Monday 29 April 2013

SLEEK FACE FORM REVIEW AND SWATCH IN MEDIUM

As I rushed around town to pick up a bronzer, I clocked this palette of golds at the Sleek stand at Superdrug. I had no idea of the price or the fact that there's different shades for different skin tones but took it to the counter in a hurry. Once home I tried it straight away. There's 3 sections to this contouring palette, hightlighter, bronzer and contouring shade. The shades in the palette depends on which one you've purchased depending on your skin type. This palette is for medium skin tones, I'd advise tanned skin. That said, I'm as pale as it comes. I love that the shades in this palette build so well. You can go out with subtly contoured skin, or as bronzed as it comes! With my pale skin I wondered how this would come out. Will this look like dirt on me? Surprisingly it didn't, and used softly in the correct areas this works a treat on my face. For my performing shows this will look great under bright lights too. I can't wait to use this palette on more tanned skin as I know it will look great, so I can't wait to do people's make up with it.
The shade on the left is a matte shade perfect for shadowing, the middle is a highlighter, and the right is a golden bronzer. Be careful of the contouring shade as it packs a bunch. A little of this can go a long way. Sweep this under your cheek bones for a defined look that Victoria Beckham would be proud off.  I love the highlighter and I love popping it on my T-zone and above my cheek bones. It gives my skin a gorgeous glow without looking false. The bronzer is really great for using on the cheeks and on the forehead  and anywhere else you want to add a soft glow too. This shade is really buildable and you can create a soft glow or a dramatic glow for your tan in no time. Overall, for someone who wasn't blessed with amazing cheek bones this little kit is pretty impressive, offering a gorgeous soft palette which lasts long on the skin and good value too. It comes neatly in the classic chic black Sleek packaging we all love.
For 3 pans this only cost £10, which can seem pricey to some, but for 3 really high quality shades, this is amazing value. Grab your shade in fair, light, medium or dark from Sleek or your nearest Superdrug now.




Sunday 28 April 2013

AVENUE MAINTAIN ESSIE SWATCH AND REVIEW SPRING 2013 COLLECTION

After trying this shade, I am now converted to the Essie ways. Usually an OPI lover I wasn't 100% sure how this was going to pan out. My boyfriend surprised me with this gorgeous blue and beamed like a Cheshire cat when he told me it was limited edition. Straight from the Spring 2013 Collection from Essie, this gorgeous Parisian blue is perfect for summer and I can't wait to wear it more. This bottle of sky-like creamy varnish comes in the sleek Essie polish bottles that we all know and love. When you unscrew the white lid you are welcomed to a medium sized brush which spreads perfectly over the nails meaning you're in need of less strokes! What I love about this polish, not just the beautiful colour, but the fact that it needs one coat. I couldn't believe it. These pictures on this post is with just one coat of the glossy goodness. This shade also has a really lovely finish with a perfect amount of shine to a creamy formula. Essie polishes always last a while on the finger tips and this is no exception. What's not to love? Gorgeous colour, great formula, one coat and long lasting. Seems pretty perfect to me! The only knock back is the £7.99 price tag that comes with it. But with one coat per nail needed, this will last a while compared to a standard polish that needs 2-3. An absolute win.
Grab this Essie polish for £7.99 from your local Boots. I can't seem to find it on their website, so pop in to see their new collection.

What do you think of this shade?
What's your favourite Essie shade?
I'd love to hear from you!
Thanks for reading, beautiful!

Wednesday 24 April 2013

PINK STARGAZER LILY INSPIRED EYESHADOW

I've recently loved looking at flowers and found to be inspired by them. Lilies are no doubt a gorgeous flower and I really wanted to do a look inspired by them. With subtle ombre eyebrows and dotty eyeshadow this isn't the one to wear out! 
Products used are as follows;
  • Matte Eyeshadow by Topshop in Painted - Used all over the lid and to create the flick. This pink tinted red eyeshadow can also be used wet, so I used a eyeliner brush to add the dots.
  • Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Bender - Used on the end of the brows.
  • Mac Eyeshadow in Charcoal Brown - Used for the brows.
  • Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Kush - A green shade used on the lower lash line to create a point.
  • Mac Eyeshadow in Golden Rod - Used over the top of Kush, and also under the brow bone.
  • Mac Eyeshadow in Crystal Avalanche - Used as a high lighter all over the eye area.
  • Urban Decay Primer Potion in Eden - Used before the shadows are applied.
  • Soap & Glory Mascara
It was pretty simple to do and I enjoyed blending and using shadows wet. I was really excited to do this look as I love editorial looks and I love getting creative.

