Illamasqua Blush in Katie

Another first in my series of new high end blushers! I haven't tried Illamasqua before, it's not sold in Canberra. I don't even think I came across the brand in my travels, but I've heard lots of people rave about their blushes, along with the rest of their products. A few weeks ago I went out shopping with my friend, and we found our way into Mac and Mecca. I looked at a few Mac blushes, but decided to have a look to see if I could find a Nars blush that I liked. I did, Gaiety, but unfortunately they didn't have it in stock. But fortunately for me, I went home and searched Asos and found this gem!

Mac Blush in Peaches

This was a spur of the moment decision in Gatwick airport just before we hurried to our gate to get on our plane. I had pounds to spend, and if I had more time I probably would have picked up something else like a foundation, but I literally looked at the blushes and picked within a minute. I haven't even really looked into getting a MAC blush before, and I don't regret the split minute decision at all.

Peaches is a lovely peach coloured blush, which I think we all know by now, is my favourite colour of any makeup. It has a very small amount of shimmer to it, which mostly comes up as matte (as shown in the swatch in natural light).

This is one of Mac's sheertone blushes, which means it's not overly pigmented. Which is fine, because it means you can't go in too heavy handed, and layer to get the right amount of colour. It's not chalky and is easy to blend. I don't really find it lasts much longer than any of the drugstore blushes I own, which is a little disappointing, but that might have more to do with the bases I use.

swatch in natural light - heavy (l), blended (r)

Swatch with Flash

Do you have any Mac Blushes? What's your favourite shade?

My first Nars blush (and bronzer!)

Nars blushers have always been something that I've looked at in awe, and have never been able to justify buying. Even overseas, where they were a little bit cheaper, I couldn't bring myself to pay £22.50 (which is $40 at the moment) for one blush. Really, I can count the times I've been into Mecca on 1 hand... what's the point of swatching something you know you're never going to buy?

Then along came Sophie from Born to Buy with a giveaway, and I was lucky enough to be the winner! I decided that although I wanted to play with my new presents ASAP, that it was easier for both of us if she sent it to my home in Australia, rather than all the way to the UK. After a few months, I had almost forgotten about it, so when I came home one of the first things I did (after cuddling George of course) was rip open my package! Along with a bunch of amazing products (including a lovely UD palette and beautifully scented Créme de Rose lip balm), was a mini Nars duo of Orgasm and Laguna.

Although it is mini, I really don't find it hard to get into the product at all. I usually use a Thin Lizzy brush as my blush brush, as it's smaller than a kabuki, but big enough to cover my cheeks. I don't find I have a problem getting at the blush, and never accidentally get any of the bronzer. The packaging is really sturdy and sleek. The mirror is a little bit pointless in such a small product. Even if I was traveling I would have better mirrors to use, but it's does make the product seem a lot nicer than if it wasn't there.

In the shade

In the sun

Orgasm really is worth the hype. It's so soft and so easy to blend! The colours are absolutely perfect for me. Pinky peach, with gold shimmer. It's not as pigmented as I was expecting, but I prefer that with a blush... there's nothing worse than accidentally putting on too much blush and looking like a clown! It's buildable, so you can get a nice subtle wash of colour on the cheeks, or go for something a bit stronger.

In the sun

Natural Light

With Flash

As for Laguna, I am a real rookie when it comes to bronzers. I can't get them right. I'm super pale, so whenever I use one I feel like I've just got dirt on my face. However, I have used laguna once as a bronzer, using my Real Techniques setting brush and it didn't turn out too bad. Like Orgasm, it's really easy to blend, which I hear is the key to getting bronzing right.

So, would I pay $45 for a blush? You betcha! I'm not in any hurry to drop that cash on one blush just yet, but I will for sure sometime in the not too distant future!

What's your favourite Nars blush? Or product? Do you think they're worth the money?

MUA blush in Marshmallow

I'm a big fan of MUA. Ever since I won their Undressed Palette in a giveaway I've been interested in reading lots of reviews about their poducts, and keeping an eye out for new products. So it's been pretty cool to be able to check out their stands here! Unfortunately a lot of them aren't kept very well (think the Australis stands at Kmart!) and there aren't a lot of testers either!

They did release a new range of blushers recently which are all really lovely colours! So far I've picked up 2, cupcake (see here) and the brightest of the range, Marshmallow! For £1, these are fantastic. You get quite a bit of product, considering you only use a little bit at a time. These are also super pigmented! You can't really tell from the swatches, but you really only need to touch your brush onto the product and you've got almost enough for both cheeks. It's not even just because this is a bright, in-your-face pink, Cupcake is also super pigmented. 

