2 Benefit Watts Up! Highlighter: Review & Swatches

I got this set from ASOS here. It's £23.50 for the cult favourite box blush Hoola bronzer and includes sample sizes of Cha Cha Tint and Watts Up! highlighter.

The set included a 2.5g sample size of Watts Up! which is Benefits' newest highlighter. I have been dying to try this product out.

The colour is a champagney golden creamy colour rather than the starker coloured High Beam. High Beam was my holy grail highlighter and I say WAS as this has totally knocked it out of the water. This is now my new HG highlighter. It gives an amazing glow to the skin. I can't wait to get the full size version which also contains a sponge to blend out the highlighter.

I wouldn't recommend applying this directly to the skin from the tube as it makes it harder to blend. I prefer applying this with my fingers by warming up the product with my fingers and then blending it across the cheek bones.

Watts Up! heavily swatched and blended out

What's your holy grail highlighter?

Have you entered my Nars Blush giveaway? If not click here!

0 Benefit Hoola bronzer: Review & Swatches

I got this set from ASOS here. It's £23.50 for the cult favourite box blush Hoola bronzer and includes sample sizes of Cha Cha Tint and Watts Up! highlighter.

I first tried Hoola bronzer in a sample size in the Benefit Tan About Town set which I reviewed here.

I love Benefit packaging, it's always s fun. I know a lot of people don't like the brushes included in the benefit box blushes however, I think they are quite soft and also it may be handy for contour if your traveling and have no space for different brushes.

I love the shade of Hoola, I only use matte bronzers so this is perfect. I switch between Hoola and MACs Harmony blush as my contour I like lighter bronzers so I can apply lightly until I achieve the colour I want. I rarely bronze the whole of my face however, Hoola would be ideal for this if you use it lightly with a powder brush.

 

(Hoola bronzer, blended out and heavily swatched)

I love the texture of this bronzer, it isn't chalky nor is it powdery; it has a lovely silky texture. Definitely a new favourite!

So what's your favourite blusher?

Have you entered my Nars Blush giveaway? If not click here!

14 Sleek Eau La La liner in Moulin Rouge : Review & Swatches

Sleeks' Eau La La liners are a liner which is a multi-purpose face product. They have a soft texture but are still firm enough for you to have control whilst lining. I really love the formula of these; they retail at £3.99 and come in a wide spectrum of colours.

Moulin Rouge is an orange toned red. I've been using this as a lip liner.

Because of how soft these pencils are they apply smoothly without dragging making it easy to apply to the lips. There is a small gap in drying time of about 30 seconds to one minute where the liner can be smudged so you need to be sure to be careful.

However, once the liner is set there is no chance of smudging and these liners really do stay put! they dont budge until you use make up remover on them.

On the lips it gives a matte-satin finish. It doesnt feel drying however; I would make sure you applied lip balm before applying the lip pencil.

The pencil in Moulin Rouge was recently used in the Pixiwoo video (above) the liner is used on the brows.

Well it's no secret I am now crazy about these liners, I cannot wait to pick up more! Come on Superdrug, stock up more!

3 Marie Claire magazine Ciate freebies! mini review & 15% off code

So it looks like magazines have recently been stepping up their game with their freebies! Glamour with Benefit and now Marie Claire with Ciate!

I'm not usually drawn in to a magazines by their freebies, I'm quite loyal to Company magazine as I enjoy reading it and Vogue if I fancy a splurge. But recently I have been checking out other magazines.

When I seen that marie Claire was giving away full-size Ciate nail polishes worth £9 for £3.70 I snapped up the last magazine on the shelf! There are three colours available, a hot pink, a nude and a lilac. Plus the packaging is so cute!

The colour I got was called Jelly bean, it's a hot pink with fine blue shimmer it reminds me of a nail polish version of Illamasqua's Atomic lipstick. It was so hard to photograph the blue shimmer! Below you can kind of see it however, it does look better in person.

Awkward that it looks like I'm trying to grab Eva Mendes' boobs!