What do you think of this?
I'd love to hear from you!
Thanks for reading, beautiful!





Tuesday 23 April 2013

SLEEK I-DEVINE LAGOON PALETTE SWATCH AND REVIEW

It's no secret that I love all things mystical. Fairies, trolls, pixies, elves, witches and magic. It's also no secret that I am a musical theatre student... That aside I've always loved mermaids, and when Sleek released a palette inspired by the mystical creatures of the deep I couldn't refuse. 
When I first opened the palette I was greeted by soft shimmery hues and deep delights. The one that caught my eye the most was the pop of the coral in the bottom right corner, appropriately named Ariel. There are 3 mattes in this collection and the rest are gorgeously shimmery shades.
On the top row, L-R we have Sassea, Deep Water, Reflection, Emerald, Oyster and Black Pearl.
Sassea is a bright yet soft shimmery teal that reminds me of swimming in the red sea in Egypt last summer. It has very subtle lime/gold shimmer to make this shade gorgeous. 
Deep Sea is a favourite of mine. This shade is a matte egg plant colour that has soft red tones to it which you can kind of see when swatched. I love using this as a crease colour with the shade Night Sky. Deep Sea has great colour pay off which I really love and is blended well too.
Reflection is a very soft powder pink shimmer which looks really pretty washed over the lids or as a highlight. I love this shade and looks lovely blended with other colours in this palette.
Emerald looks rather bright in the pan but only comes across like that on the lids after a few layers. It has subtle blue tones to it and looks lovely alongside Sassea.
Oyster is stunning. It's really well pigmented and shimmers gorgeously, picking up light effortlessly. It makes a perfect high lighter when used softly, but this cream toned white also looks lovely on its own or in the inner corner of the eyes.
Black Pearl is a shimmery dark black that has brilliant colour pay off. The shimmer in this is very subtle and almost has a 'wet look' to it which I really love with this mermaid themed palette. I really love this black and I can't be more excited to use it!
On the second row of the Lagoon palette we have L-R, Pink Jewel, Sand Dollar, Underworld, Sea Shell, Night Sky and Ariel.
Pink Jewel is a pretty peach colour with gold shimmer. I really like this shade but I feel it's seen before in a lot of palettes across different brands. However I really love how buttery this feels and it has the perfect amount of gold and colour pay off. It's a perfect spring shade! 
Sand Dollar is a lovely antique gold colour with lovely shimmer. I really love this on the lids on it's own, but teams up perfectly with Sea Shell. I love the colour payoff and I think it's a great addition to this palette. Reminds me of a golden beach!
Under World is a pretty shimmery blue that I can really imagine mystical mermaids swimming in. I like the formula of this one but I can't imagine wearing this on it's own. This shade would have to be teamed up with a few more colours. I love how bright yet subtle this shade is.
Sea Shell is a bronze beauty with ah-mazing colour pay off. Personally I think it's one of the shimmery colours with the best pay off. This looks lovely as a crease/shading colour and glides on really well. I really love this colour and can see it getting a lot of use.
Night Sky is beautiful. Sitting next to Ariel reminds me of a gorgeous sunset. This matte beauty has great colour pay off and glides on lovely. I love using this and I can't stop staring at it!
Ariel is my favourite shade and one of the reasons I wanted this palette. I was not disappointed! It's super bright and has great pigmentation! I was so happy with this shade and have been wearing it teamed with some other colours from the palette. This shade is super bright, so if you're not a colour braver, this shade wont be touched!
Overall I am a very happy Hannah. This palette has gorgeous colours with lovely formulas and shimmers. The mattes are to die for and the shimmers remind me of what could be in the deep sea... Grab this beauty for £7.99 from Sleek or pop down to your local Superdrug.

What do you think of this gorgeous palette?
Would you wear any of these shades?
Which shade is your favourite and lease favourite shade.
I'd love to hear from you!
Thanks for reading, beautiful! 



