Soap and Glory Kick Ass Concealer

You've probably seen this all over by now, so sorry if you're sick of seeing it, but I thought it was about time I threw in my opinion on this much loved concealer by Soap and Glory.  This is the Kick Ass Concealer, which is a small compact concealer kit that comes with two different shades of concealer and a setting powder.

I'm in two minds about this.  I half love it, but half of me just uses it because it's the only concealer I have, and I'm too skint to buy a replacement just for the fun of it.  I was so excited to try this when I first got it.  I'd heard so many people banging on about how amazing it was, and to be honest, I am left a little disappointed.  I just don't think that I'm destined for concealers.  The Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer everyone raved about?  Not a fan...it was way too cakey for my liking (below, swatched left).  The Soap and Glory Kick Ass Concealer?  Well this just might be too creamy for me (below, swatched centre and right).

I absolutely love the idea of this though...two concealers, and a setting powder in one neat, nifty little compact?  Well that's just my idea of a beauty bargain.  A three in one product, a handbag wonder, what else could you need for the day?  Let me tell you...you'll need a bloody good blending brush.

I don't know if it's just my skin type, or if I'm just such a greasy cow that this will mostly not stay in place!  The formula is so creamy; I apply this with my finger, and when I dab my finger in the compact, it practically melts under the heat of my finger tip.  I've had this for two months now, using it daily, and I've hit pan pretty badly on the left side.  It blends nicely into my skin, and the medium shade seems a pretty nice match for my skin.  In the swatches above, I have used the Lasting Perfection Concealer in Light, and the Kick Ass Concealer in Medium.  I think the under eye concealer from KA, central, is a very close match the the LP in light.  It conceals averagely well for me - I can still see some amount of shadow under my eyes, and I don't think I have particularly bad dark circles.  I'd say it's just a natural coverage, and I think some people will prefer a higher coverage concealer.  Because it's so creamy, I often find that the concealer sits in my fine lines, or full on shifts itself where ever it fancies.

The setting powder is really fine, and actually really nice - but in all honesty, I often forget about it all together, which is probably why it shifts sometimes.  I want a concealer that I can just apply and leave to do its thing.  Something long wearing, but not cakey!  I initially applied the setting powder using the pad that it came with - don't bother, it's so sharp on the under eye area and I didn't enjoy using that at all, so I switched it for the Real Techniques Setting Brush.  It's the perfect size for a quick swirl around, and the flat brush makes it nice to gently pat the powder into place, when I remember...

And there we have it!  I feel a bit bad for being a bit negative about Soap and Glory, because I absolutely love them!  But I just don't know about this concealer on me.  I feel like it's great for a night out, or would be amazing in the colder months, but now it's getting warmer, and my skin is getting shinier, I just need something that's going to be sticking around and not moving.  If I buy another, I think I'll wait until September!

Have you tried the Kick Ass Concealer?  What's your favourite concealer?

MAC Relentlessly Red

Hurrah for new lipsticks!  Even more of a celebration when they are a prize!  I was lucky enough to win a MAC lipstick of my choice on Danielle's blog The Imperfect Beauty, and as I couldn't make a decision between Lady Danger or Relentlessly Red, I left it up to Danielle to decide my lipstick fate!

She chose Relentlessly Red, which I was so pleased about.  I actually thought that when these first came out, they were part of a limited collection, so I was really surprised and pleased to see Relentlessly Red in stock across MAC stores!

The formula is a Retro Matte, and MAC mattes aren't a formulation that I have tried before, so I was a little nervous to try as I've heard mixed reviews about this finish.  As with all mattes, your lips do need to be in pretty good condition so that dryness isn't emphasised when the lipstick is applied.  I couldn't wait to try this, and applied it over non-exfoliated lips and didn't find it drew too much attention to any dry patches.  It applied evenly, but did feel a little chalky on the lips without a quick slick of lip balm underneath.

