My One Product Brows;

Brow products have taken the beauty world by storm in the last year, yet due to a recent buy I have simplified my brow routine completely. That product is MUA's Brow Define Tinted Brow Mascara (wow that was long winded).

As you can probably gather, this is a tinted mascara for your brows, mine is in the shade Dark. Benefit and Maybelline among other brands also sell these, but MUA's version is just £2. To apply this I just comb it through my brows. I'd be careful to use a light hand, as if you smudge any it can tint the skin which is a nightmare to clean up. Luckily the brush is fairly small which adds to precision. The tint defines your brows, which is plenty enough for me. If you have sparse brows this might be more of a product to layer with others. The brush it also helps to groom my eyebrows into the perfect shape, and keeps them there all day just like a clear mascara. This product does pretty much everything I want to my eyebrows in one, other than pluck them!

Before                                                                        After

September Primark Haul;

So, yeah... Primark happened, again. I've said it many times but I think Primark has become my favourite store. I seem to be going in more and more and not coming out with clothes, so I thought I'd show you what I picked up this time.

Up first is this PS Makeup Fixing Spray. For me, fixing spray is an essential. With it you can afford to wear a  foundation that isn't so long lasting and for £2 I couldn't not pick this up. This really is like hairspray for your face as its in an aerosol can. When applying this I felt like it was going on uneven and as its aerosol its not nice to breathe in. But it did lengthen the wear-time of my base and keep it looking fresher, and really it worked just as well as any other I've used.
I also picked up a Make-Up Brush Cleanser, this is the kind of product that you spray directly onto your brushes. I'd use this as a spot cleaner and still give my brushes a good shampoo once a fortnight (ok maybe once a month). When spraying this it smells like synthetic fruit and a little chemically if I'm honest. But it did do a good job of removing the visible product on my brushes, as well as cleansing away the germs from my face, even my foundation brush looked almost as good as new! And if you use this in the evening your brushes will be dry and ready to go by morning.
Moving onto makeup I got a PS Lip Liner Pencil, with no actual shade name. This is a gorgeous deeper pink with grey-ish undertones. This was only £1 and it applies easily as its quite a creamy feeling liner. As it has a matte finish it lasts quite a while on the lips too, and I think shade will be lovely for Autumn.
The last thing I got from the ever-expanding beauty section was this deep cleansing pad. Its basically a rubber pad with soft, flexible bristles. It also had a suction pad onto back to stick to your shower. I thought this would be great to work cleansers deeper into my skin, as well as exfoliate. It beats using your hands, right?

I also picked up yet another candle from Primark, The Orange Sunshine Soda jar candle. I really love their jar candles as their only £3, they smell gorgeous, and you can reuse the jar. As you can guess by its name, this smells really fresh and just like oranges. This was probably more suited for summer but I couldn't resist it, and its a lovely, light scent for any room at any time of year.

Have you picked up any goodies from Primark recently?

Rock It!

Today I want to talk about a product that I've been having a long-term love affair with.

Benefit's boxed blushes are iconic in my opinion, yet Rockateur is the only one I own. I pretty much fell in love with it from the first promo photo I saw.

 This is my favourite blush (so far) I think the shade is perfect. Rockateur is a warm toned peachy and pink blusher, it's pretty much everything rolled into one which is why I think it would suit most skintones. It looks great with warm toned eyeshadow and a red lip, I also love wearing this in the colder months to warm my pale complexion. Oh my, the shimmer in this. It's not full of chunky glitter but there's no need for highlighter after.

The only thing I thought let this down at first was the pigmentation. For around £30 I expected this have pack a little more punch, I've definitely tried drugstore blushers that are a lot more pigmented than this. However I've grown to love that about Rockateur. It's great for those of us with a heavy hand, or pale skin as you can't really overdo it. You can pop just a little on, or you can really build this up. But when it is one it definitely stays put a lot longer than drugstore blushes.

The packaging is another thing that makes these blushes so iconic. Of course the hint is in the name, as they come in a little box. The packaging is cardboard but surprisingly durable, it closes with a magnet and even has a small mirror on the inside. Rockateur is golden snakeskin with black and pink lace and chain detailing. It is literally a rockstar looking blush. I know its not all about the packaging but this does look great on a vanity or in your makeup bag. Its just another addition to Rockateur being fantastic.

Warner Bros Studio Tour;

I've been pretty busy the past month, so I thought I'd make up for the lack of posts by showing you something I got up to. A few weeks ago me and my family travelled up to London to visit what we call Harry Potter Land for the second time (we used the excuse of needing to see the Hogwarts Express).

