NYX Lip Lingerie; Swatches & mini review

I do love a good liquid lippy myself & when NYX came out with their 'Lingerie' range which consists of nudes & browns I was all for trying them, especially when they're at an affordable price of £6.50. In my opinion a good liquid lippy should dry to a matte finish, last a few hours longer than a regular lipstick but not make your lips look like the sahara dessert! So lets see how these worked out for me!

Mini Review / First Impressions!

Packaging - At first glance I'm a huge fan of the packaging, very classy with a black lid & clear bottle! The font of the word lingerie is very sleek & makes them look high-end rather than  high-street.
Shades - Going off of the packaging I like that you can see the shades as the bottle is clear & I was also impressed that they came out with a just nude range, to suit pretty much every skin tone! In the range their is 12 shades in total, some of them are extremely similar which I could find quite pointless, but there is always a TINY difference ;)!
Swatch - On swatch I will say that some are great and some not so... I felt like the darker shades such as Beauty Mark & Teddy I seemed to find swatched quite bitty and a couple of layers were needed, but saying that they did look good after a second coat. The lighter shades on the other hand were perfect, they were creamy on application like the finish of the 'NYX Lip Creams'.
Application - On lip application, they all took around 30 seconds to dry which was a bonus and they all dried to an ultra matte finish, but still felt hydrating! I can say when I tried to remove the liquid lipstick it took some pain which I don't seem to find with others such as the Gerard Hydra Mattes.
Long-gevity - I wore the shade Baby Doll yesterday from around 10am - 7pm & I will say that after food at 3pm it faded in the centre of my lips 'bumhole' lips I'd say haha! When I went to remove it at 7pm it had pretty much faded off everywhere except the outline! So I'd give it a good 7 hours of wear if I hadn't of eaten.
Overall - Honestly overall for £6.50 they are a great range of nude liquid lipsticks & I would recommend them to people who love a nude lip or are too scared for bright colours! I'm not keen that some are great and others aren't but just swatch before you buy! Thanks for reading lovelies X

'Satin Ribbon' 

'Lace Detail'

'Baby Doll'

'Teddy'

'Beauty Mark'

'Exotic' favourite shade!!

Find these in the UK here - NYX Lip Lingerie

The Body Shop Shade Adjusting Drops Review

So it's been  good few days since I've posted but I've been away & had work, so now its my day off I'm back and doing a Review on The Body Shop Shade Adjusting Drops. 

Everyone knows about the Cover FX Custom Cover Drops which are priced at a whopping £36.00, I've never tried them myself so I thought this is the cheaper alternative and if they work well then bonus!

The Shade Adjusting Drops come in at £10.00 a pop, both containing 15ml, depending on how much you want to lighten or darken your foundation that is a great bloody price!
They offer 2 shades of the product, both being the lightening and the darkening. And as you can see from the images below the lightening shade is pretty much stark white with a slight hint of pink undertone. And the darkening shade is a chocolate brown, with just a neutral undertone.

As you can see from the images below the bottles come with a droplet like applicator, which I will say isn't the best functioned, it does take a few tries to get the desired amount of product out. I guess for £10.00 you aren't going to get overall great quality.

With the Lightening Product, the consistency of the product is very thin, which I liked because it gave me the impression it wouldn't change the consistency of my foundation which was my biggest fear. Once I started to mix it into my Estee Lauder Double Wear on the back of my hand I was so impressed with the fact that it lightened my foundation to my desired shade.
I will say mix little by little so you don't end up with a stark white looking foundation! The consistency and application and long-gevity of the foundation was exactly the same as it would be if I hadn't of used the shade adjusters which I was super impressed with. I would recommend this product as it saves you buying multiple shades in the foundation especially when they're not cheap.

2 droplets of each shade with a small amount of the Estee Lauder Foundation in 'Tawny'

Onto the darkening side of things, again the same consistency but a tad bit thicker, nothing too noticeable. A I started too mix in my fear came true from the reviews I'd previously heard, it did make my foundation muddy / grey looking. This disappointed me, because I only used a little amount and I thought it'd work. But it wasn't so bad where I would never wear it because a light bulb went ding in my head and I thought well hey? CONTOUR. This product would be great for liquid contouring, it has a a grey undertone and would create a natural base for contouring. As they say, good always over-rides the bad!

The middle shade is the original foundation, Left is the darkening shade once blended and the right is the lightening shade once blended.

So overall if I was going to reccomend just one of them based off of the way they perform, I would go with the lightening product! You obviously cant create different undertone based shades but its good to just lighten that foundation a tad if it doesn't match you perfectly! On the other hand the darkening would be great for a liquid contour so if thats what youre looking for, bobs your uncle ha! Thanks for reading lovelies.

Mel X

Makeup Forever Ultra HD Foundation & Concealer Review

So I'm here again with another hopefully in-depth foundation review, but this time I thought I'd add in the concealer that supposedly goes hand in hand. Both these products have been repetitively talked about in the beauty industry so I couldn't say no! I have mixed reviews about both these products, one more than the other but lets just get into it!