The colour is like nothing I own already; it's a bright red which definitely pulls a bright fuschia within it.  The matte formula is absolutely gorgeous, and provides opaque lips in one swipe.  I say swipe...the matte lipstick does drag a fair bit, but not enough to bother me!  The finish is beautiful, and I feel very pin up when I have this shade on!  I've tried this with the MAC Cherry Lip Liner underneath, and it's great for really defining the lips for a lip this bright.  (The swatches shown don't have Cherry underneath, so you can see the true colour of Relentlessly Red, but keep an eye out on my Instagram - I'll be sure to show it there next time!)  The colour is so bold, and I definitely would recommend a liner underneath to get a nice lip shape - you can see in my swatches that the colour has bled slightly outside of the lip, so apply carefully over a lip liner with a lip brush for perfect definition!

The wear time on this shade is literally amazing.  I intended on wearing this all day in Milan, but plans changed and I worried that my tiredness could leave me with horrific looking lips if I didn't keep up with applications.  I wore this shade all day this week, and the wear time was literally all day.  The shade didn't disappear during or after eating or drinking, and it just started to fade on me at the end of my working day.  But the fade still packed a pretty decent colour punch.  Getting this off my lips was way more of a challenge than applying it!

So if this is my fourth MAC lipstick...which do I need to try next?  Have you tried Relentlessly Red?

The Uniquely You Challenge

The Uniquely You challenge is a blogger challenge set up by Mod Cloth.  Each week, an item from their website is selected as the item of the week, and bloggers have to style it with their own personal twist!  I have heard of Mod Cloth, but honestly it's not a site that I had visited prior to the challenge because it is based in America.  But, since carrying out the challenge, I've found that shipping to the UK is easy peasy, and they have some really nice bits in a huge range of sizes!  (My favourites are the graphic tees, but lordy they have some nice things!)

So this week, the chosen item was Bouquet of the Season dress.  In all honesty, when I saw this I was a little worried how I would style this to make it more me.  I'm not a major lover of pink or florals, and this is very girly with pink and florals.  Looking at the dress, I first thought it would be nice for a Wedding or maybe a day at the races - not something I go to, and Weddings I tend to stick to plain dresses.  But when I thought about how I would wear it...well I think it'd be the perfect base item for festival wearing.

The fitted bust, but floaty bottom is perfect for festival style and the colours are beautifully suited to beach sunsets, or lazing on the field.  I chose to team this dress with the Totally Boss Jacket, which is a light acid wash denim to give a girly dress a bit of an edge.  I really love this jacket, and it seems to have a slight crop to it which I think is perfect for a dress of this style - I wouldn't want the jacket to swamp over the dress.

Festival shoes are a tough one...for a casual day in a pub garden, I might put this outfit with some nice sandals or flip flops.  But festivals in England, where the weather is really unpredictable, I'd need a closed toe.  I've chosen some pretty grungey boots, which are the Long Strides Forward Boots, and would slip these over a nice pair of girly, frilly socks like the Dancing on Flair Socks.  I've not seen frilly socks this frilly in the UK - I really, really love the huge frill!  (Doesn't 'frill' look weird when it's been written so many times...frill...frilly...)

I love a good necklace, so when I spied the Bead Still My Heart Necklace, I needed to fit it into this outfit!  I was a bit unsure at first, but you know what, festival style is almost an anything goes.  I want to wear this necklace with this outfit, and I want to clash the cobalt blue with this dress.  I love how chunky it is, and the cord gives it an amazing boho feel.  To really finish the festival vibes, I've chosen the Safari Finesse Hat!  I probably prefer hats to sunglasses, because I find sunglasses that actually suit me really difficult to find, but hats...well I really love this big rim hat!

So that's my outfit!  I hope you like it; it's been fun doing a challenge!  You can find my outfit on Wanelo here!

How would you have styled the Bouquet of the Season dress?

Avène Extremely Gentle Cleanser & Soothing Hydrating Serum

I am always on the look out for new bits to try, and a few months ago I was given the opportunity to try something from Avène - the Extremely Gentle Cleanser*.  It sat in my draw of spares waiting to be used, and when the Avène Soothing Hydrating Serum* made its way into my mitts, I decided to pair the duo up and finally give them some attention.

I have been using the Extremely Gentle Cleanser in the evening to remove my make up as my pre-cleanse.  It says you can use this both morning and night, but I don't feel comfortable, or clean, using a formulation like this to clean all my night grime from my face in the morning.  It is a gel like texture which you apply with your fingers, and wipe off any excess using a cotton pad.  I found that the cleanser often just disappeared into my skin, so I never found that there was too much to wipe off which is probably why I never felt particularly clean.  The gel itself though is really soothing, and does leave skin feeling really soft but it doesn't effectively clean eye make up and I'm often left with under eye smudges.

