Seventeen Mirror Shine Lipstick 'Beehive' // Review

Seventeen is a brand whose makeup stand I often walk past. But everything I've tried from Seventeen, I've really liked.

I recently rediscovered my Mirror Shine Lipstick in the shade 'Beehive' which I bought a while ago. The Youtuber Lily Melrose shares the same taste in makeup that I do, so when she recommended this in a haul I watched ages ago, I went out and bought it straight away.

The lipstick is only £4.19 and I can say I don't own anything else like this lipstick. The shade 'Beehive' is a peachy nude colour which is a perfect everyday shade. I recently went on a trip to Whitby and this was the only nude I brought with me.

The finish is quite glossy and sheer, but also moisturising which is what I'm looking for as we keep having these mini heat waves. The packaging is very sleek and smart, and also has a mirror tucked in with the lipstick which I don't have on any other packaging.

This is such a great everyday shade, and it will probably end up in my Florida makeup bag now I've rediscovered it.

Have you tried any lipsticks from this range? What did you think?

My First Mac Palette.

Buying a Mac palette wasn't a spontaneous decision. It's hard to be spontanous when the smallest four pan palette costs no less than £45. But I had some birthday money, and I was planning on buying two separate eye shadows anyway. I decided to spend the extra £20 and treat myself.

I already had my eye on the shades 'Cranberry' and 'Amber Lights.' Cranberry is a shimmery, burgundy shade, perfect for Autumn and Winter, although I think it will be lovely all year round for a night time look. I like to wear it through my crease rather than all over my lid. I think sometimes a red shade all over the lid can make it look like you have sore eyes. However, using a darker shade through the crease counteracts this, and simply makes it a red toned smokey eye. 

Amber Lights is a gold, shimmery shade and I bought it after hearing Zoella say it was really nice with blue eyes. This is one of those shades that pretty all over the lid all year round. I haven't had that much of a play with it yet, but I can't wait til the weather starts getting warmer as it would look so pretty with a bronzed/ tan look. I actually have a lot of eye shadows this shade and think it's easily dupable, so maybe I'll do a post in the future about that. 

The next shade I chose was 'Naked Lunch.' This is not the most exciting shade in the palette, but I wanted to create a palette that I could simply throw into a makeup bag to create a full eye look, rather than having to use two or three different palettes. Naked Lunch is a shimmery, white colour, that has a champagne tint to it. I like to use it as a base colour, or a highlight on my brow bone and the inner corner of my eye. I don't like this as much as I thought I would, and wish I'd picked a more matte white/ cream shade. However, this shade is a favourite with beauty bloggers, so hopefully when the summer comes, I'll use it more and understand why it's so hyped. 

The last shade I picked was a tough choice, as there were about three I liked that were very similar. I originally wanted 'Woodwinked' then 'Twinks.' But I eventually went for 'Mulch.' Mulch is a brown shade, with slight shimmer in it. It's perfect for a smokey eye or to build the crease shade up. 

So do I think my palette is worth the money? In all honestly, yes. I love the quality of the shadows and love that the palette is unique to my tastes. However, almost £50 for four shades is a bit extreme. For £65, Mac are doing a 15 eye shadow neutral palette, in either warm or cool tones. Amber Lights is actually in the Warm palette. Or for a few pounds cheaper at £39, Urban Decay do their famous Naked palettes, which contain 12 different shades. 

Maybe for my next birthday. I'll buy another palette with the shades that came close to being chosen. However, with so many beautiful shades from Mac, I've got a feeling that my wish list will never be empty!

Have you got any shadows from Mac? 

My Top Five Blushers

I never used to be that interested in blush, thinking it was just something old ladies wore. This was probably because my first experiences with blush came from a Miss Sporty one that I got when I subscribed to Bliss Magazine. It was way too bright for my face and made me look like a clown. Fast forward a few years (like 10!), the correct tools (a Real Techniques Blush Brush) and a lot more knowledge about what suits my pale skin tone, I have built up quite a collection of blushers. Here are my top five:

The most recent addition to my blush collection is the Benefit Cheeky Sweet Spot Box O Blushes. Don't worry, It contains six Benefit blushers, but my favourite, and the one I go for the most, is Rockateur. 

Another recent addition in my Stila Convertible Colour in Tulip. This is both a lip and cheek cream and it looks so scary in the pan, but applies really pretty. I love wearing this with a berry lip and lasts all day. I apply it with my Expert Face brush. 

