Review: Sleek iDivine Ultra Matte V2 Darks Palette

A little bit late to the band wagon with this one but even so, it's my first ever Sleek palette and I felt it deserved a post!

This palette is the i-Divine Ultra Matte V2 which is the the Darks palette.

I have to say I quite like the packaging, the crushed eyeshadow pictures on the simple box and the sturdy black plastic packaging is something I quite like.

I normally leave the applicators that come with the palettes as they're never normally that good and I prefer brushes but I used this one for a little while and it did pick up the colour quite easily and the longer handle made it easier to use.

I will still probably use my brushes but if I needed to touch it up when I was out then this may actually do the job!

You can see from these photos the different colours in this palette and the names of them all below:

I feel like they are a good set of colours, different enough that none of them are samey but will also work really well together.

They are also the exact kind of colours that I will use!

Here's just a few more snaps as I got a bit camera happy with my first ever palette!

Now onto the important stuff....

Here are swatches from the top colours, and then the bottom colours follow after it:

I feel that the colours are really pigmented and show up really well considering I just brushed the top of each colour.

The only colour I was a bit disappointed with was Dune, it is a very light colour and doesn't same to be very pigmented and therefore doesn't seem to match the palette like the others do.

I'm sure you've seen these pictures before by another blogger but I needed to share my excitement at my very first Sleek eye palette.

I particularly love how the navy has come out, as well as the bottle green colour.

I've brought this palette with me to America and have so far been using it for all manner of occasions but I especially love it because I can use the black to line my eyes for every day wear and the brown to fill in my brows as it's the perfect colour for my almost black eyebrows!

What do you think of this palette? Do you prefer this one or V1 Brights?

I'm really impressed with my very first Sleek buy!

L xxx

Review: Rimmel Kate Moss Lipstick Shade 20

As I posted my July Wishlist yesterday there wasn't a Lipstick Monday post, and this lipstick is one I couldn't wait to share. I own one other of the Kate Moss Collection (so far, as I really love these) in shade 03 which is a pretty browny nude. Shade 20 is a very very bright pink and not one for the faint hearted.

It comes in the sleek black packaging with the crown on top to identify it as Rimmel and Kate's signature which is pink on this one. (on my nude on it's red). It's flattering on my pale skin at the moment but also think it would go gorgeous with a tan. I pair it with my No7 lip liner in plum to help it last.

So here it is. Cue silly pout, a gorgeous vibrant super pigmented lip colour. I am so impressed with the lasting power of this lipstick. It's quite thick so in one sweep you have impressive colour that doesn't dry out the lips.

This is it after two hours and a visit to the dentist. Pretty impressive right??

 As it fades more, this is after 3 hours my lip liner becomes visible and I tend to reply apply, but I have had it last upto four hours. It leaves a very slight stain on the lips which I don't mind.

Overall I adore this lipstick. I'm such a fan of the bright pink lip at the moment and it's making these horrible grey skies a little brighter. I think I need more of the Kate Moss lipsticks. I'm very impressed with the formula, pigmentation and lasting power. Plus they smell nice. Any suggestions on other shades to try??

This can be picked up from boots for £5.49 but are currently on offer for 2 for £7. Quick ladies suggest me two more shades. I need to go buy these. 

Do you like the Kate Moss lipsticks as much as me? Would you wear such a bright pink?

Love M

xxx

July Wishlist

This month is a little different for me as it's my birthday month so I'm hoping to get a few bits for my birthday and resist spending as much as I really need to save.

Last Month's post was a short wishlist as I hadn't got much from May's list. I Got the Rimmel lipstick I wanted which I'll be doing a post on soon as it's gorgeous. I'm still trying to decide on the eye cream as I'm wondering if origins is better. What eye cream do you use? Any recommendations? The gorgeous bag is still sat in my eBay watch list. I absolutely love it but I'm resisting buying for the moment.

So for this month. L has told me I really need to wait to buy any non essential make up till Oct as everything in America is so much cheaper. So my next few wishlists will be mostly make up free. Octobers one will be jam packed though.

Dresses

As it's my birthday I'm currently searching for the perfect dress. Where am I looking?? None other than eBay. I'm hoping to win one soon. Here are a few of the styles I'm eyeing up. If you know of any great sale dresses let me know :)

 These are my top three dresses in my watch list at the moment. Photos all from the eBay sellers.

Hair

If you've been reading my lipstick posts you may have seen I dyed my hair red. It lasted only a few weeks. It was too dark and after a bad hair cut I couldn't stand it so used colour b4 on it (if you are interested in a review on this let me know, it's great stuff) I've regretted dying it loads as my hair before I really liked. Unintentionally I had extended roots and highlighted tips and liked how it looked. Now I want extended roots again. I'm considering doing it myself but not sure how. So any tips appreciated.