The Soothing Hydrating Serum on the other hand...well, that was amazing.  It absorbed ridiculously quickly into my skin, and left practically no residue.  My skin has been feeling a little dehydrated lately, and I really felt my skin was drinking this up.  I mainly used this in the evening over the top of my Effaclar Duo+ and underneath my chosen moisturiser.  If my skin was feeling particularly dry, I did a couple of layers of the Hydrating Serum to ensure my skin was properly hydrated!  What I really loved about the serum was being able to use it in the morning - it provided a perfect, even base for the days make up.  It isn't heavy, but leaves my skin feeling perfectly smooth.

I don't know if I would personally recommend the Cleanser, but I'd one hundred percent recommend trying the serum!  If you did want to try them, the entire Avène range is currently on offer at Escentual.

Have you tried any Avène?  Will you be trying the Cleanser or the Serum?
*PR Sample.  These Avène products were sent to me for review.

Beauty Comparison: A MAC Sumptuous Olive Dupe?

A few weeks ago now, I won a MAC eyeshadow on Katie's blog Sugarfixx Beauty.  I chose the shade Sumptuous Olive, as it is one I hadn't heard much about, but had once seen on a Youtube video and fell in love with the shade.  It wasn't until I had chosen it as my prize that I started to panic after seeing comparisons to Sumptuous Olive and a shade from the Wet n Wild Comfort Zone palette, which I already had...

I wanted my first MAC eyeshadow to be a shade that I didn't already own, so naturally I felt a little disheartened that I had unwittingly chosen something I supposedly already had.  Last week, my prize arrived with the postman and I was relieved to find that Sumptuous Olive is definitely not a dupe for the shade from the Comfort Zone palette.

Right...finger swatching, they do look pretty similar, I'll give you all that.  On the left we have MAC's Sumptuous Olive, and on the right is the eyelid shade from the right side of the Comfort Zone palette.  You can see though that MAC has a brown undertone to it, with a gold shimmer running through it - sort of an antique bronze?  Whereas the Wet n Wild shade definitely has a lot more green in it.

The real difference is when the shade is blended out a bit.  Believe it or not, the shade on the top of my wrist is the MAC Sumptuous Olive.  The shades are completely different when reflecting light.  In some lights, the MAC and Wet n Wild shades are similar, but what makes the MAC stand out is its ability to transform from your somewhat standard golden khaki, to a beautiful golden copper.  It's nothing like any other shade that I own, and I am so pleased with it.  If you were thinking that you would save and go for the Comfort Zone "dupe," don't - whilst I love my Comfort Zone palette, Sumptuous Olive is just perfect.

Have you been disappointed/relieved from any supposed dupes?  Does MAC or Wet n Wild get your vote?

MAC Sumptuous Olive

This...this is my first ever MAC eyeshadow.  I won a giveway over on Katies' blog, SugarFixx Beauty, where I won a MAC eyeshadow and NARS blush of my choice!  I wanted an eyeshadow that wasn't the standard 'everyone has it' and thought I'd try something I might not normally go for.  So I chose Sumptuous Olive.

Sumptuous Olive is a Veluxe Pearl eyeshadow.  I had to do a bit of research into the finishes seeing as this is my first venture, but it seems Veluxe Pearl finishes are similar to Frost finishes, but are more metallic, with a pearly shimmer rather than a full on sparkly finish.

It is described as a golden khaki, which I completely agree with.  In the pan, it looks pretty standard as a khaki shade, but once applied the colours really shine through and it's like nothing I already own.  I was so pleased, because I did have a panic after choosing it that I had something similar, but you'll have to check back tomorrow to find out what that was!

Swatched heavily on my finger, the colour seems to be a lovely metallic green with a slight golden shimmer, matching what's in the pan perfectly.  Once it has all been blended out though, the khaki green fades a bit to reveal a gorgeous brown, almost copper, undertone which reflects the green in the light!  It's so, so pretty and I absolutely love it!  The below photographs show the eyeshadow at a light intensity, as I would most often wear it, but the pigmentation is great and can be easily built up to the intensity of the swatches on my hand.  I'd most likely up it to this amount of pigmentation on an evening out, and team it with a bit more of a smokey eye to make it multidimensional.  