Another cream blush I wear quite a lot is my Bourjois one in the shade 03. This creates a nice, rosy, matte effect on the cheeks. This seems to last all day, unlike normal powder blushes that need to be reapplied frequently. 

This was such an obvious choice and in every beauty bloggers stash. Nars Orgasm is a rose gold colour with gold flecks running through it. It creates a nice highlight on the cheek, however, I don't think I would repurchase this as I have a Sleek blush which is almost identical. 

Lastly is probably my favourite blush, however I didn't like it when I bought it. It didn't seem to show up on my skin, but then I discovered that that's the beauty of it. It's so subtle and perfect for all year round, even though it's 'coral.' I've nearly hit pan on it and will definitely repurchase this. 

What are your favourite blushes? 

The Perfect Contour Powder?

I think most girls either have a love or hate relationship with contouring. I love the effect it gives other people, but I wasn't sure it would suit me. I tried using plenty of different matte bronzers to contour my face, but I find brown shades create a sun tan look rather than a shadow or else they leave my face looking really muddy and streaky.

I was about to give up when I discovered the blush 'Taupe' by NYX. This is a grey colour rather than brown and is perfect for pale faced girls everywhere. It isn't overly pigmented but I don't have a problem with that as it means that the contour can be easily built up. I use my Real Tecniques contour brush to apply this.

NYX makeup is available on their site and also in Next stores.

Have you tried this product before? What did you think?

My Top 5 Autumn/ Winter Lipsticks

Earlier in the year, I did a similar post writing about my top five summer lipsticks. However, those summer brights have been replaced with darker shades. I'm going to share my favourites with you.

1) Rimmel 107

I think everyone whose wrote a post similar to this one has included this lipstick. The Rimmel lispticks are my favourite highstreet ones and this shade is a cult classic. It's a deep wine red, completely matte but not at all drying on the lips.

2) Revlon - Black Cherry

I love this lipstick but it's not to everyones taste. It's a very dark purple/ brown colour that looks almost black on the lips. I like the formula of this lipstick as it feels quite moisturising.

3) Mac - Rebel

One of the first Mac lispticks I bought was Rebel and this is the perfect berry shade. I actually wear this on nights out a lot

4) Lime Crime Poisonberry

This is very similar to Rebel, however I'd say it's more purple that berry. I find that this lipstick can be slightly drying, but I apply it over lipbalm and I'm usually okay.

5) Rimmel Lasting Finish - Asia

I did a post on this lipstick a while back and it's very similar to Mac's Brave. This is my perfect nude as it's a pinky brown shade. This is perfect with a smokey eye.

What are your favourite winter lipsticks?

Festive Nails - Week 1 // Barrym Limited Edition Polishes

For the past five years I've always had essays or exams to revise for over Christmas, so it feels strange having all this free time on my hands without stressing over uni stuff. I love doing anything creative over Christmas, whether it's making decorations, baking or trying out new makeup looks, so I'm hoping to do a few festive inspired posts over the next few weeks.

My mum asked me to pop into Superdrug the other day, and I walked past these limited edition Barrym polishes in the shade Jingle Bells (gold with red flecks) and Christmas Tree (green with red flecks.) They were so pretty and festive, I couldn't leave them behind. They're priced £3.99 each, however there's currently an offer where if you spend £6 on Barry M products, you can get one of these nail paints free. 

I decided to paint these on top of Barry M's Coral which is a bright red, almost orange looking shade. I only used one coat of Coral but wished I used more; however I don't think it matters so much as the glitter covers most of polish. 

On alternate fingers, I used Sally Hansens Jet Set Jade, which is a gorgeous colour in it's own right. 

I can see myself getting a lot of use from these glitter polishes this Christmas.

Have you tried any festive inspired nail looks this Christmas yet?

(Also, sorry for the sad state of my nails. Working in retail means they are forever breaking!)

Soap & Glory Archery Brow Tint and Pencil // Review

I feel like I should post more reviews on this blog, but I like to use a product for months at a time to decide properly whether it's any good or not.

I picked up Soap & Glory's Archery Brow Tint and Pencil a few months ago in Meadowhall. It always seems to be out of stock in my local Boots, so I was glad when I finally got my hands on it. This costs £10, which I do think is a little steep for a 'high street' product, but did the price reflect the quality?

