REVIEW || ◊ W7 In The Buff Natural Nudes Palette ◊

I have been hearing a lot of things about this certain palette for a while and I have been mad keen to buy it and test it out. Combined with this was the fact I also was in super super desperate need of a shadow palette as I don't think I've even worn eye-shadow since I was maybe 11 years old. 

It is no secret that the W7 In The Buff palette has striking similarities to the Naked palette's (in particular Naked 2). I do plan on actually buying the Naked palette's as soon as I can muster up the courage to spend that amount of money on a set of eye shadows but it will happen. I was in Asda a week or so ago anyway and spotted it lying on a shelf to which i then shouted "A-HA. I NEED IT. IT WAS ON 'THIS MORNING'. I MUST BUY IT".

So I did.

I had no idea of its price before I bought it and I did expect it to be a bit pricier than it was. As soon as I bought it I got home to my sister (a proud owner of Naked 2) and was bragging how cheap it was and how similar the colours are etc etc etc.

I've tested the colours out on my lids a few times in the past week and I gotta say, it's pretty alright. The shade 'chocolate' is probably my favourite, it's this lovely matte taupey-brown colour. The staying power of the shadows is also pretty great. Even this morning, I did my make-up a half hour before I left, spent all day walking around outside and then came home to see it still proudly resting on my eyelids.

HOWEVER the pigmentation isn't the best thing on the planet. Onyx is the only super pigmented colour on the palette, darks wise, then coming a close second is Sand but that's about it. I usually apply Sand as a base and then build on that with a shimmery shade like Camel, Dust or Thunder but i have to use a good few applications before I'm even close to happy. 

Contrasting this with the Naked 2 palette I have found that it's way easier just to swipe the colour on than the W7 shadows. 

I kinda regret being all in my sisters face about this palette because it is really really great but I do still believe that what you get is what you pay for. £37 for Urban Decay is way expensive but also way worth it. 

(L-R: Buff, Camel, Sand, Dust, Chocolate, Topaz, Earth, Storm, Silk, Wave, Thunder, Onyx)

Thanks for reading! I'm going to be posting again tomorrow with a little discussion on a couple of Lush products I bought today, which I'm actually so super excited about!

xxrachel

Please enjoy Our Eyes by Lucy Rose on your Sunday because I have been

☼ SPRING Make-up Buys ft Topshop, Soap & Glory and More ☼

With my acquiring of a new job, meaning regular cash-flow into my bank account, I have been spending rather a lot more on make-up recently. This is too strange considering I am almost always a clothes over make-up kinda person. I find something really satisfying about buying, testing and collecting products. The following products I've sort of bought within the past few days and I don't know if it seems a little excessive or not but I've been trying to branch out.

BENEFIT

First off are the Benefit products. I didn't know if I should believe the hype around Benefit because all of their products seem pretty small and I wasn't sure if it was all show with no real results. However after a few maties, quite dangerously, convinced me otherwise I went into town and bought the That Gal face primer, High Brow pencil and the Gimme Brow gel. 

I absolutely love High Brow so far, it really illuminates underneath your brows to give the effect of a more defined shape, also it's super easy to blend! 

Gimme Brow also gives me similar feelings, I just simply sweep the gel across each of my brows and it manages to keep them in shape from morning til night, no prob. 

That Gal I'm afraid leaves me a lil unimpressed so far. I've only used it a couple of times but the thin liquid doesn't seem to do much regarding holding my foundation in place. It is super moisturising (which I 100% must keep in mind at all times with face products) but I guess time will tell whether this product is a repurchase or a no-go. I do think the twisty-applicator is a cool bonus but similarly the packaging is just a little cheap and tacky for my liking.

That Gal Face Primer - £22.50, Benefit @ House of Fraser

High Brow Pencil - £16.50, Benefit @ House of Fraser

 Gimme Brow Gel - £18.50, Benefit @ House of Fraser

Finally I bought the Roller Lash mascara!!!!!!!!!!!!

A couple of months ago I received a little Roller Lash tester with a copy of Elle magazine (big ups Elle freebies) and absolutely fell in love with it! The applicator is so perfectly shaped that I can curl my lashes from the inside and not get mascara all over my eyelid! It separates my lashes perfectly and not only this, the packaging is so lovely and I like the added touch of rubber at the end of the applicator!

 Roller Lash Mascara - £19.50, Benefit @ House of Fraser

Not ONLY did I buy all those lil goodies but I also got given a few tester freebies! I'm saving them for my hollibobs so I can't discuss how they work just yet but I have tried the POREfessional primer before and it all seems very promising!

SOAP & GLORY

I've also been going absolutely mental over S&G at the minute because not only am I obsessed with how amazing their products are but the packaging is absolutely gorgeous.