In the day, I'd also probably take a nice brown in the crease, but I wanted to keep my swatches simple so you can see exactly what colour you'd be getting!

The only thing I was a little disappointed in was wear time; it's not really any longer lasting than any of my other eyeshadows.  It does crease a little throughout the day, but I find that it's pigmented enough to be easy to blend back out again if that does happen!  I will admit though I don't use primer on a daily basis; I really ought to start introducing  primer into my daily routine as I do wear eyeshadow quite a lot!

What do you think of Sumptuous Olive?  What's your favourite MAC eyeshadow?

The In Flight Beauty Bag

At half past midnight tonight, I'm setting off on my travels to go to Milan.  You already know what I'm planning on wearing, so I thought I'd share what I'm taking in my bag beauty wise!  I'm only going to Milan for the day, and will be back very early Sunday morning, so all I need to take is hand luggage.  Even though my flight is only a couple of hours, my day is going to be ridiculously long - I want my make up to be in tact, and I want to be able to look fresh and awake when I land even though I'll have had pretty much zero sleep.

I'll be applying my make up last thing tonight.  It seems a bit silly really to even bother with make up that late, but I still want to look presentable when I arrive and I won't have time to be applying make up on the journey down, or in the airport, as I'll be hopefully sleeping!  I will need some touch ups though, so I've packed a small selection of bits to help me out.

First up, I've got my trusty MAC Mineralise Skin Finish in Medium.  It's got enough coverage to even out my skintone, so I won't have to pack a separate foundation.  I can also use this during the day to help get rid of any shine.  To give me a flush of colour, I've picked my Maxfactor Miracle Touch Creamy Blush in Soft Pink.  I got this as part of a gift with purchase ages ago now, and it's so handy for popping in your hand bag and gives a gorgeous, natural flush.

To make my eyes more awake, I've picked out Benefits Eye Bright.  I'll be applying this to my waterline tomorrow morning and maybe even throughout the day to help disguise the fact that I am so damn tired, and hopefully reduce any red eyes.  I've also decided to bring a mascara to lift my lashes, and open my eyes.  This one is the Covergirl Clump Crusher.

For my lips, I've picked my newest lip balm which I bought from Poundland, and it's the Blistex Orange Mango Blast.  I have the Raspberry Lemonade Blast, and it smells and tastes amazing!  Citrus scents are said to be uplifting, so I'm grasping at straws and hoping this will help me out.  It's also going to be my base for my newest MAC lipstick, Relentlessly Red.  But, more about that next week - I'm trialling wear time when I wear it tomorrow!

As my make up will be on for a lot longer than usual, I wanted to make sure I had something to take my make up off when I start my journey home.  Flights are notoriously bad for your skin, so I'll be removing my make up as soon as I get on the flight home.  I'm packing a sample of Bioderma Sensibio H2O (review here) and a few cotton pads.  As my skin will need some serious hydration, I've also packed the Bioderma Atoderm PO Zinc Creme and the Bioderma Hydrabio Serum.

I might also pop a small hand cream in my bag, but I always get worried with how much liquids I'm actually allowed on a flight...  We'll see how much room I have left in my bag!  Looking at these pictures, I've realised I'm missing one critical thing...a mirror!  Queue me running upstairs to track one down...

Are you travelling away this year?  What would you take in your In Flight Beauty Bag?

Soap and Glory Scrubatomic Daily Face Polish

Soap and Glory is a brand we all love, and the latest addition to my ridiculous supplies of Soap and Glory is the Scrubatomic Daily Face Polish.  It is a facial exfoliator made with AHA fruit acids, moisturising Shea Butter as well as antioxidants from peaches and goji berries!  The peach definitely comes through in the scent; it is the same as the Peaches and Clean cleanser, almost a sickly sweet peach schnapps scent!