If you haven't been, the studio tour displays sets from the Harry Potter film franchise, along with behind the scene info on how everything came together. We got to experience the Summer Sweet Treats event and got shown how they made all of the delicious looking banquets from the films from not-so-delicious resin. You get to hear all about the special effects and see the anamontronics that gave you Hagrid and Dobby and a heap of other magical beasts. There is also a collection of artwork and models of all the sets which are truly fantastic. You can also try flying a broomstick or enchanted car with photo ops at both! I had great fun with my sister's HP Passport (included with a child's ticket) I got to some unique embossed stamps and found 13 hidden golden snitches. It was also the summer sweet treats event when we went so we got to see how they made delicious looking food from the movies from not-so-delicious resin! 

One of my favourite parts is the shop, it really is a HP Haven. You can get anything from £300 model chess sets (my mum's favourite) to themed tea towels. There's a whole section dedicated to Pygmy puffs and pesky piskies, and even death-eater themed items of you're that way inclined. 

You can deck yourself from head to toe in Hogwarts uniform, it you can bear to part with £75 for a robe (I already have a scarf from last time I visited). But I can't bear to leave without a Chocolate Frog and some Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

Disappointing Products (& Better Alternatives);

Being honest most products that I don't like go straight in the bin, because I don't like looking at the money I've wasted and I don't particularly like writing a blog post on something I don't enjoy. However I've collected a few that disappointed me so I can show you, in my opinion some better alternatives.

 My first disappointing product will be the one that causes most controversy, but the Maybelline Color Tattoos just didn't work for me. When I first apply this they go on well, not the most difficult to blend but not easy either. However they look great, absolutely perfect... For the first 3 hours. After that it creases so bad on me that all of the product has almost disappears. When I tried to blend it back out I was left with nothing on my lids. I tried to work with this by purchasing a matte shade and by setting it with powder eyeshadow, which did set it for longer, but it still creased and took my entire eye look with it. For that reason I find it pointless to use. I almost gave up on cream shadows completely after these as I'd read such great reviews, but I decided to pick up a Mac Paintpot. I know price wise there's quite a bit of difference between this and the Color Tattoos, but sometimes you get what you pay for. This is pretty much everything I expected from the Color Tattoos. When applying the Paintpot blends beautifully. It can be warn alone for a simple eye look, and any eyeshadow warn on top really pops especially shimmery shades. And it lasts all day, no smudging, no creasing. I reviewed this in full here.

I love Makeup Revolution and it's not often they get it wrong however their Blushing Hearts Triple Baked Blush in the shade Blushing Heart didn't do it for me. These blushes have 3 shades that you swirl together. The lilac and peach shades are beautiful, lovely pigmentation and just the right amount of shimmer. However the pink, and of course largest shade, is completely different. This is full of chunky silver glitter that overpowers the pigmentation of the shade. When all 3 are used together it looks fake and kinda like kids makeup. You can't really avoid dipping your brush into the pink shade and the glitter shows through the other 2. I was so disappointed with this as it was super hyped on Instagram before its release, and it looks so gorgeous. I've only kept it because the packaging is so stunning and it looks great in photos or on your dresser. I've read great reviews on some of the other shades, but I definitely wouldn't recommend this one. I had hoped this would be similar to MUR's single baked blushes, which I have in the shade All I Think About Is You which I reviewed in full here. This really pigmented and had just the right about of gold shimmer that doesn't look fake. It gives a lovely glow without overshadowing the gorgeous pink blush shade. Yes, the packaging isn't as spectacular, but it's half the price so I'd recommend getting two of these over the Blushing Heart.

P.S. Love Your Nails;

So you've just painted your nails, it took nearly an hour but even the left hand looks perfect. But now you need the loo, desperately, and you're wearing jeans, and you know how stiff the zip is on this pair... we've all been there. Primark's beauty range P.S. Love have tried to tackle this with their Nail Polish Fast Dry Spray.

The idea is that you paint your nails, then spray them all with this, wait 60 seconds and bam you have dry nails. I've tried a few of these sprays and it can be a little trickier in reality. The spray is oily and (I guess) it reacts with your polish in a way that dries it. This can pose problems, I usually stick my hands out of a window (yes, really) to spray this or it can make a bit of an oily mess on your counter tops. Then for the 60 secs you wait, do not touch anything. Also with the oil it I find you have to wash it off or again everything you touch will become oily too. I've also learned not to use it between layers as oil on your previous layer can make your polish bumpy and bubbly.

After a minute your nails are almost foolproof. You can put cardigans and coats on without worry. However it isn't 100% dry, if you get caught up in a tricky zip or something you can still chip. But out of all the sprays I've tried, this is the nearest to perfect. I've used it a handful of times and only chipped two nails so far. I wouldn't expect this to be revolutionary but 89p it definitely speeds up the nail painting process.