Monday 22 April 2013

REVLON GIRLY NAIL ENAMEL SWATCH

I'm a sucker for glitter, and a sucker for polish. So Relvon's Girly caught my eye when birthday shopping. I was too excited to see it and had to get it. It's hundreds and thousands of princess-like glitter how could I refuse? I love Revlon polishes for high street value, even though they're a little pricier than some, and I had to add this to my forever growing collection. Girly has gorgeous medium hex purple, dark pink and pale pink glitter accompanied by small clear iridescent glitter and small dark pink, purple and light pink glitter. These gorgeous glitter pieces float around in a thin pale, yet bright, varnish. Over a pink varnish, this adds great sparkle to the nails. When applied a few layers, I applied 2, it still looks slightly sheer but it still works. This lasts a few days on the nails before chipping and is a bit of a pain to remove. What glitter isn't, right? That aside I love how pink and pretty it is - Sequin style nails are all the rage at the moment and Revlon has brought this shade out at the right time.
Grab yours for £6.49 from Boots or Superdrug. I believe that Superdrug have £2 off Revlon nail enamel at the moment too!

What do you think of this?
What is your favourite Revlon polish?
I'd love to hear from you!
Thanks for reading, beautiful!




Sunday 21 April 2013

KONAD CLASSIC COLLECTION 2 REVIEW, HOW TO AND DETAILS

I've been wanting Konad for a while and when I walked through Colchester to uni I came across Nail Delights, a shop dedicated to having the most beautiful nails. You can follow them on Facebook, or shop online at their Nail Delights store where they ship worldwide. Also, if you shop between now and 30th of April, enter 5OFF30 at the checkout and you can grab £5 off £30. Also, free delivery within in the UK if you spend £10 or more - Which is easily done! - or worldwide when you spend £15. They also have a Daily Deal where I picked up a Konad plate from £6 to £3 - Bargain! The staff are so nice in store and are willing to help and are always friendly.

The Konad kit contains 7 Image Plates, 2 Scrappers, 1 Double Ended Stamper with two sizes, a Image Plate Holder, 5 Princess Special Nail Polish and 1 Top Coat. It also comes with a mini Konad catalog and a Konad DVD showing you how to achieve amazing nail designs. The box it comes with is gorgeous, engraved with the Konad signature and embossed flowers around the sides. Inside, everything is laid out beautifully in a purple silk, perfect for a princess. This collection RRP's for £70 with around £90 worth of bits, but Nail Designs do it for a generous £40 at the moment. Below are some images of the kit, some nail designs I did, and a step by step on how to use this kit.

On the side of the box.
L-R, Princess Polishes in Cool Red, Yellow and Deep Jungle.
L-R, Princess Polishes in White, Top Coat and Gold Black.

 Stamper, Image Plate Holder and 2 Scrapers.
DVD and Konad Catalog.
 M20 Image Plate.
 M36 Image Plate.
 M51 Image Plate.
 M57 Image Plate.
 M53 Image Plate.
 M59 Image Plate.
M45 Image Plate.

Making amazing nails is so easy with Konad. The possibilities are endless and there's an Image Plate for everyone! If you're not very good with the nail art brushes or pens, then this is so easy and anyone can create beautiful nails. So how do you do it?
  • Grab a Konad polish of your choice. Some polishes by other brands may work, but Konad polishes are thick and pigmented making them perfect for this. Also, the Princess polishes don't dry as normal polishes so avoid using them as a standard polish. 
  • With the polish, apply it to the design of your choice. Now this is the part you have to be quick.
  • Quickly scrap off the polish with the scraper until you can see the design. Fast, roll the stamper over the design, picking it up onto the stamper. Be careful not to just stamp the stamper down and to roll if over instead.
  • With the same rolling motion, apply the stamper over the nail until the design is on the nail in the desired way.
It's that simple! Cleaning your plate and scrapper is easy too, with a ear bud dipped in polish remover sweep over the plate until it's clean. As I said, the possibilities are endless, and below are the nail designs I was wearing this week. The Zebra print is the first one I ever did, and as you can see it's slightly rough, but still looks good. Another point is the top coat. A top coat is ideal for lasting wear of your Konad prints. With the zebra print look I used a standard clear polish which as you can see, dragged the design. The top coat that came with the Konad kit which I used on the last design of the red flowers and blue and white gradient works really well with the designs. The only tip I can give is to apply the top coat as quickly and as softly as possible.
So there we have it! My Konad kit is my new love for easy nail designs and is so quick to do as well. Let me know what plate and design you like most! Thanks for reading, beautiful!
 I used the Cool Red polish for the zebra print using Image Plate M57.
 Using the White Konad polish I used the Image Plate M57 to create the lace effect and applied my own glitter polish.
With my gradient nails, check out my tutorial for this here, I used Cool Red again and M57 Image Plate.




