Sleek Mediterranean Collection - Monaco, Santorini and Monte Carlo Swatches

I only received these last night so for now I'll just be sharing my swatches for. Overall I think that this collection has some lovely brights for the summer as well as a couple of nudes that can be used for a more natural look in the Monaco palette. The blush and pout polish can be applied heavily or lightly to give different overall effects. This is a limited edition collection with the palette priced at £6.49 with the blush and pout polish both £4.30.

Links to full reviews of each product and a FOTD can be found at the bottom of this post. I hope you enjoy :)

Monaco Palette

Without going to a premature review of the Monaco palette I'll try and give a small overview. The palette contains 4 shimmer shades, 1 pearl shade and 7 mattes. So far the colours that I have tried have looked beautiful on the eyes and have worked really well together as well as being well pigmented.

Top Row

Bottom Row

Top Row -

You can't actually see the first shade as it's very similar to my skintone but it's called Bamboo, then Aquamarine, Midnight Garden, Sunset, Washed Ashore, Magenta Madness.

Bottom Row -

Summer Breeze, Sand Walker, Kiwi Zest, Lotus Flower, Humming Bird, Moors Treasure.

When the full review is up I'll give an overview of each shadow including the finish and colour description.

Monte Carlo Pout Polish

Santorini Blush

Both the Santorini Blush and Monte Carlo Pout Polish have the same city-scape pictured on the outside packaging. I think this is a nice touch as at a glance I know what is inside - the outside packaging of most sleek products is identical until you read the name of the product.

L-R: Santorini (Blush), Monte Carlo (Pout Polish)

Link to Monte Carlo Pout Polish Review

Link to Santorini Blush Review

Link to Monaco Palette Review 

Link to a Mediterranean Collection FOTD

So far my first impressions are that the blush is very well pigmented, which I found out the hard way after looking like a clown when I first applied! The Pout Polish is fairly sheer but still gives a pink tint to the lips. Full reviews of these should also appear in a few days once I've has a chance to have a proper play and gain a proper opinion on how they work and are used. 

LINKS NOW ADDED ABOVE. 

Thank you for reading my post, I hope you found it useful, If you have any further questions they may be answered in the individual reviews linked above or alternatively feel free to ask in the comments below, Thanks again, H :)

FOTD - Sleek Mediterranean Collection

I've finally managed to get my hands on the whole of this collection - a bit late I know! But I've good a quick look here using the Monaco Palette, Monte Carlo Pout Polish and Santorini Blush. Expect swatches of these later today with reviews to follow once I've had a chance to play with these properly. EDIT - swatches can be found here,

First impressions are that the blush is very pigmented, the lip pout fairly sheer and the eyeshadow very good quality considering the amount of matte shades in it.

PRODUCTS USED

Face 

17 Photo Flawless Skin Primer

Bourjois Healthy Mix Concealer in 53 dark radiance

17 Adaptitude Foundation in Fair

Sleek Blush - Santorini

Eyes

ELF Eyelid Primer

No7 Smokey Eye Pencil in Smokey Blue

Too Faced Lash Injection Mascara

And the following eyeshadows from the Sleek Monaco Palette

~ Summer Breeze (inner corner)

~ Bamboo (highlight)

~ Aquamarine (lid)

~ Lotus Flower (crease)

~ Midnight Garden (deepen crease / outer corner)

Lips

Sleek Pout Polish in Monte Carlo 

Monte Carlo

I've also included a lip swatch of Monte Carlo Pout Polish as I know some people might want to see it, hopefully this will do until I've got up my full review for the product. I'm really enjoying having this palette I think the colour combinations are great for late spring/early summer. And also work really well together. A link to my full swatches can found at the top of this post.

Thanks for reading my post, I hope that you found it helpful, If you have any questions on any of the products used then feel free to ask using the comments section below, Thanks again, H :)

I have some exciting news!

