Follow My Blog with Bloglovin'!

Heya,

Just a quick one to let you guys know you can now follow my blog through Bloglovin'! The link is just below. I'd really appreciate the support! Lots of new content coming super soon. Keep checking back. Thank you!


Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Katie xx

Anastasia Beverly Hills Illuminator - Starlight

A Beverly Hills Moment...

Anastasia Beverly Hills has worked up quite the reputation for itself over the past few years. I'm sure most of you might know the brand best for its eyebrow-related products, but as of late, the skin products have been becoming more and more hyped up in the blogging world. I recently ran out of my MAC Mineralise Skin Finish (Lightscapade) and considering I've gone all cruelty-free, I couldn't repurchase it. So I decided to take the plunge and purchase my first ever ABH product. I chose the Starlight shade because not only do I have incredibly pale skin - and so the warmer shades are often too dark to work as a highlighter on my skin - but I'm also a fan of super intense highlight. I know it's sort of a love-hate debate, but I'm absolutely a fan of the disco-ball cheekbones. I think adding highlighter to a make up look is the prettiest possible element, whether it's classical on the cheeks or used to accentuate the brow bone, tip of the nose or cupid's bow. I read quite a lot of reviews on this product before purchasing, mainly to make sure I wasn't disappointed when it showed up in the mail, especially considering it costs a hefty £28 (Beauty Bay price).

As you can tell, the outer packaging (and inner, actually) is fairly simple, just black with gold lettering. This isn't too big of a deal for me, as these cardboard boxes end up in the bin anyway. That's something that always used to make me struggle with brands like Benefit - their packaging, I mean literally the little cardboard boxes that the products came in, were so beautifully coloured and designed, I never had the heart to chuck them. At one stage I had about six old Glossyboxes full of pretty make up packaging. Madness! The actual case itself is sturdy, glossy and super sleek, complete with a lovely sized mirror, which is always helpful with cheek products.

The product itself has a beautiful layered 3D texture and is silky smooth to touch and apply to the face. It is super pigmented, exactly the kind of shimmering pearlescent white I was looking for. Of course, use with caution, even I'm aware that there's such a thing as too much highlighter, especially when it comes to such a good-quality pigment as is used in this ABH product. If you're not a fan of intense shimmer, this might not be the product - or at least not the shade - for you, but I reckon with a light hand and some caution, it could work even for the slightly more faint-hearted out there. 

So, is it worth the price? Well, for a make up lover who is more than accustomed to spending such large amounts on simple beauty products, yes it is absolutely worth the money. Of course £30 is, in reality, sort of a ridiculous amount to spend on a make up product, but in the blogging world, it's not even as pricey as it could be! I would so highly recommend this highlighter to anybody. The product stands up to its price-tag perfectly well and is one of the most beautiful highlighting products I have ever used on my own face.

Anastasia Beverly Hills is a slightly tricky brand to get hold of in the UK, but my recommendations for buying it would be Cult Beauty or Beauty Bay - both fabulous websites for buying luxurious beauty products, ABH included.

Thanks for reading!

Katie x

Anybody Out There....?

It's been so long...


Well, it's been years and years since I posted here, and I'm really curious to know if there's anybody reading still. Last time I wrote here, I was still a young teen at school, just discovering a love of make-up and fashion. Now I'm 19, studying English and Creative Writing at university and my passion for make-up in particular is stronger than ever. I've spent the last few years developing my beauty skills and collection. 

I've just this month decided to embark upon cleansing my beauty collection of all products that are not cruelty free. As a student, I'm becoming more and more financially aware; I'm certainly not chucking out every item of MAC, Bobbi Brown and L'Oreal (and more) cosmetics I own, because that would constitute a huge waste of money, but I certainly am planning to only buy from cruelty-free brands in the future.

Blogging has always been something I've been so interested in taking further, and I'm really hoping there is still a small audience that wants to read whatever I post here. 

Please leave a comment down below if you're reading still, tell me what you'd be interested in reading about.

Love,

Katie

Review: Foundation-Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum.

Bonjour Beauties,

Today, I've got a review for you! I recently bought this foundation after seeing Zoella (I mentioned her once before-I'm obsessed!) review it on her Youtube channel. She advised that it wasn't great for oily skin, and as mine as been really dry lately, I figured it should work pretty well for me. And I'm really pleased with the result. The foundation has a light-medium coverage which I find is perfect for when my skin is normal, but I've recently had a breakout and the foundation does very little to cover actual blemishes, in my opinion, but to me that's really not an issue has I have a full-coverage concealer that combined with this foundation gives me a really nice, medium-full coverage and covers any imperfections. However, if you're looking for a foundation that will put your concealer out of business, this probably won't be the one for you.

I would definitely say that it's one for the dry skinned people, as it gives quite a glow to the skin, and I fear it would just slip and slide off of an oilier skin. I powder it a little bit as I find otherwise it makes me look a little too shiny for my liking, though if you're a fan of that whole "dewy" look, then it's probably perfect for you just on its own! I got shade 51 which was the lightest, and it looks a little darker in the photos than it actually is; with some blending, it's the perfect colour for me!

It retails for £10.99 at Boots, which originally I thought was slightly excessive for a drugstore branded foundation, but I'm really impressed with the quality and the packaging is of a reasonable standard, though I find it's not quite as nice as the glass bottles that Rimmel London use for their foundations. Also, there is a huge amount of product in the bottle which is important to keep in mind, so that makes it even better value for money.