The colour is fantastic. I don't own any pinks quite like this, and certainly didn't bring anything so bright with me to England. It is really lovely paired with the Rimmel Scandaleyes shadow stick in Turquoise, and MUA Kiss Me Lipstick in I Wish.

It is quite powdery, as you can see from the picture below. I just touched the pan with my brush and that much powder came off. Luckily the lid is quite secure and you can just leave that product in there for next time and it wont leak out. It's not at all powdery on your cheeks, and blends really easily.

heavy swatch (l) and blended (r) with flash

  same as above in natural light

I'm a real fan of this blush, and will no doubt buy more from the £1 blush range.

Have you tried any MUA blushers? What did you think of them?

Shopping my Stash: Covergirl Cheekers blush in Soft Sable

I won this blush last year in a facebook competition, and after I bought a few Elf blushes, and then Benefit Hervana and Sugarbomb, it made it's way to the bottom of my makeup draw. I've been trying to rotate my blushes so I can give them all a bit of love before I leave, and rediscovered this! And boy is it pretty.

I think the best way I can describe the colour of this is pumpkin spice, which I think is a great colour for autumn. It even smells a little bit like cinnamon! (which it may not, when it comes to cosmetics I find my sense of smell can be a little broken). It's got a hint of shimmer to it, which you can't tell in the pan, but shows up well in the swatches.

The brush it comes with is pretty useless, and I usually use a kabuki to apply it. It's a little hard to get the product onto a big brush like a kabuki, but really not that big of a deal. It also works well as a kind of contour. I haven't been able to use bronzers as contours, so this is a good stepping stone into contouring for me!

It lasts ok, but I rarely find that blushes last very long on me. I think it has something to do with my foundation not lasting very long. The blended swatch below didn't turn out very pigmented, but I find the colour shows up a lot better on my cheeks, which you can see in my most recent outfit/FOTD post here.

heavy swatch and blended in sunlight.

This is a product I'd definitely recommend. I love blushers that are a bit darker and brown toned, and I've found them a little hard to find (maybe I just haven't been looking hard enough?). You can buy this in Priceline for less than $10, which I think is pretty decent. 

Review: MUA Shimmer Kisses bronzer and blusher

I bought both of these products in my recent MUA haul. I love the idea of multi coloured blushes and bronzers where you swirl the colours together, or can use the colours individually - like the Benefit Hervana and Sugarbomb blushes I own. I don't think I could ever own enough blushes, and while I've never used a bronzer and liked the look I've gotten before, I thought this would be a nice subtle one that I could get right.

Review: Benefit Primed for Takeoff!

I bought this set for myself for Christmas. I originally wanted to get Porefessional for my Mum, and seeing as this set contained a full size porefessional I thought it would be worth spending a little extra money so I could get myself some goodies. Unfortunately this set is no longer available, but you can get each product individually off the Benefit website, which is much cheaper than the Australian RRP.
This set contained a full size Porefessional, Hervana blush and BadGal Mascara, and a deluxe sample of High Beam. They all came in a cute cardboard case that looks like a travel bag, which I guess could be used again to store/carry makeup in.

Porefessional
I got a sample size of this with my online order. I'm still a bit skeptical about primers, and I usually skip them if I'm using anything other than a powder foundation. I also don't have large pores, so the main point of this product (reducing pore size) is lost on me. However, I found this to be a good primer. It kind of mattified my skin when I applied it, leaving a nice base for my foundation. My foundation was still there when I took it off at night, but I never really find that it wears off.

Hervana
I had been lusting over Hervana for a while, after seeing it on Myteefine and it was the main reason I decided to purchase this particular set. The colours swirl together to produce a really nice pink colour. It's a bit darker and stands out more than the Sugarbomb blush so it's great to use when I want the colour on my cheeks to show. Like Sugarbomb it has a nice light floral/vanilla scent. The colour can easily be built up with this blush, applied lightly for a softer look, or heavily to really stand out. It is a little powdery, leaving loose powder in the pan after use. The brush is nice and soft, and is what I always use to apply it.

l-r: The 4 colours in the pan from lightest to darkest, heavily swatched together, and blended together.

Badgal Lash Mascara

I've been using my Covergirl LashBlast Volume mascara for the last few months and for some reason thought I'd never be able to get a mascara as good. I finally decided to open this after trying to leave it as long as I could so I could still take it to the UK with me, and first used it a few days ago and I'm seriously impressed. The wand has thick bristles which I haven't used in a while as I've been buying rubber wants lately but still think it's great. I don't think I need that much help with my lashes as they're already quite long, but I love the look of them with this. It's long lasting, doesn't clump or flake and isn't too hard to take off at the end of the day. It is a bit wet and I find that I get a fair bit of black on my eyelid close to my lashline when I apply it (maybe because I'm clumsy).

eyelashes without mascara

With BadGal

With BadGal

High Beam

High beam is a nice pearly coloured highlighter. I only have a few highlighers and so far I can't say that this works any better than others. I don't use them that often so this sample size is probably going to last a while. This one is easy to blend, even onto powder foundation.