A while ago I purchased the KickAss concealer (in light) because I heard fab things about it but after buying and trying I'm really not loving it. So, it has three steps to it: 1) under-eye concealer, 2) blemish concealer, 3) sealing powder. Firstly I can't even USE the powder because of my dry skin and secondly it's all just a bit of a faff. It is good regarding under-eye concealing but otherwise it just makes my skin super super dry.

KickAss Concealer in light - £10, S&G @ Boots

I decided to repurchase a S&G eyebrow pencil because their Archery Brow Tint and Precision pencil made me so happy. SO i picked up the Archery 2 in 1 Brow Filling Pencil just cause I fancied a change though I was surprised at how thin and tiny it is. It has a cool lil brush to comb my brows through with a teeny lil nib to fill em in before I swoop in with my Gimme Brow!

Archery 2in1 Filling Pencil - £8, S&G @ Boots

I'm not a huge lip-gloss fan but I thought I'd be brave and picked this Sexy Mother Pucker gloss up (in Pink Apricot). The consistency is super thick so I have no real fear of it straying too far. When it's applied though I get this strange tingling feeling, which is apparently normal, and I'm not sure why it happens but it does. No real strong opinion on this product yet I'm afraid.

Sexy Mother Pucker gloss - £9, S&G @ Boots

Lastly is the Solar Powder Bronzer, which I bought due to the fab reviews I've been hearing for a while now. My current bronzer is a lil too dark for comfort so I'm saving it for my tanner summer days in favour of this new compact. It's so shimmery and pretty and is a fab size, I now just need a kabuki brush to pair with it.

Solar Powder Bronzer - £11, S&G @ Boots

TOPSHOP

Finally I got my hands on some Topshop make-up that isn't just eyeliner or lipstick! 

I'd heard good things about Topshop's highlighters so I couldn't resist and I ended up picking it up. I'm really confused as to which brush to use for highlighter, I really should brush up (no pun intended) on my make-up brush knowledge as it is incredibly poor. It's a magical shimmery colour that isn't very dark when applied but gives a nice lil glow.

Topshop Highlighter in Horizon - £10, Topshop

I bought a BB Cream for the first time!! And I am now questioning as to why I never have before because this one from Topshop is aMAZING. It has such great coverage, I love to use it underneath my foundation as it holds it in place all day without budging. I only use a tiny amount too! The packaging is so shiny and pretty I absolutely love it. (+ it includes spf25!)

BB Cream in Light - £10, Topshop

Last but by no means least, is my little repurchase of my favourite double-ended Kohl liner. I love my white eye liners as I think they add great definition to the eyes, especially when just applied to the inner corners and I think this pencil is perfect for doing so. It has a white end and an ivory end, admittedly I leave the ivory end slightly neglected as I'm yet to find a singular white liner that will do me.

Precision Double-Ended Kohl Liner - £7.50, Topshop

 Well done if you made it to the end of this post but I just thought I would share with you all what i have been buying 4 ma face this Spring. I've been loving light-weight products and have been obsessing over my brows as I never realised how sparse they really are and need to sort that out, fast.

I'm posting this on the 8th May but I wrote this last night whilst watching the election results on the BBC, so naturally it took me forever to get it all typed up but I did it!
Hope you all had fun on polling day, I hope you all voted if you're of age and if you didn't then why on earth not?! There is something creepy about typing this not knowing who has one the election yet when I post it we will have a brand knew government....

xxrachelhelen

REVIEW || ♥ Soap + Glory Supercat eyeliner ♥

So I thought it was about time I reviewed my new Soap and Glory eyeliner because it is absolutely FAB and the whole world needs to know about it.

Firstly it comes in this fabby packaging which is always a plus and in fact although It's well and truly broken into I'm still keeping it in the box because it is just so pretty and gold and pink and shiny! 

There was only one left in the store and now it's pretty obvy as to why. 

I swatched it here so you can see just how opaque it is. This is just with one swipe of the tip which makes a change as with other pen-liners I've had to go over and over my lids and it just took forever but not anymore! I find it super easy to go for a thin line too as opposed to massive, thick cat eyes (which I'm not really a fan of at the minute) but the nib is so smooth and streamlined(?) that either option is cool and easy to do.

(soz about the eyebrows) 

Here is what it looks like after a full day of adventures (i.e. collecting the weekly shop from Aldi and a good Nandos run), I think the staying power is pretty good and it hasn't smudged all over my face like my Rimmel liquid-liner does. I'm also not super allergic to this one, hurray!