And it's not make-up related! I am moving house. Me and the boyfriend are moving cities so it's all an exciting adventure. The move will be happening very soon which is why I'm giving you a little update. The posts may become a bit more sparse over the next few days as I'll be a busy bee packing my things and cleaning my flat. So far we're doing quite well with the packing and cleaning but for the most just want to be in the new place. When we get into the new flat I'm assuming we'll have to wait to get an internet connection, which means my posts will have to be on hold for a little while - this is the main reason I'm sharing. I didn't want you all to think I'd given up on blogging - I'm still as passionate as ever, more so if anything. The night before we move I'll try and get a minute on the computer to say goodbye and such.

I hope you can all understand my reasons for less blogging over the next few weeks and have a good start to the summer with all this sunshine. If only I could my sitting outside with a good book instead of inside with the mr. muscle!

Lake Garda - Italy (My photograph)

The Body Shop A La Mode Palette Review and Swatches

The full name of this is actually The Body Shop Limited Collection for Eyes - 02 A la Mode. But thats far too long to give as a title for a post! These were originally selling for £15 but are now in their sale for £7.50 so grab one now if you want one! Out of the two palettes released this is my favourite - my review of Boho Beauty (the neutral one) can be found here.

As usual a summary can be found at the bottom. 

The palette has a very pretty design on the front which resembles the colours inside, this makes it easy to tell the two palettes apart. This palette includes 4 eyeshadows, an eyeliner and a brush. The brush is one of the best quality brushes I've tried in a palette - however it's not so good for blending, working at it's best for applying. The eyeliner shade that is included is Black I'll talk more about that in a bit but for now I'm going to tell you about the colours included.

01 - Minimalist White -This is a pearly white. For such a pale colour this has amazing pigmentation. I like to use this on the inner corner of the eye and applied softly as a highlight.


02 - Pret-a-pink -  A soft pearl pink, that leans towards being more cool toned. I find that the pinkness in this has a habit of dulling down when on the eye.


03 - Futuristic Silver - This has truely amazing pigmentation - one of the best eyeshadows I've tried. It's a dark silver but lighter than gunmetal, this is almost metallic without glitter.


04 - Little Black Dress - The worst pigmented of the four this is a matte black. I find that it swatches like charcoal. This works well to deepen the crease.

The shadows in this palette are slightly smaller than the other one. Being 2.2g as opposed to 2.4g. But this is still very generous amount considering a single shadow from the website would set you back £8. I find that these have better pigmentation than the other palette - this is probably due to them not being matte (apart from the black). The selection of colours works really well together giving a really beautiful look when applied. My favourite of the four definitely has to be Minimalist White.With Futuristic Silver having some of the best pigmentation I've come across. These don't crease or fade on me throughout the day and the white stays as bright as ever. I also find that the matte shades from The Body Shop are the softest. These colours are limited edition and aren't available individually.

The Eye Definer included is in Black - I had one of these before when I was a lot younger and remembered liking it. However now that I've tried a lot of other eyeliners this isn't as great for me. It's a wooden pencil style liner meaning that it is easy to sharpen. But I find that it's not as soft as I'd like it to be and it does tend to drag on my eye a little bit when applied. After applying it lasts about 3 hours before it starts to smudge - which isn't that great but my eyes tend to water a lot so an eyeliner has a lot to stand up with for me. I found that the Rich Brown shade of this liner lasted longer. This is just a mini size (0.5g) but a full size is available. The pigmentation could be better - but it's not too bad (I pressed fairly hard to get the swatches below)

Overall as a whole I think this palette is great and everything in it works well together and is great to take away. The only negative I have to say is that the palette is fairly chunky and would be better if it was a bit more slimlined as it would be better to carry around. Below I have a couple of photos of my eyes with all the shadows and liner applied.

The Good - eyeshadows are well pigmented, don't crease/fade and work well together, includes a useable brush. The eyeliner doesn't break when it's sharpened, pretty packaging, large mirror.