So, overall, I'm a little bit in love with this foundation and so far, it's probably on it's way to being my favourite, though I'm still a little undesicive on that one!

Review:

Price: 2.5/5

Packaging: 3/5

Product: 4.5/5

Let me know if you've tried this foundation! What else from Bourjois should I try out? Are there any great foundations that you're loving right now? Be sure to let me know in the comments section!

Thanks for reading!!

Katie



Review: Mascara-L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes.

Heyya

Yup, I'm pretty much back on the blogging wagon right now-I'm a tad more inspired than usual which is always good! I thought I'd get this review up as I got this mascara a month ago for my birthday and I've been using it since so that's a good amount of time! I don't use/own a lot of L'Oreal products but the great quality of this mascara has definitely converted me and I think that their Telescopic mascara will be my next purchase! They're probably one of the most expensive DRUGSTORE brands, but they're still a great deal compared to the high end brands who sometimes don't even compare!

This mascara retails at £10.99 and I have the shade Extra-Black! I think, as I said, that's quite a lot for a drugstore mascara, but I reaaally wanted to try it and my lovely mum bought it as one of my little, beauty gifts for my birthday, so thankyou for that! If you're in the UK, you can get L'Oreal at Boots and Superdrug and at American drugstores I'm sure! I'm not completely certain of the avaliability of this brand/mascara in Europe/other places, but they should be pretty universal. Just Google it!! :)

Now on with the pictures!

I've gotta be honest: I LOVE the packaging and it's really great quality too!

The wand is slightly different to any that I have. It tapers in slightly at the top which makes it really easy to get into the inner corner lashes and also makes it a lot simpler and less messy for applying mascara to the bottom lashes too. I wouldn't nessecarily recommend this if you've got really thin, short or sparse eyelashes though because I find the formula is quite wet and gets messy even on my eyelashes which are long and curled (with an eyelash curler of course, not naturally!).

So I really love this mascara!<3 It's definitely one that I would repurchase and worth the rather costly sum of money! It gives a very seperated, defined look to your lashes, not a hugely voluminous look but adds a lot of length, so keep that in mind if you're a BIIIG lashes girly; it may not be as good for you, I usually do go for volume, but it's nice to have an alternative too! :)

Overall:

Price: 2.5/5.

Packaging: 4/5.

Product: 4/5.

Thanks for reading!

Katie

Review: Cream Blusher-Stila Convertible Colour.

Hiii again!

I've recently bought a few different Stila products, all of which I will review on here sooner or later, but this is definitely my favourite! Stila IS an expensive brand but the quality of their products is absolutely brilliant. This blush is in the colour Petunia and it's the perfect bright pink. It's not a hot, blue-toned colour it's a really summery, fresh, bright shade that gives your cheeks a really natural glowy look. I'm absolutely in love with the blush and if I'm totally honest? It's a better colour and consistency than MAC's Lady Blush. However, talking of that blush, I think perhaps this one might be a little too much and a little too bright in the winter when I'm extra pale, and that's when I can still get away with the MAC one, so they both have their perfect times to wear.

As you can see the colour is absolutely DIVINE and on second looks it's more coral than I first saw which is even better and nicer and more wearable for me and for summer :) Stila has a range of different shades of Convertible Colours (which can also be used on lips!) and you can check that range and all of the other awesome makeup out here (the UK site). These only retail at £16.00 which for the quality and pigmentation I think is actually really great. A MAC cream blusher will cost you slightly more at £17.50 but remember to consider the colour options and consistency in both and definitely try before you purchase because different brands and shades work very differently for different people.

OVERALL:

Product: 4/5

Packaging: 5/5

Price: 3/5

Thanks for reading!

Katie

Review: Bronzer-Stila Sun Bronzing Powder.

Heyya :)

*Before I get into the actual post I just wanna quickly say that I'm not going to be blogging about my February Glossybox, as 1) I was missing one product so they're sending it to me and 2) 2 of the products were things I just wouldn't personally use so there's no point! I still remained subscribed and love Glossybox though!*

Anywaysss...

Stila is a brand based in America and has a reputation for producing some of the greats such as the Convertable Colours and Kitten eyeshadow. I recently got their Sun Bronzing Powder and I've got to say; their product quality, as far as I can say, is really, really great! The bronzer comes in shade 1 and shade 2 and I absolutely adore the packaging of it! It also has a mirror inside which is incredibly useful.
The product itself is matte and quite dark, but really easy to work with even for me; my skin is really quite pale. The bronzer is really soft and smooth on the skin and looks really natural. (Sorry about any glare on photos! The sun was out for once!)

Something else that I adore about this bronzer is that it has spf15 in it! This is so great because bronzer is one of my favourite things to wear makeup-wise for the summer, as I never find myself wearing as much as I do during the fall/winter months. This bronzer is pretty expensive, it retails at $28.00 but I do love it and think it's pretty much worth the price..if you're willing to pay that much, but if you just want a good, reasonably priced bronzer, you could probably find a drugstore dupe pretty easily.

Overall;

Product: 4/5.

Packaging: 5/5.

Price: 2.5/3/5.

Definitely try this bronzer out if you feel like splashing out on a great product! You can visit the Stila website here.

Thanks for reading!

Katie