little over 3 hours, but then I ate/drank and it completely disappeared. I'm not upset by this to be honest, as I think the wear time is very good and I haven't personally tried a gloss product that hasn't vanished after eating or drinking without a straw! It applies very easily with it's doe-foot applicator.

Bourdeux is a very deep red gloss. I was expecting this to leave a more sheer touch of deep red, but it is very opaque! Although it isn't what I was expecting, I'm impressed. I wouldn't wear this for everyday mainly because I tend to prefer sheer colours for college, nipping around in town, etc... However I would definitely wear this going out or for an evening! I only swatched this on my lips to test the application, so I am unsure of the wear time, though I'm sure it is the same as Raspberry Coulis. I find this harder to apply than my other glosses, mainly because I'm scared of going "outside the lines" with such a pigmented product!

Both these glosses have absolutely no stickiness. It feels so lovely on the lips, the only way I can describe it is like "water". I'm in love with these glosses!

I also received a free gift with my purchase, which wasn't advertised on B's stand, so I was pleasantly surprised! I got a nail polish and an eye shimmer. The polish is a pretty pink with a slight hint of lilac, and the shadow a silver shimmer-packed cream shadow.

Peony is the polish, it is a very pretty colour and applies very easily due to a large brush. However I did feel like it took a long time to dry and remains tacky and easily dented, chipped, etc... For quite a long while.
Moonshine is the glitter shadow. It feels very smooth and creamy and blended out onto my hand very easily. From what I swatched, there was no fall-out. This is a very glittery product however, and is a bit of a pain to remove!

Overall, I am very happy with my glosses and I think I will be paying more attention to B. Cosmetics from now on! I will definitely be recommending these glosses, they are just a dream!

Second Birthday Meal at Nando's

Hello!

My lovely boyfriend very kindly took me out to Nando's on Tuesday, I hadn't been for a while and I'd been really wanting to go back for a while so he took me for a second birthday meal/date type meal and I really really enjoyed it. I love Nando's, it has a really nice atmosphere and I just absolutely adore the food. I usually get the same order each time but I'm planning on trying new things, I feel like I need to be doing that more. 

I had a pitta with plain chicken (I'm a massive spice wimp!) along with chips and garlic bread, yum.

I dared Alex to try the "X Sauce" - so he did!

He ended up loving it so had it all over his burger...

Chocolot cake is the best!

So just a little post documenting my latest trip to Nando's. I hadn't been for a while so I thought it would be nice to have a little post on my second birthday meal type thing.
As you can probably tell, I'm very behind on my posts... Posting my adventures from Tuesday on a Thursday, oops!