The Not so Good - The black eyeshadow and eyeliner could be more pigmented, eyeliner smudges after about three hours, the packaging is chunky, limited edition

Would I buy this again?   Yes, although it's limited edition. I won't be buying a back-up as I have more than enough eyeshadow, I will be on the lookout for a dupe of Minimalist White as this is an amazing colour!

Who would this be suited to? Those that like a pop of colour or dramatic eyes - both can be created with this palette. Also people that are looking to try out The Body Shop make-up as this is a good value set including 4 eyeshaodow, a liner and a brush. 

It seems like I've gone The Body Shop mad recently. I've been using and reviewing them like mad to try and get the reviews of this collection out whilst it's still available so you can actually buy the products if you like the look of them! Anyway I've finished on my Body Shop marathon for now so expect something different tomorrow. I have a bit of an update coming tomorrow, so stay tuned! Thanks for reading, every view here makes my day, H :) 

The Body Shop Tailored Cheek Tint Review and Swatches

I picked this blush up just over a week ago in the The Body Shop sale for £4.50, I can't see it on their website but it may still be available in your store. I'm not sure if this comes in different colours but the one I have is 01 - hot pink. This has a very unusual texture to it and comes in a squeezy tube with an attached brush.

As usual I have a summary at the bottom. 

 This limited edition blush has a very unusual texture to it as I've already mentioned. To me it feels very similar to a silicon based face primer. I find that this helps it to blend very easily into the skin. I tend to do this with my fingers as the brush included is not very good for anything put dispensing the product. However I find that if anything it blends too well and it is very easy to blend out to no colour.

I also find that it has a habitat to settle into the pores on my cheeks so I wouldn't recommend this to people that have larger pores. I also find that this product leaves a 'soft' residue on the skin, this can be wiped away after a bit but this removes some of the colour too, in the two photos below I've shown how removing this residue affects the colour. After experiencing this I tried setting the product with a similar coloured blush (Sleeks Pixie Pink Blush), but I still found that I didn't get much wear from it - less than the Sleek blush on it's own.

I have read some good reviews of this product so it may just be that this isn't a product for me. If your interested in this product it may be worth checking out what other people have to say as this is just my opinion.

With Residue

When the product first comes out it clear but upon hitting the air it turns pink, and then pinker when it is blended to the skin. The applicator is very easy to use and allows you too use the amount of product you want.

The colour of the blush is sheer hot pink, with a tiny hint of purple in it that gives a really natural look. I haven't got a picture of this applied to the cheeks as I found I couldn't wear it without it settling into my pores. Also it was so sheer that it didn't really show up on the rest of my cheeks in the photographs.

With the Residue removed - I can't get this colour pay-off on my skin!

The Good - I think the idea is good as is the packaging, I think the formula is the let down here. Packaging design is also cute.

The Not so Good - I just can't get on with the formula - it's too sheer, only lasts around an hour on me and has a 'soft' residue. 

Would I buy this again? Nope, for me this was a waste of money, I tried using it on my lips but it gave no colour so that was a bit of a fail for me too. I really wanted to like this as overall I'm a big fan of The Body Shop.  

I don't think it would be fair of me to suggest who this product might be suited to as I ususally do. If you are interested in this product try reading some of the reviews on The Body Shop website as they are mainly positive (there are a couple that appear to have had the same experiences as me). I feel like I've spent this whole post being negative, I hate to write bad reviews but I just want to be honest about what I thought. I hope that it was helpful and thankyou for reading my post, H :)

No7 Lipgloss Review and Swatches - Sultry Red

I picked this gloss up a few weeks ago, it is part of the current summer collection. There are two lipglosses available the Sultry Red shade I have to show you and Sultry Nude aswell. Both are available from Boots for £10. I also recently reviewed the Sunset Metallic Eye Palette from this collection, which can be found here.

As usual I have included a summary at the bottom. 
 

I'm new to No7 Lipglosses so didn't quite know what to expect. What I found was a well pigmented lipgloss with a lovely shine to it. It's not an over the top shine but a definite shine with a sophisticated edge. I also found that they had a scent to them. It's fairly subtle but definitely there. To me the scent is cakey-vanillary. Inside the gloss you get 4.5ml which is on the smaller side of average.