If I do it myself I'll be grabbing for Nice and Easy. This is always my go to home hair dye. What's yours?

Body

For Christmas I received a mini St. Tropez set. I've been so won over by the amazing lotion tan I need to get more. I'm hoping to pick this up from Debenhams and use some of my beauty points towards it. I've typically been a mouse girl when it comes to tan but I've definitely been converted now. It's currently in the blue cross sale which makes me want to purchase it now. It's only £25.53 for the big 240ml bottle at Debenhams. I'm impressed with how a little goes far. My mini 85ml bottle has done me at least 6 applications.

Nails

I'm always lusting over one nail varnish or another. At the moment I really want some Models own nail art pens, the Hed Kandi Ibiza Mix and Indian Ocean Beetlejuice. I think my next models own order will be a bit one.

The website does great offers where if you buy 5 you save £7, found here

Face

I keep meaning to place an order with ELF, I've personally never tried any of there products but after reading http://tattooedtealady.blogspot.co.uk blog the other day and seeing the review on the ELF make up mist and set spray I knew I had to place an order soon. I'm very keen to try a setting spray.

Image from her blog, here is the link to her review http://tattooedtealady.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/elf-makeup-mist-set-review.html. Her latest post is also the famous in blogging world eBay blush palette that sits  in my watch list still.

Any products from ELF you'd recommend for me to include in my order??

What's on your wishlist?

Love M

xxx

Review: Etat Pur Actives A20 and A01

A while ago I placed an order with Etat Pur and bought a few items including the micellar water which you can find here

I was super intrigued by the products on their website particularly the 'Actives' products and so I bought myself the A20 Zinc Gluconate which helps to restrict sebum secretion and to eliminate spots, and A01 Q10 which helps slow down appearance of first wrinkles.

First up is the A20, I was really excited to try this out as my skin is so oily and shiny that it needs to be kept at bay all day long which is seemingly impossible.

I was hoping this product would help me combat my shiny face syndrome and initially I think it did.

Firstly I LOVE the packaging and the dispenser design on this product, it is so easy to use and the bottles are really cute.

You can see in the photo below the tip of the bottle and underneath where the white plastic part of the bottle is there is a squishy area which you press to dispense a drop onto your hand.

This was genius and I love it.

You are told to dispense around 3-4 drops to cover your whole face which i would say is the correct amount for me.

At the beginning of using this product I do think it helped to combat my oiliness and I rarely had any spots.

I brought it with me to America to give it the full test and I'm afraid I thought it was absolutely awful.

As soon as I got here I broke out and no amount of this stuff would save me, as soon as I stopped using it my spots disappeared!

So I would have to say for me that I wouldn't buy it again as it doesn't seem to work for my skin which was disappointing, maybe another product will work better but I'm not willing to risk my skin breaking out as badly as it did. I haven't had that many spots since I was 15!

Next up was the A01 which is in the same design bottle with a different coloured label.

This product was different to the A20 which was clear and slightly green tinged, the A01 is a thicker yellowy cream that still dispenses easily out of the bottle but is noticeably thicker than the A20.

I was worried at first as I thought this wouldn't work with my skin due to its oiliness but actually the results were pretty good!

You can see the difference in colour and consistency from the A20 here.

The A01 however felt like a serum in the way that it easily absorbed into my skin without leaving it feeling greasy and I was able to apply my moisturiser almost straight away after application without any kind of peeling or greasiness.

As for the results I'm not sure that it has a quick effect on the wrinkles but it's designed to help fight first wrinkles so maybe that's why.

My skin does feel like it's smoother when I've used it and after longer term use I think it may have helped prevent any more wrinkle from appearing but this is always hard to tell.

Skin is so subjective that it's hard to review skincare products!

I think I would round up the review by saying that the A20 didn't work out for me and I have actually thrown it away as I kept thinking it would work and it broke me out again.

I'm sure this will work for some people but sadly not for my skin.

The A01 has had a positive effect in that I don't seem to have been given any more wrinkles by mother nature, but it will take a longer time to see how effective this is.

Again, I was surprised how well the A01 worked with my oily skin so I would definitely recommend that people with oily skin try this too!

With my order I also got these 2 freebie samples which are so cute!

I've brought them with me to America also so that I can use them on the plane, they're perfect size for that.

Have you ordered anything from Etat Pur? I love their website and how the products can be tailored to suit any skin problem, definitely easy to use too!

L xxx