It applied well, it dried fairly quickly and it took two coats to get an opaque finish, the blue shimmer looks so pretty when it catches the light. The brush is flat and therefore gets an even coverage like OPI polishes and the curved bottle makes it easier to hold.

 I love the colours they chose for the freebies as they are very Spring-Summer shades. I'm now going to see if I can hunt down the other two!!

Have you picked up any of the Ciate polishes in the Marie Claire July issue??

Want 15% off your Ciate order at www.ciate.co.uk? Enter CIATEMC12 at the checkout. Code expires 31/07/2012

9 Sleek Eau La La liner in Satchel: Review & Swatches

Sleeks' Eau La La liners are a liner which is a multi-purpose face product. They have a soft texture but are still firm enough for you to have control whilst lining. I really love the formula of these; they retail at £3.99 and come in a wide spectrum of colours.

 Satchel is a red-toned brown. Unlike some of the other colours I think I'd only use this as an eyeliner colour.

Due to the red tones in the liner it does not look right on the water line. I tried it and it looked like I had irritated eyes, the red tones made my water line look red. However I used it in this look (using Nars Isolde duo) to line the top lash line; It looks great with these coppery colours.

Have you tried any of the Eau La La liners? I can't wait to try out more, theres over 20 colours but my superdrug seems to never have many of them!

Have you entered my Nars blush giveaway? if not enter here!

0 Glamour Magazine Benefit freebies: Porefessional primer mini review

So you've probably read a million and one posts on this subject, but I don't care I'm putting in my two pence worth! :) Also how hot does Eva Longoria look on the cover?!

I only bought one as the samples available where Porefessional face primer, That Gal brightening primer and Bad Gal lash. I already have a sample of That Gal from the Benefit Confessions of a Concealaholic kit and have tried the Bad Gal lash in the Tan About Town kit which I reviewed here.

I've been wanting to try the Porefessional primer for a while but didn't want to fork out the £23.50 for a full size without trying it first! This 7.5ml sample is really convenient, I love Benefit samples!

I've only used it once on my face and I really enjoyed using it, it applied silky to the skin and made my face feel so soft. As you can see above blended in my hand it really does help create a visual smooth appearance, I dont really have large pores but I do have some uneveness to the surface of the skin and this helped smooth out my skin a bit before I applied my foundation.

I'll decide whether or not I will be purchasing once I've finished this sample up. But so far so good!

Did you manage to get your mitts on some of these samples? which are you loving?

Have you entered my Nars blush giveaway? if not enter here!

0 My first Graze box: Review & Free box code!

So after recently going up a dress size I decided to take the bull by the horns and begin eating a bit healthier (and trying to exercise more often)

My boyfriend subscribed to Graze box and gave me a code for a free box, so I thought I'd subscribe and give it a go. It's a great subscription service, you decide how frequently you get the boxes and you can cancel at any time.

Each box has four snacks in it, when you subscribe you can go through all the snacks available and categorise them according to whether or not you like them. This is so the company can send you a mixture of stuff they think you will like.

The apple and cinnamon flapjack came in three pieces, it was delicious. It was pretty much a perfect flapjack, moist yet crunchy in texture. The chunks of apple made it juicier and I loved the cinnamony after taste!

Very nori-sh has the same texture as snack-a-jacks, airy but with a crunch. They were quite hot, but with a bit of a sweet taste to them.

Korai Chutney bites had a mild curry flavour, the chutney had a sweet curry taste with a bit of a kick. The bites again had the airy, crunchy texture as a snack-a-jack.

Fig roll, the sesame and fig balls had a texture which was soft on the inside but really crunchy on the outside, and was not as sweet as I thought it would be. The sponge was more like a very airy biscuit and for some reason had an aniseedy aftertaste!. The cinnamon infused sultanas were amazing!

All in all I loved my box, I got my first box for free but Im going to keep my subscription. I think the price is £3.50 per box, which is great when I think of how much I probably spend on unhealthy snacks a week. These little pots are great to take with you anywhere whether it be work or university.

I have a code if anyone wants to get a free box: 579V7BLD