The product came in a small box, which I liked as it meant that I knew for definite it hadn't been tampered with. The look of the pencil is pretty simple; a standard black pen shape, with the two separate products either end.

The brow tint is by far my favourite part. It looks a little like a felt tip pen, and it isn't too dark, which makes it perfect to outline my brows and keep them looking natural. I've been using this for about three months now and it still hasn't dried up which was something I was concerned about.

The pencil part of the product doesn't really impress me. It looks a little off in colour and I don't know whether that's because mine is dodgy or that it is supposed to look like that. I have to press down quite hard to get any colour pay off, but when I do, my brows look quite natural.

I probably wouldn't repurchase this, as I think it's quite pricey for just the one element that I love, Hopefully, in the future, they will release the tint on it's own.

Left - Tint, Right - Pencil

Have you tried S&G Archery? What did you think?

HUGE Lush Haul

I don't know whether this can be counted as a 'huge' haul, but it's absolutely massive for me. I bought some of these at the Sheffield Beauty Blogger meet up, some were gifts and some I bought in Bristol when visiting family. I didn't see the point of three separate posts so I decided to haul them all together.

I'll go through the bath bombs first of all. I got two Lord of Misrule bath bombs. As I don't have a Lush in my hometown, I had given my nanna a list of products I wanted for my birthday and this was on it. However, after smelling it at the Lush stand, I decided to buy another. Unfortunately, this was a Halloween limited edition, but there were some still available at the Bristol store so maybe there's still some floating about. I much prefer spicy smells to sweet ones and this is the bomb I'm much looking forward to using.

If there was a mix of spicy and sweet, Cinders would fit that category. I've already used this, and I loved the warm toffee smell it gave off. Definitely a winter favourite.

I'll admit it, I bought the Luxury Lush Pud bath bomb because of the colours. With the little sprig of holly in the middle, this is one I'm saving for nearer Christmas time, for a relaxing bubble bath on a cold night. This has lavender in it, one of my favourite scents.

Northern Lights was another gift, but unfortunately, it snapped in half and by the time I travelled home with it, it had completely exploded. The demonstrations of this have me so excited to use it, and I reckon I'll get at least two goes from it, so it doesn't matter so much that it is currently in a hundred pieces.

If you're wondering why this is the best 'Ickle Baby Bot' you've seen, it's because I made it myself at the Sheffield event.

Butterbear, I bought in Sheffield. This is definitely one of my favourite smells, and my sister even bought one for my niece as they're not as strong and over powering as other bombs. This is a melt and supposed to make your skin feel nice and soft and at less than £2, it's a lot more purse friendly than some others.

The Sparkly Pumpkin was another Halloween bath bomb. This is absolutely covered in glitter so I'm not looking forward to scrubbing the bath out after using it, but it's so pretty to look at.

On the theme of glitter, Holly Golightly is another bubble bar, and also completely covered in sparkles. This is the most Christmassy scent of them all. I reckon I should get a few goes out of this.

And lastly, I got the candy mountain, which is another bubble bar. If you like really sweet smells, you'll love this. It smells exactly like snow fairy, which I also got a small bottle of.

I'm glad I only asked for a small, as the smell is very sweet, and actually has a weird after smell for me. This isn't something I could use every day, but it's nice for every now and then.

I've seen a couple of reviews of D'fluff, a strawberry shaving foam. I've never used a shaving cream before, but hopefully this will help prevent those nasty red bumps I get on my legs.

I love Lush cleansers and have tried almost all of them, but my favourite by far is Angels on Bare Skin. So when a Christmas variety was released, doing the same things but with different ingredients such as cranberries and satsumas, I had to try it. It doesn't smell as nice as it's non-festive dupe, but I'm enjoying using it.

If you're wondering why it's been put in a different pot, that's because I wanted to take advantage of the 5 Lush pots scheme. If you collect five Lush pots with the stickers, you can get a free face mask. I chose Catastrophe Cosmetic after taking the advice of one of the ladies and I'm loving it upto now.

Lastly, I bought a massage bar called Soft Coer. This has chocolate in it and smells delicious. I've used it a few times already, so expect a more in depth review in the future. 

That's everything I've bought over the last month or so. Hopefully, this should all last me a good while. Have you bought anything from Lush lately?