This order (see the other part of the order here) has really made me fall in love with benefit products, especially their box o' powders. I'd love to try Coralista blush, ChaCha tint, That Gal primer and their new Fine-one-one.

Have you tried any products from Benefit? What's your favourite?

If not, what would you love to try?

My Essence Blushes

I thought now I own two of these blushes now that it's time to do a little review of them. These are the only Essence blushes I've tried, and they're both limited edition (I'm becoming a sucker for LE products, damn).

My first was from the Breaking Dawn pt 2 collection, called Remesmee red. I never got around to reviewing it at the time, as when I bought it I kind of got a bit scared of it and put it at the back of my draw. It's a really bright, matte red, which I haven't really had much use for (because I'm too scared to use it, haha). I find this blush has very good colour payoff, so you really need to use a light hand to apply it, otherwise you'll end up looking like a clown! It is a lovely colour though, and it's uniqueness (especially compared to a lot of other 'drugstore' blushes) is what drew me to buy it in the first place, and I'm sure when I get the hang of applying it lightly I'll use it a lot more.

My second is from the current Cherry Blossom Girl Collection in Asian Sensation. I bought this almost as soon as I heard about it, as I'd been wanting to get a coraly blush for some time. It's a lovely peachy colour with a lighter and a darker section, which look great used separately - as a highlighter using the lighter shade or darker blush, or swirled together. I've used this a few time since I bought it, and I prefer to use them together. This blush is quite sheer (and a tad chalky) and probably not the blush to get if you want strong colour, but it does give your cheeks a lovely glow which I really like.

l-r (swatches in shade) Renesmee Red, Darker half of Asian Sensation, Lighter half, and blended.

Asian Sensation in the sun

Renesmee Red in the sun

Asian Sensation on the left and Renesmee Red on the right, taken in the sun.

Asian Sensation taken in the shade with flash

Renesmee Red taken in the shade with flash

Mini Benefit haul

Yesterday I received a package in the mail from Benefit! I did an order a little over a week ago because I wanted some things for christmas presents, but of course I had to buy something for myself to make shipping worthwhile ;) It came quite a bit quicker than I was expecting.

I bought myself Sweet-n-wow! which is a full sized sugarbomb blush with a deluxe sample (4ml) of posietint. I also had a code to get deluxe samples of Dr Feelgood, girl meets pearl and the total moisture facial cream, along with the usual 2 free samples which I got Hello flawless in ivory and the porefessional.

This is my first high end blush and I am super happy with it. There is barely any fallout in the pan, unlike my cheaper blushes. When the colours are mixed together it gives a subtle pinky-peachy colour which would be great for every day wear. The brush is super soft and good for application. And it smells really nice! Keeping the brush in the box can cause dents in the pan though, so it might not be so great for traveling if you can't keep the brush separate.

(l-r) Shade on there right anticlockwise to bottom shade.

Sugarbomb blended

I am beyond happy with posietint. I was a bit wary of this. I went to look at it in Myer after I bought it to see what it was like, and the colour in the bottle is almost flouro-pink as you can see in the picture above. I've never used a tint before either so I was worried I wouldn't be able to use it properly. Oh how wrong I was. This is super easy to use and it blends to a perfect colour pink for my skin. Benefit also suggest using this under sugarbomb.

(l-r) blended girl meets pearl, heavy swatch of posietint and posietint blende.

Now to the samples. I really like girl meets pearl. It gives a lovely shiney look to your cheeks. It is quite similar to my Nude by Nature illuminator, but I will definitely get use out of it. I also really like the total moisture facial cream. It's nice and moisturising and not too heavy and it has a nice scent.  I would definitely purchase this if I was willing to fork out for face cream (I go through so much moisturiser I usually just get a giant pump pack of sorbolene which I think works fine - I also have a tub of Aesop face cream I got as a gift to get through). I'm not entirely sure I will get much use out of Dr Feelgood. It's a 'velvety complexion balm' that is supposed to 'mattify shine and smooth away the appearance of fine lines'. I don't have a problem with oil or fine lines.

Hello flawless in ivory was a pretty good match for my skin colour. You only get one application out of the sample and I don't feel it gave very good coverage. I prefer liquids anyway so I probably wouldn't purchase this. I haven't tried porefessional yet, but I don't have large pores so it'll just be used as a primer.

As for the other part of the order, you'll have to wait till after Christmas to see it ;)