Once on the lips I find that it lasts around 3 hours before I feel the need to reapply. The lipgloss does fade, but I find that it does evenly and doesn't tend to travel towards the creases of the lips so will still look fine. Surprisingly for a lipgloss I found that this didn't dry my lips out at all, if anything it actually moisturized my lips.

I would describe the colour as a bright pillarbox red. I would describe the formula as not too thick or too thin, and not sticky either, whilst feeling very smooth on the lips.

Below I have included a couple of photographs of this worn on the lips, so you can get an idea of how it looks on.

The Good - smooth on the lips, slightly moisturizing, lasts 3 hours, nice scent, well pigmented, not sticky

The Not so Good - Limited edition, and thats probably all I have to say thats bad about it, except that for me £10 is a bit steep for a lipgloss - but a lot of people are happy to pay that. 

Would I buy this again? Definitely, I love that the gloss is a true red that's well pigmented. It lasts a good amount of time and smells good without a taste. I was very tempted to get a back-up, I still have time to pick another up... it's just the price that's putting me off.

Who would this be suited to? If you are willing to pay £10 for a lipgloss and love a red lip I'm sure you'll like this. I can imagine it would look good over a red lipstick to give an even more intensified look. 

Overall I love this gloss, I just wish it was available permanently. I'm rather tempted to have a look and see if there's anymore stand out shades available. But I've gone a bit over my beauty budget recently - maybe in the future! Anyway thank you very much for reading my post, It makes my day, H :) 

The Body Shop Boho Beauty Palette Review and Swatches.

The full name for this is Limited Collection for Eyes - Boho Beauty. There is also another palette available which is called A la Mode (review here.). I also have that and will be reviewing that in the near future too. These were originally selling for £15 each, but I managed to pick these up for £7.50 each in the current sale, as they are limited edition. At the time of writing both are still available online.

As always I have included a summary at the bottom. 

Inside the kit are four eyeshadows, one eye definer (rich brown) and a mini eye colour brush. The brush is impressive for one included in a palette and works well for applying the eyeshadow, but not so well for blending but can be used at a push. As your all probably wondering what the colours included in that palette are (if you haven't already seen the palette) I'll get onto the colour descriptions.

01 - New Nude - An ivory which slight peachy undertones. This has a very VERY subtle shimmer to it. It's very similar to my skin colour and works well as a subtle eye highlight.

02 - Vintage Apricot - A matte dirty orange, with brown in it. This is probably my least favourite shadow of the palette as I find oranges don't work so well on my pale cool toned skin.


03 - Boho Brown - Another matte this is a fawn brown that leans slightly taupe, being mostly brown. I find that this shade has a tendency to fade through the day.


04 - Haute Chocolate - Again this is a matte shade and is slightly darker than the above shade. This one has much more of a warmer tone, leaning more towards a muted chesnut colour.


Rich Brown Eye Definer - This is a very deep brown, great for people like me who aren't ashamed to admit their a bit scared of brown eye liner.

Clockwise from top - Vintage Apricot, Haute Chocolate, Boho Brown, New Nude.

Each of these eyeshadows are 2.4g, this is a very generous size and so makes the set good value. None of these colours can be found in the regular line of eyeshadows, so if one catches your eye then be sure to snap this up. Also just a quick note on the value of this set, a single eyeshadow from The Body Shop costs £8, with this being only £7.50 in their current sale - so cheaper! Even at the original £15 this was great value. The eyeshadows are all very soft and are fairly well pigmented considering they're mainly matte shades.

They are not the best quality eyeshadows I've come across but they work perfectly fine and last all day without fading - except Boho Brown which I find has faded a little by the end of the day. I've had no problems with these creasing either, so a thumbs up for that. What really impressed me was that I didn't have any similar browns to these in collection already, so I'd assume they're pretty unique browns.