Saturday 20 April 2013

MODELS OWN FRUIT PASTEL COLLECTION SWATCH AND REVIEW

I've been waiting on the release of these pretty pastel scented polishes like a lot of Models Own lovers have been. These came out a few weeks ago along side their anticipated neon colours which I am dying to try out. I asked for these for my birthday, and Holly Arabella's review on them a day before my birthday made me want them even more! These cute bottles of baby colours are perfect for spring and could not wait to get my hands on them. I've only had 3 Models Own polishes in the past so I wasn't sure how these would turn out. These look gorgeous but have their faults. One thing that makes these colours stand out above the rest - They're scented.
Strawberry Tart is a pretty baby pink which has a very slight coral tone to it to warm up the pink a bit. It had a subtle sweet strawberry scent which wasn't overly noticeable and faded throughout the day. The formula was streaky and not very pigmented. It needed a whole bunch of thin coats, or 2 or 3 thick coats like I've done.
I love Banana Split, a subtle pastel pale yellow which I can't get enough of. This shade and Blueberry Muffin I found were the ones with the most streaky formula. Again it needs a few thick layers, or many thin ones. The scent of this one again is very sweet and is slightly stronger than Strawberry Tart.
This spring I've been wearing a lot of different shades of green as I feel that it's fresh and a colour I usually shy from. Apple Pie is no exception and I've loved wearing this on my nails. There's mint colours everywhere this season and this fits right in. Even Lady Gaga predicted mint to be this season's colour! I felt that this sweet scent lasted the longest and I could smell it at the end of the day. This isn't probably the least sweetest smell of the lot and I really like how long it lasts. Again this is a streaky formula and needs a few coats.
Blueberry Muffin is another one I love! The name is adorable and the scent really does remind me of Blueberry Muffins. As you can see slightly the overall look on my nails is slightly streaky and probably even more so than Banana Split. 
Grape Juice is my favourite from the collection. It's pale yet bright lavender colour is so eye catching and is perfect for Spring. It has a vague sweet grape smell to it too which is pleasent. This has the best formula too and glides on quite well and needs the least amounts of coats. They chip rather easily too, which can be a bit of a pain. But for a day with pastel spring nails with a slight scent, why not?!

So what's your spring colour? For £5 each from Boots you can brighten up your nail varnish collection at a reasonable price. Overall the formulation isn't great, but the fact that they're scented is just to adorable to pass up! What's your favourite?





Wednesday 17 April 2013

MAC ARCHIE'S GIRLS CARAMEL SUNDAE PALETTE SWATCH AND REVIEW


I love the Archie's Girls Mac collection and picked up a few pieces from the cute looking range. This adorable palette appropriately named Caramel Sundae has all I need for my everyday looks. In the palette are 4 gorgeous colours. First is a cute light pink named Cheryl Chic. I found that this was rather sheer, but looked lovely on the lids with its frost, shimmery finish. This looks lovely and is a very wearable pink. It's subtle, but can be built for more of an impact. Dreammaker is a gorgeous shimmery warm gold. I love this shade and in the pan it looks so pretty. It's a bright gold which was the same consistency as Cheryl Chic and again is slightly sheer. That aside it looks so pretty and I love using it as a wash of colour on my lids with some mascara. Perfect. Caramel Sundae is a gorgeous warm brown with a satin finish. I do really like this shade and works really well as a crease with Dreammaker on the lids. It's really lovely and soft to apply and needs little on the brush to create colour. Showstopper is a dark matte brown. It doesn't have overly great pigmentation and find that it's very similar to Charcoal Brown by Mac that I usually use for my brows. The only difference is that Showstopper is slightly darker.
Overall I do like this palette and I'll use it for my everyday look. The shade I love most is Dreammaker, but I feel that this palette isn't overly unique and there are many dupes for the colours. However I preferred this palette of the two that Mac released. 
Grab this palette for £38.50 from Selfridges before they sell out. 

What do you think of the colours?
I'd love to hear from you!
Thanks for reading, beautiful!

 L-R, Showstopper, Caramel Sundae, Dreammaker and Cheryl Chic.
 Cheryl Chic
 Caramel Sundae
 Dreammaker
Showstopper