Makeup Forever Ultra HD Foundation - £29.00
Makeup Forever Ultra HD Concealer - £20.00

Coverage:
F- I would say this performs at a medium coverage, it definitely doesn't cover my array of freckles but it is buildable so you can apply as many layers as you like without it looking cakey. In the image below I'm wearing 2 layers and as you can see its not full coverage but that can be sorted with powder bronzer and all that malarkey. I would prefer more coverage but on natural days this is my go-to.
C- This performs at a medium-full coverage, it hides my bags but not to the extent that Mac Pro Longwear would. I don't find it very buildable as it is quite thick in consistency, but I've never tried it out all day with more than one layer.

Before Concealer

With Concealer

Before Foundation

With 2 layers of foundation, no powder. As you can tell it has not blended on dry area on my skin which is near my jawline. damn:(.

Long-gevity:
F- This foundation wears on myself with powder on top for around 8 hours, by that time my pores have started to show and it does wear off my chin and forehead and exaggerate my dry patches unfortunately. On the other hand the way it wears is impeccable. It makes your skin look so flawlessly natural, like your wearing makeup but your not if you get my drift! I like to wear this on a natural day due to the coverage but that can be an annoyance as you need quite a bit of product to fulfil desired coverage.
C- The concealer wears for around 9 hours, again being set with powder, although I do find it creases and settles into fine lines at around 6 hours of wear. This I would expect from such a high coverage but I would only wear this on occasions when I'm not wearing makeup for longer than that given time.

Texture; 
F- The texture of this foundation is amazing. The consistency is thin, but not too thin where its running of the back of your hand, because of this it blends like a dream and I'm not left with un blended patches, that's always a no go. Most of the time I don't have to powder because it doesn't leave that sticky cast on top of your skin like a dewy foundation would. But saying that I do use a hydrating primer before hand so I would reccomend doing so as this foundation can be drying.
C- The consistency of this concealer is surprisingly again, thin! Not as thin as the foundation but not as thick as MAC Pro Longwear for sure. I like that it is thin because it makes it so easy to blend out, and it blends within seconds, slight exaggeration but you get my drift haha. It's easy to use because of its tube like packaging and you'll always get the most out of the product, but a little goes a long way with this concealer, so don't dive into the deep end guys, trust me!

Foundation on the left, Concealer on the Right 

Look;
F- This performs look wise as a semi-matte, I do have dry skin myself so most foundations that look matte tend to show my dry patches more than a dewy foundation, which I dont like the look of. But, here comes the best part, because this foundation is semi-matte it doesn't leave a sticky cast, on the other hand it can settle into my dry patches if I do not use a hydrating primer.
C- This performs look wise as quite a matte concealer, which doesn't surprise me but saying that it doesn't feel drying at all on the skin which is always a bonus.Setting it with a yellow toned powder always does the trick in fulfilling a great under eye highlight! You do have to set it though or it will crease unfortunately. I have alot of fine lines anyway, so it doesnt suprise me if any concealer,  high end or drugstore, settles into them. But this one does blur them to a certain extent.

Bronzer did apply slightly patchy.

Shade range;
F- This foundation comes in 40 shades. That's right 40! This is why its great for freelance makeup artists performing on a variety of skin tones. Always a naff trying to find your perfect shade, so if you struggle with that this is your go to. What's great also is they provide yellow based shades and pink based shades, which is always a bonus!
C- The concealer on the other hand comes in 10 shades. That being said a concealer isn't meant to match someone perfectly, always great to go a shade lighter when coming to concealer! Again these both come in yellow and pink based shades, yellow is always great for under the eye to counteract the blue tones, but pink tones can also be great for highlighting the face!

Packaging - F (9/10) C (9/10)
Coverage - F (7/10) C (10/10)
Long-gevity - F (8.5/10) C (9/10)
Texture/look - F (9.5/10) C (10/10)

So there you have it my personal review on both the foundation and concealer, if you've got to the end of this post I shall be very happy and appreciative as this was a long one but hope you enjoyed the read! Mel X

Makeup Of The Day

Top 3 drug-store concealers!

As the blog posts become more frequent its deeming difficult too think of new ideas for innovative posts, I wouldn't say this post in-particular is anything off the radar but it may help you people out there who are looking for a cheaper alternative in the makeup industry too high end products. Enjoy the read on my top 3 favourite drugstore concealers lovelies!x

1: NYX HD Photogenic Concealer

I have mine in the shade CW 02 as I tend to tan most of the time so I like something a couple shades lighter, and because its cool / warm it has a great balance creating a neutral undertone. I like this certain concealer as it has a yellow undertone counteracting the blue under eye bags which recently have been quite prominent, eugh :(. Great consistency bordering between thin & thick and only creases after 8 hours of wear on me personally and at the price of £5.99 you cant really say no to trying it out!