The scrub itself is quite sandy, and sharp.  I was a little worried when I first started using it daily, and feared it would irritate my skin or break it out because of how harsh it is.  If you have sensitive skin, I'd probably recommend skipping using this on a daily basis, and stick to using it just once or twice a week!  Luckily for me, my skin was fine but you do need to use it with care as too much scrubbing may leave your face sore.

The texture aside from the harsh granules is really nice - it's light, creamy and you don't need too much to exfoliate your face and neck.  My skin is left smooth, soft and feeling nicely cleansed!  I haven't noticed too much in the way of my skin miraculously clearing, but I will claim that my pores across my nose have been slightly cleared!

You can find Scrubatomic in Boots, and it's priced at £6 currently, but is usually £9.  If you want to try it, now's your chance!  I think I'd buy this again, but maybe only when it was on offer.  I'd like to try a few more exfoliators before I make a proper decision, but it was nice to use!

Which exfoliator should I try next?  Have you tried Scrubatomic?

Wet n Wild Color Icon Comfort Zone Palette

Way back in December, you might remember that I took part in a spending ban which resulted in a prize swap after we'd all finished!  Luckily, my swap was with Hannah from the USA and she sent me lots of gorgeous bits, all of which I love.  One of the things I've been using practically on a daily basis is the Wet n Wild Comfort Zone Palette.

The first photograph was taken way back now when I first got the palette inside in the evening with artificial light, and the ones underneath is the palette more recently taken with natural light; the shadows come in a plastic case with a flip up, clear plastic lid.  It's so difficult to get open when you first get it - America seal cosmetics like nothing I've seen before and it's a mission in itself to try and get in the thing!  It comes with a light dual ended brush, with a sparse brush on one side, and  a sponge applicator on the other.  I have used the brush actually - I find it really useful for blending my shades together, as it isn't as hard and sharp as other brushes I've had that come with palettes.  That said though, you've probably got a softer, fluffier brush which will do the job better.  I have also used the sponge applicator on its side to kind of stamp on the definer shade before blending.  I wouldn't rate the packaging or the additional brush, but it's what's inside that counts...

The left side is just beautiful, by far my favourite and is the side that I have worn the most.  The shades are really earthy, natural shades with four colours; one for highlight, over the lead, in the crease and a deep chocolate with fine copper flecks for the definer.  These shades are so wearable, and look gorgeous no matter which way you layer them.  I most often just grab the second shade for the eyelid, as it's perfect for a quick wash and go.  All of the shades have a shimmer to them, which is really nice and pretty.  But, it's not often that I wear all four of the shadows together because I think it's a very dramatic evening look due to the shimmer.  I'd love a day version of this palette with some matte shades in.

The right side is one I've barely reached for.  I really like the shades, particularly the iridescent definer which is a gorgeous shade that reflects purples and blues, with an almost reddy undertone.  It's so difficult to capture it in a photograph, but it really is so nice.  I really ought to branch out from my neutrals and start using this side more...

All of the shades are so pigmented, really soft and are easily blendable.  The quality is amazing for a product that costs so little!  I do get a bit of creasing towards the end of the day, but it's nothing horrendous and for the price, I really don't care.  UK ladies, don't be sad because you can find the Comfort Zone palette on Amazon for £10 including postage, which is so reasonable for the quality!  I would one hundred percent buy them again if these ever run out, and I think that Walking on Eggshells might have made its way onto my wishlist...

Have you tried anything from Wet n Wild?

Psychedelic Space Cake

It was Liam's birthday on Friday 4th, so I spent a couple of days last week baking and decorating his birthday cake!  I don't make him a cake every year, because he doesn't have a need for cake in the same way that I do.  But seeing as we went camping over the weekend with our friends for his birthday, I thought I'd put in a bit of effort and make him something everyone can enjoy to get into a real birthday mood!

He recently bought himself a telescope, and has a huge interest in space and Physics, so I decided to make his cake space themed!  I wasn't sure how exactly I was going to do it, but I luckily managed to spot a hemisphere cake tin which bakes cakes into half spheres.  It made for a perfect moon shape!  I got mine from Lakeland, but you can find them on Amazon and on eBay - they're all pretty similar in price, I tried my best to find a bargain, but cake tins aren't the cheapest!  I also decided on baking some cake pops, which would be little aliens to accompany my moon!

