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Wednesday 31 July 2013

Sephora Haul

So today I'm showing you everything else I got from Sephora when I was on holiday in Italy. Wherever you take me in the world, I will find somewhere to buy makeup, living up to my name as a beauty addict. I bought makeup in duty free at the airport, and from Sephora and Kiko when I was actually on holiday. When I walked into Sephora, I literally felt like I had died and gone to makeup heaven. 

Warning: This might be quite a long post!


As we were walking down the street, I saw the black and white stripes of the Sephora shop, and a little squeal came out of me with no warning. But, I had to put my excitement on hold as it was closed, so I had to wait an agonizing five days before we went back into the city to shop. FIVE DAYS. But it was worth the wait and when I went, I did not hold back on spending the last of my euros.

Other than the Make Up For Ever item that I wrote about yesterday, I wanted to check out Sephora's own brand makeup more than anything as I could buy all of the other brands, such as Chanel, YSL and Dior at home. The things that I were drawn to most were the eyeshadows, after a marathon swatching session, I fell in love with 6 colours, 4 at full price (€11.90) and 2 which were on sale for €7.50 - bargain! 


Going clockwise from the top, the colours I chose were - Secret Boudoir, Californian Blonde, Dying For Fudge, Be On The A-List, Flirting Game, and Starry Sky.

Secret Boudoir is a matte creamy colour, which I think would be perfect as a subtle brow highlight, or as an all over base colour on the lid. Californian Blonde is a creamy gold colour, Dying For Fudge is a red toned bronze, Be On The A-List is a brown/taupe, and Flirting Game is a brown toned bronze - all of which have a satin finish. The final colour, Starry Sky is a dark grey with lots of silver shimmer running through it. The swatches below show how the eyeshadows look when applied to the skin.


The formula of the shadows is lovely, very creamy and blendable, and the colours are so pigmented. I think that the first 5 colours are gorgeous everyday colours as I am a neutral eyeshadow girl, but I think all six of them are perfect for a smokey eye for a night out or another special occasion. The only problem I have is with the colour Starry Sky as the shimmer in the eyeshadow produces a lot of fallout. I have to apply this while holding a tissue under my eye to catch the stray glitter so it doesn't end up all over my face making me look like a disco ball. Not cute!

I also picked up an eyeshadow palette which has 5 colours in it. The palette is called Taupe Model and contains the colours - Californian Blonde, Marie, Beige, Coffee Brown and also a liner colour called Mat Brown. As I was writing that list I just realised that one of the colours, Californian Blonde, is the same as one of the single eyeshadows I picked up - oh well, at least it's a colour I like!


(Swatches L-R : Californian Blonde, Marie, Coffee Brown, Beige, Mat Brown)

I think the palette is very nice and the formula of the shadows, again, is lovely. However, I don't think there is much difference between the colours Marie and Coffee Brown, so there isn't a great deal of variation between the colours. 

The final things I picked up were three eyeliners. I picked up two jumbo eyeliners and one normal eye pencil. The jumbo eye pencils eye chose were in the colours Beige and Dark Taupe Shimmer. The names are very fitting as they perfectly describe the colours. The liners are very creamy and blend really well, I have been using them as eyeshadows more than eyeliner and they work well for both. The staying power is very good, I have worn these for around 10 hours with no creasing and they are very waterproof... today's heavy rain put that one to the test!

The eye pencil that I got was in the colour Chocolate. I wear black eyeliner in my top and bottom waterline, but did not need to buy one from Sephora as I am very loyal to my Chanel Stylo Yeux Waterproof Long–Lasting Eyeliner in the colour Ebene, so I decided to get a brown eyeliner as I do not have one already. I have tried it and it is nice, but no match to my beloved Chanel, so I am still on the hunt for a brown eyeliner.


(Swatches L-R : Beige, Dark Taupe Shimmer, Chocolate)

If you've made it to the end of this post then you deserve an award.

Hope you've enjoyed looking at what I bought and if anybody has any recommendations for a brown eyeliner that I can fall in love with, then please leave it as a comment below.

Natalie x

Tuesday 30 July 2013

Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream - 13

As I mentioned in Sunday's post, for the next few days I will be showing you the things I picked up from Sephora when I was on holiday in Italy. Everything I got was Sephora's own brand makeup, apart from one product which is from the brand Make Up For Ever. This is a brand that I have heard a lot about, but never tried as it is super hard to get hold of in the UK. There were two Make Up For Ever items that I wanted to try, one of which was the HD Foundation. However, with 26 shades to choose from and costing 41.90, I did not want to spend all that money and then realise when I got home that the colour did not match. So, reluctantly, I moved away from the foundation and found the other item that I wanted to try - the aqua creams. 