(On my face is Rimmel's Perfect Match, Topshop Bronzer in Sandcastle, Bourjois blush in Rose Coup de Foudre and L'Oreal Superstar mascara in Black, Soap and Glory Kickass concealer and Soap and Glory Archery eyebrow pencil)

All in all, a super good purchase and I recommend you get yourself down to Boots and purchase yourself one because it is absolutely fab, £6 well spent.

I think I've gathered together a few thoughts on the L'Oreal Superstar mascara enough to write a review on that too so expect that one maybe tomorrow night depending on how well I get things done. I have quite a lot to do tomorrow as I'm travelling back to Liverpool for two weeks before I permanently move back home for the summer!

xxRxx

REVIEW - Topshop creamy lipstick and Bronzer compact

For around 4 years or so i have had such a love-hate relationship regarding bronzer, whether it be because my face is too pale or, well, my face has always just been too pale. I could just about get away with foundation but i found bronzer made me look like a 7 year old playing with her mums make-up stash. I was interested in buying the Estee Lauder Bronze goddess compact but at a £32 price tag that just did NOT agree with my bank balance.
I think my local Topshop are beginning to get sick of me because I am non-stop in and out of that place but i find their products SUCH good quality and super long-lasting! - and as a sucker for pretty packaging, their trademark black and white sketch-style is always an eye-catcher.

I'm quite new to the Topshop lipstick fad because i've been stuck on rimmel for SUCH a long time but the first purchase I made was the shade Ditzy (pictured left in the top photo and right in the bottom), I expected it to be far more orange on than it was but it has a sort of red undertone to it which is super flattering. The second shade, Wicked (picture right in the top photo and left in the bottom) I was hesitant on buying. I knew I wanted a knew lipstick but i was torn between a bright pink and another dark purple shade, similar to my Cyber by MAC lipstick. Cyber is actually a lot deeper purple than Wicked and i find MAC lipsticks dry my lips out so bad. Contrastingly, Topshop lipsticks do such favours for my lips, they're so creamy and don't dry my lips out at all, no matter how many times i reapply! 

At £8 a stick they are a lil' bit pricier than other highstreet brands, such as Rimmel, but the quality of them is 100% better than any other i've tried and I aim to keep building my collection!

As I mentioned previously, i've been searching for a decent bronzer for quite some time and i've always been afraid of buying one just in case i then HATED it and totally wasted my money. 

I then stumbled across this item today while i was buying the lipstick and the first thing i noticed is that Topshop's bronzers weren't super super dark, which for me is a bonus. The thought of applying such dark shades to my face horrifies me and i can tell you i often have gravy-line related nightmares.

As soon as I got home I reapplied concealer and tried this out on my face, which i purchased in the shade Sandcastle. I just applied it with my regular powder brush, all over my cheeks and was instantly very impressed with what i saw. This shade greatly flatters my skin tone and feels super light on my face. I'm unsure as to whether it is long-lasting considering I haven't worn it out the house yet but i can definitely tell you if it is, this will be a total repurchase! 

(On my face: Rimmel Stay Matte foundation in "Ivory" / Rimmel Wake Me up concealer in "Ivory" / Topshop Bronzer in "Sandcastle" / Topshop Cream Blush in "Head Over Heels" / Topshop Double ended eyeliner in White / Maybelline Go Extreme Very Black mascara / Rimmel eyebrow pencil in "Dark Brown" / Topshop Lipstick in "Wicked")

Note that the Wicked lipstick appears far lighter in these photographs and is actually a deep purple, yet very easy to pull off!

For my first make-up review i feel this went very well, i do plan on reviewing some more items too once i have finished them off, i guess i really should extend my collection beyond Rimmel and Topshop so if you have any recommended brands please let me know!

- Rachel xo

Someone call the police 'cause i just robbed Topshop

[All - Topshop]

I hope the pretty clothes distract from my extremely unprofessional photography. 

Tell me if i'm wrong but £1 for a scarf that used to be £20 is ridiculous, someone call the police 'cause i just robbed Topshop.

I'm spending this evening[and the next two weeks] downloading songs to my itunes because spotify is stupid and won't let me copy music to my ipod because i haven't "legally downloaded it" or something??????? I couldn't comprehend. I also think it's a good way to keep me INSIDE the house to prevent me from spending any more money, money that i don't actually have. When I say I am the worlds worst saver i mean i am THE worst, nobody can compare to how i deal out cash to retailers, trust me.

I currently have 13 packages to post i think when i pitch up at the post office tomorrow at 9am the woman behind the glass counter may actually smash through it and throttle me. 

I AM SO EXCITED TO BE GOING TO LONDON. I'm going to London in two weeks and i am so incredibly excited, i've never been before in a proper way [as in i once went for about 5 hours and saw nothing but the inside of art galleries]. I probably won't do much, just walk around with my mouth open and a little bit of spit hanging out.