Liam has pointed out to me in the past the super bright rainbow cakes, and said how cool they were, but I never got round to making one for him.  Gel food colourings bring out the brightest colours, so I tracked down some Wilton gel dyes which I bought from Amazon.  For the inside of the cake, I chose to use the neon set which gave an amazing vibrancy and such unusual colours.  The purple took a lot more dye than the others to stop it looking grey, so I think if I made another, I probably would bypass the purple!  I also bought another set of twelve colours, which I used on my cake pops!  These were so good, and maybe even better and brighter than the neons!  You can see the inside of my cake pops on my Instagram feed!

I just used a standard victoria sponge recipe, filled with strawberry jam and butter cream.  Because I picked the large hemisphere tin, I had to use a six egg recipe to make sure it filled the pan.  I dyed some of the icing the bright neons, and made a little spaceman to sit on the cake.  I also cut out some stars with a little star cutter and sprinkled on some gold and white glitter to make it really spacey.

I finished my cake pops with a coating of white chocolate, and some neon sugar!  I attempted to draw some faces with some of those icing pens but they just kind of melted down...don't really know what happened there.  Admittedly, the aliens didn't turn out as pristine and perfect as I had hoped but oh well!  For all we know, aliens might look exactly like these do...

We went camping on the Friday night through until Sunday, which was lots of fun even though field mice managed to break in and eat our breakfast buns and our Sunday lay in was cut short because major winds snapped our tent...  But despite it all, it was a very fun weekend!  Even if we did in the end forget to take the cake altogether...more for us!

So...what do you think?  Am I a master baker?

Outfit Planning #2: Salone Satellite, Milan

On Saturday, I'm jetting off to Milan for the day!  I'm actually going to the Milan Furniture Fair, specifically for the Salone Satellite where lots of New Designers are showcasing their newest works and prototypes.  I'm really excited to be attending for the second time, even if it is only for a day!  The Milan Furniture Fair is world famous, and is one of the biggest design fairs in the world, if not the biggest and one of the main design events to attend.  It is ridiculously huge, and there is no way I'll be able to see it all in a day, but I'll sure be giving it my best!

I have been thinking about what to wear for a while, and I think I've finally settled on something that will be comfortable, but still nice enough to feel confident wearing.  I will be awake and travelling for around twenty eight hours, so definitely want my clothes to be easy wearing.

1/2/3/4

I will be opting for my most comfortable jeans from River Island, and these are the Light Wash Lana Superskinny Jeans.  Because of my bottom heavy shape, I find trousers in general really difficult to feel comfortable in, but these high waisted ones are perfect for my shape and fit amazingly!  In fact, they might even be getting a little too big now I'm going for it at the gym!  Hurrah!

I finally spent my Christmas New Look gift voucher last week, and one of the pieces I bought was the Neon Green Batwing Slouch Sweater.  I really, really love this.  It's a bit heavy and it's shorter in the front than it is in the back, so it's nicer to wear with my high waisted jeans.  I'll probably be layering this up with just a plain cami underneath, and a black leather biker jacket over the top in case it is a bit cold.  I don't own anything neon, because I always worry I'd be washed out, but you know what...I don't even care, I like it, I like the colour and life is too short to worry whether my outfit compliments my skin tone.  I actually even think it looks quite nice.

I also ordered these sunglasses from H&M.  I'm completely fussy when it comes to sunglasses, because I find it hard to find a shape that suits me!  These were £5.99, and I love the tortoise shell frame with an oil slick coloured lens.  I used an online discount code for my recent order with H&M which saved me £5 and I scooped myself free delivery too, so these were a total bargain.  Because of H&M's super long delivery time, I have a feeling that these might not make it to me on time, so I might have to crack out my vintage Ray Bans.

Finally, I haven't bought these (yet) but I'm seriously considering it.  These skate shoes are the TIKA2 High Vamp Skate Shoes from Topshop and they are just £20!  I have a £10 gift card from my birthday to spend, so I might get these, but I've read the reviews and they are a small fit and I have wide feet!  They might not be the most comfortable if I'm trotting around Milan for the day.

As far as bags and what I'll be packing...I haven't a clue.  Any in flight suggestions welcome!

What do you think of my outfit?  Anything you would recommend to accompany my choices?