I only chose one shade, as they were quite pricey at €24.90 each, and the colour I chose was number 13, a champagne colour. The colour is gorgeous, it is highly pigmented and the formula is lovely, as you can see in the swatch below. When you first apply it, it can look slightly patchy, but it is easy to blend out and when done so the finish is very smooth. You can also build up the colour to make the shimmer in it more intense. I have tried applying this both with just my fingers and also with a flat shader brush, and both methods work brilliantly. The staying power is good but not the best, I applied Urban Decay Primer Potion onto my eyelids before applying this and it lasted around 8 hours before creasing slightly. Usually, when I use a primer, my eyeshadow does not crease at all, so this is one of the main issues for me with the aqua cream. 



Even though the staying power isn't the best, I am still very happy I got the Aqua Cream and would definitely buy more shades in the future. I have still got my eye on the HD Foundation, so will pick that up next time I am near a Make Up For Ever counter, wherever in the world that may be. If anybody knows of anywhere in the UK you can buy MUFE products, or somewhere online that ships to the UK, then please leave it in a comment below.

Part two of my Sephora haul will be up tomorrow!

Hope you enjoyed this post.

Natalie x

Sunday 28 July 2013

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Hey everyone!

I've been reading blogs for years now and recently came across Bloglovin. I use it to follow all of the blogs that I enjoy reading, and since recently joining the blogging world myself, have decided to connect my own blog to Bloglovin.  I think it is a brilliant way to connect with other people and I would love it if you would follow me on there so that I can see who is reading my blog and be able to read yours too.

My next blog post will be up shortly,

Love Natalie x

Kiko Eyeshadow in 125

Last month, I went on holiday to Lucca, a gorgeous little city in Tuscany, Italy. Most of the week was spent sightseeing, but we did manage to squeeze in some quality shopping time. As a beauty addict, the two most exciting shops I went in were Sephora and Kiko Cosmetics. Kiko is an Italian makeup brand which is very affordable but has amazing quality products.

I bought lots of things in Sephora, which I will be talking about in my next couple of posts, but I only had about 5 minutes to look in Kiko before meeting up with everybody for lunch, which meant I only got chance to pick up one item. But I am so pleased with the product that I bought and am seriously considering making a rather large online order. The product I picked up was an eyeshadow in the colour 125.



The colour I got is a satin type finish and is a grey toned brown. On a day to day basis, I go for very neutral colours on my eyes and this works perfectly for the outer corners and also through the crease. 

I paid €2.90 for this eyeshadow, and for the price of it, I did not think it would be anything to write home about. However, I am so impressed with the quality, it is super pigmented and you only need a small amount on your brush to get a good colour payoff. The eyeshadow blends well and is very buildable by applying more product until you get the intensity you want. 

I find the colour to be quite similar to one of my all time favourite MAC eyeshadows, Satin Taupe.


The swatches above show the two colours side by side. Kiko 125 is the top colour and MAC Satin Taupe is the bottom colour. The colours are very similar in the pan, but when swatched Satin Taupe is slightly more bronze, however, I find that when they are on the eyes, you can hardly tell the difference. 

I wish I'd had chance to pick up more of these, as well as some of Kiko's other products. I am thinking of ordering more Kiko makeup, so if you have any recommendations then please leave them in a comment below so I can check them out.

Hope you've had a lovely weekend!

Saturday 27 July 2013

Bourjois Color Boost Lip Crayons

For my first blog post, I thought I would give a review on the Bourjois Color Boost Lip Crayons. I came across these while out shopping last week and was instantly curious to try them out. Bourjois is usually a brand that I overlook, but the colourful packaging of these lip crayons just drew me in.

There are four colours to choose from - Red Sunshine, Fuchsia Libre, Orange Punch and Peach On The Beach. All of the colours available are stunning, but I managed to pick mine up on a 3 for 2 offer in Boots, so the colours I went for were Fuchsia Libre, Orange Punch and Peach On The Beach. 

(L-R: Orange Punch, Peach On The Beach, Fuchsia Libre)

These are very moisturizing and leave a nice wash of colour on the lips, not too sheer but not too opaque either. The colours that I chose are very summer appropriate and I've been wearing them every day since I bought them.


The packaging is very pratical, it doesn't feel luxury, which you wouldn't expect of a high street product anyway, but it definitely doesn't feel cheap. They are very colourful and look very pretty in my Muji storage on my dressing table. These lip crayons also twist up to reveal more product, so there is no need for sharpening which is very convenient and saves time when you're rushing to get ready, which I usually am.

(Top-Bottom: Fuchsia Libre, Peach On The Beach, Orange Punch)

The swatches shown above show the colour pigmentation from two swipes. The formulation of these lip crayons is lovely, very moisturising and gives a glossy look to the lips. The staying power isn't amazing, but I do not mind re-applying the product every 2-3 hours, as it is super easy to apply and can be done without the need for a mirror. 

Overall, I am very happy with my first Bourjois products and after seeing the quality of them, I may start to peruse the Bourjois counter more often when I venture into the aisles of Boots or Superdrug.