Shade 'CW 02'

2: Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection 16 Hour Wear Concealer (£4.99)

If you haven't heard of this product, where the hell have you been! This is probably the most popular drugstore concealer in the UK, most compare it to the MAC Pro-Longwear because of the fact they both have super duper coverage & the same consistency. I like this concealer on days wear I'm only doing a few things because it can crease, but that's to be expected with the thick consistency & high coverage. Although its great for pale skinned girls because they provide such light shades which is a bonus! And at £4.99 sometimes even less, its a bargain I cant refuse!

Shade 'Fair 1'

3: Maybelline Instant Anti-age Rewind Concealer (£6.99)

Last but certainly not least is this badboy. As this is available nationwide and not just the UK like the Collection concealer, its a lot more well known in America & Europe in the beauty industry. I love this concealer for my more natural days, it doesn't give off the highest coverage but it just smooths & cleans up the under eye area like no other, I feel 5 years old again when I wear it haha! Slight exaggeration but it is seriously great for women with lots of creasing in the under eye area, it will smooth the fine lines whilst providing medium coverage to the blue badboy bags! Rolling in at £6.99 depending on where you buy, pick it up you'll have no rewinds ;)

Shade 'Light'

So there you have it, hopefully this gave you an insight on what the highstreet has too offer and thanks for reading!
Mel x

Too Faced Born This Way Foundation - Review

Hello guys! So today I will be reviewing the Too Faced born this way Foundation. There are many great things to say about this foundation, but I'll try to limit my word count so you're not reading this post for hours on end haha!

'Warm Beige'

I was enticed to buy this because of Shann Xo's* review on Youtube a couple months ago! She said so many brilliant things about it so I just had to try it for myself! So too start off with I personally have very dry skin, I have hereditary eczema so it is hard for me to find a foundation that doesn't cling to dry patches or oxidise on my skin. So saying that, my thoughts on this foundation may be different for you other skin types out there so just bare that in mind.

*Shaaanxo Review - Youtube

PRO'S:
Coverage: This is my favourite thing about the product. Toofaced claim on their website for this product to be 'medium - full coverage with blur perfection' and damn right that's true! On first application I noticed my freckles (which I have ALOT of) were covered with just 1 layer, yet it still seemed too look like my skin, impressive right? I also seemed to notice that It didn't seep into fine lines on my forehead, although I did apply 'Benefits porefessional) as my primer with this foundation which may have helped!

*applied with Real Techniques Complexion Sponge

Finish: The finish of this foundation I'd say is demi-matte. It definitely isn't dewy or glowy like the Benefits Hello Oxygen for example, but that's expected with such a full coverage. Although it is demi matte, it miraculously didn't cling to my dry patches, although it did seem to, just a tiny bit, seep into a few pores around my nose but that's something I can deal with.

*set with Rimmel Stay Matte powder as it did leave a slightly tacky feel.

Lasting power: This particular Foundation is similar to Estee Lauders Double Wear in a way that this crap will not come off your face till you physically put a wipe too it. I had this on my skin for around 9-10 hours and although by then it had clung onto one dry patch on my nose, it still looked flawless too me! I'm not an expert at putting a mirror close-up to my face and seeing every single detail, but I do know if my foundation is sliding off my face by the end of the day haha!

Packaging: The packaging for this product is stunning, the frosted glass and black and gold theme gives off a very classy look and for the price I'd hope it would. Speaking about price it is based in the high end department at £29.00 dependant on where you purchase it. I purchased mine from Debenhams* myself. I love how the pump dispenses the amount you need, you wont be left with a dirty looking foundation pump after uses of this, which tends to happen with the Loreal True Match.

*Try it yourself!

CON'S:
Shade range: The Too Faced Born this way comes in 12 colours, varying from light to medium/dark skin tones, Which is where my con comes into place, the darkest shade they provide is Caramel which will not suit any skin tones darker than medium tones. So for you WOC out there, this foundation may unfortunately be a bust unless they, with customers advice, provide darker shades. Because this is a great foundation and should be used by all!

SPF: This particular foundation from my knowledge does not provide SPF, which isn't a problem for myself as I live in England and the Sun is never out enough for me to catch even the slightest tan. But for some in warmer climates this may be a downfall but I'm sure a bit of sunscreen before foundation will do the trick!
PRICE: 7/10

PACKAGING: 9/10
COVERAGE; 10/10
APPLICATION: 8/10
SHADE RANGE: 5/10
LASTING POWER: 8.5/10

So there you have it, my full, hopefully in-depth enough review on the Too Faced Born This Way foundation, I hoped you enjoyed the read and here is my full face look of the day when wearing this foundation! 

Mel xo

Face:
Too faced Born This Way - Foundation
Nyx HD - Concealer
Rimmel Stay Matte - Powder
Mac Give Me Sun - Bronzer
Benefit Hoola - Contour
Benefit Rockateur - Blush
Mary Lou - Highlighter

Brow's:
Anastacia Brow Wiz - Taupe
Maybelline Brow Drama - Gel

Eyes:
MG - Unexpected, Cocoa Bear, Shimma Shimma
Morphe 35N Palette
Loreal Voluminous - Mascara
Eyelashes - Eyelure

Lips:
MAC Spirit & Shy Girl