Clockwise from TL: New Nude, Vintage Apricot, Boho Brown, Haute Chocolate

I've had some experience with The Body Shop Eye Definer in the past, but never the Rich Brown shade. I find that these eyeliners can be a little hard and don't apply to the eye as smoothly as a softer eyeliner such as Urban Decays 24/7 Eye Pencils. Being less soft though I find that these last longer on my eyes and only have smudged very slightly by the end of the day. Considering I had very watery eyes on the days that I tested these I was very impressed. The size of the eyeliner is 0.5g. A full size is available in this shade.

Shadows Clockwise from TL: New Nude, Vintage Apricot, Boho Brown, Haute Chocolate

My one small gripe with this palette is that I feel it's larger in size than it really needs to be, it's really quite thick. Apart from that I love the design on the front, and that there is a large mirror inside. All in all it's a cute little set with everything in it to help you to make an eye look on the go.

Below is the eyeshadows and shadow worn together in a neutral eye.

The Good - Eyeshadows are of good quality and work together, eyeliner is very long lasting and easy to sharpen, the brush included is usable and applys eyeshadow nicely, pretty packaging with huge mirror.

The Not so Good - Large Packaging, Boho Brown eyeshadow fades a little, Eyeshadow can pull a bit on the eye when applying, limited edition.

Would I buy it again?  This is limited edition, I won't be buying a back up as I have enough eyeshadow as it is. But I love this set, definitely worth having a look at if you think they look good. It's worth noting here that the eyeshadow colours are not available individually.

Who would this be suited to? Possibly someone new to The Body Shop that wanted to try a couple of bits out without spending to much. Those that are a fan of the neutral eye, especially those that prefer orange tones poping up. 

I'm loving this little set, I've worn it the last couple of days, out of pure love. It's such an easy set to pick up and use. And it's new, I have a thing about using new things, I should really dig out some of my long lost loves, yes 17 Glam Rocks Eye Palette I'm looking at you! Thank you for reading my post, I really appreciate everyone that stops by here, H :)

Accessorize Bronzing Block Review and Swatches

This is a new item I noticed in Superdrug the other day whilst picking up some shower gel with the OH - yes I did drag him to look at the make-up too! I got this at the introductory price of £5 with the normal price being £7. I think there were about four or five different varieties each with different patterns on the packaging and in the pan. I love how their all so individual. The one that I picked up is shade 4 - it's a shame this product line has no names.

As usual I have a summary of the review at the bottom. 

This bronzer is packaged in cardboard packaging which resembles those of the Benefit blushes/bronzers. I personally don't have a problem with this type of packaging, but I know that some do. Inside there is 5.7g of product which is slightly below what I would usually expect from a cheek product but is still a good amount. Inside are 4 triangles of colour - orange, terracotta, pale pink and purple all with strong brown tones, especially the purple. I think that it resembles Benefits Sugarbomb Blush from photographs but I don't actually own the blush. 

 The colours can't really be used seperatly on the cheeks as the size is too small, however they do create a nice wash of colour over the eyes. Together the colour created is a orangey brown that steers towards the peach side. It also has a golden shimmer to it, but this is fairly subtle. The colours is fairly subtle as a whole on the cheeks, and for those with darker skin this would probably work well as a highlight. For me (pale as a ghost) I use this more as a blush which adds a summer glow to my skin.  

L-R: Individual colours, mixed all over right side.

 The bronzer does include brush (shown below). I don't really find it that useful and will probably be giving it to the bin when I've finished writing this review. It's not scratchy as such but not soft either. It's also fairly small and not of a shape thats easy to work with. It is a nice touch to have included it though as I know a few of my friends that aren't into make-up as much as me tend to use the free brushes in these sort of products. Instead I prefer to use a regular style blush brush finding that the bronzer blends better with this than my stipple brush.  

 I find that the bronzer can become really quite powdery in the pan, so may get used up quicker than I would expect due to wasted product. One think that I wasn't too impressed with was that it only lasted 3-4 hours on my cheeks before i felt I needed to reapply. When this happened I had shimmer remaining on my cheeks but no colour. 

How powdery the bronzer can be...

I have included a couple of photos below, hopefully you'll agree with me that this is a bronzer that is suitable for paler skin. Which is something I find hard to come by. I also found that it was pretty hard to overdo it with this bronzer as it's fairly sheer. This is a good thing to have for novices (me included in this, I don't have too much experience with bronzers). 

The Good - works on pale skin and I think it would work as a highlighter on dark skin, outside packaging is pretty, subtle colour, can be used as 4 eyeshadows, colours fairly sheer.


The Not so Good - some might not like the cardboard packaging, only lasts 3-4 hours, brush included isn't much good, I find it better as a blush which might disappoint people looking for a bronzer.   

Would I buy it again? Probably not, I can't help but feel that theres something better out there on the highstreet that I haven't found yet. Also the colours pretty sheer and doesn't last very long.      

Who would this be suited to? People that are scared to take the step between blushes and bronzers as this is like a step between product. People that like pretty packaging are also likely to be drawn in by this ones beauty as well. 

You have no idea how much trouble I've had getting this post up, blogger just doesn't want to behave AKA won't let me upload any pictures. How can I talk about this beautiful packaging and not beable to show you pictures of it! Anyway if your reading this I've eventually sorted out our differences and managed to get the post up. Thanks for reading my post, I really appreciate it, H :) 

 

Yes to Carrots Deeply Revitalising Body Scrub Review

Yes to Carrots has been a brand I've wanted to try for a while now. So a few months ago I took the plunge and ordered myself 4 items from ASOS. I got this as part of a set which is no longer available. I hate to review a product that I can't tell you where you can buy it, but I've checked all the usual haunts for this and not found it anywhere. If you are interested in the Yes to... ranges as a whole many other items can be purchased from Feel Unique.

This comes packaged in a tub similar to the body butters from The Body Shop. So the packaging gets a thumbs up from me. As you can see it contains organic carrot juice, gingko and dead sea minerals. This range is aimed at normal to dry skin and contains anti-oxidants (green tea and ginko) as well as purifying ingredients (dead sea minerals).

The product does have a scent to it - think typical cream smell crossed with floral that doesn't cross the granny line. Personally I really like the scent and love that it lasts all day on my skin. I also think that it's on the fresher side of the scent spectrum.

When I first tried this out I put it through a little trial, using it on one side of my body only. After using I found that the side I'd used it on was noticeably softer and felt like it had less dead skin on it. This lasted for a couple of days. After this I had to keep using it - but on both sides of my body this time. I scrub away using this for around a minute of so before washing the scrub off.

The texture of the scrub is like nothing I've come across before, it's almost like a body butter. In the shower it doesn't really lather, but still you don't need a large amount. The scrubbing particles are very small and there is a lot of them - not just the small brown ones you can see in the 'swatch' below. The texture is not to thick and heavy and blends easily around the body leaving no residue after rinsing.

The Good - Scrubs effectively, nice scent that lasts all day, noticeably softer skin after using, practical packaging, no residue

The Not so Good - You can get cheaper scrubs that are easier to get hold of, I can't find this anywhere on the internet or on the highstreet (I originally brought this from ASOS), some might not like the lack of lather but I don't mind.

Would I buy this again? Yes, if I could find the blooming thing being sold anywhere. But I have my eye on the Breakfast Scrub, Soap and Glory brought out recently so I'll probably be going for that instead :)

Who would this be suited to? I have normal, maybe slightly dry skin and found it worked really well for me. Everybodies skin reacts differently to different products. So I don't want to make any specific recommendations. 

I hope you didn't mind me diverging away from the make-up today, and also that I've reviewed a product that I can't find for sale anywhere. Soon I'm hoping to get some better swatches up for some of my older reviews, so I'll update you all when that happens. Thanks for reading my post, I really appreciate it, H :)