Bourjois Little Round Pots- Pastel

Bourjois Little Round Pots- Pastel 

The Little round pots from Bourjois are a popular single eye shadow collection. The brand has been established since 1863 in Paris where it was aimed at theatrical makeup. Since then the brand has come a long way, it recently released some vintage little round pots celebrating the original makeup and new to 2015 the nude collection. If you would like more information click HERE. I always feel the history of a brand is as important as the product as it builds a sense of what the brand aims to achieve. 

Today the brand is aimed at every woman what wants to express a creative and feminine makeup look. 

I am going to review a popular product from the Bourjois line called the little round pots. These come in a variety of colors and finishes. They have been around for many years, and I have been buying them for a long time. The ranges include: Intense, Original, Light and Nude. These retail at £6.99 from Boots.  

From left to right- No 19, No 05, Intense 11 

All the eye shadows come in a plastic casing with a magnetic lid which keeps the product shut. Each product comes with a product information insert which is about the baked technology used for over 150 years. This is also in french on the reverse which is a nice touch. The products are still made in France which is fantastic, they are also Paraban free and have 1g-1.5g of product (the original pots are 1.5g the Intense pots have 1g). I really like the presentation of the product and it always stands out in my makeup bag. 

Here is the illuminating shade No 05. It has a truly luxurious appearance which gives an inner glow to any look. This is part of the Original collection which has the largest range of colors. This baby pink has a satin finish and has a golden dual tone. I used a wet brush and a primer for the swatch, I used very little product to get this intensity. This is a fantastic base color or highlighter. The product is compact and doesn't have a cosmetic chemical smell to it. You need very little product, this eye shadow will last a long time even with daily use. 

This product costs- £6.99 at Boots

Here is the bewitching shade Intense 11; eye catching, feminine and truly unique. This lilac shade is what dreams are made of. I simply couldn't get an accurate picture of this complex and intricate color. This sparkle finish eye shadow really is outstanding, it has a rich finish which is a combination of satin and glitter. This shadow is highly pigmented with an even finish, it is also a product you can build to be more intense. I used a wet brush to get the pigmentation, with a primer base; I find that this combination works best for the Bourjois range. I love that this is a glitter product but it doesn't stick to your cheeks when you're applying it, this is a feature which even MAC has struggled with. 

This product costs- £6.99 at Boots

Finally this is No 19, a classic baby blue. This product really is exquisite, with silver glitter and a dainty fresh finish. It was difficult to picture the intense finish this shadow offers. This product does have more fall out than the Intense 11 shade above, but the unusual shade is well worth it. I have never seen a shade like this one before. It reminds me of candy from childhood or the color of my Christmas tree decorations. I used a wet brush, as the product recommends this , with a good primer (Urban Decay). 

This product costs- £6.99 at Boots

 The only downside to this product is the displays they are displayed in. They often only advertise 10-12 eye shadow products at any one time. However, you can buy them online, but I personally like to go and look at products before purchasing. It would be nice if they did a bigger variety in the shops. 

I really recommend these eye shadows. They are feminine, flirty and dainty all neatly cased into a little round pot.

If you have any questions please leave a comment. All pictures are the authors own unless stated. 

Laura 

She Sells Sea Shells- Nail Art

She Sells Sea Shells- Nail Art 

Here is a fun sea side nail idea. It reminds me of long summers and that one holiday I took abroad. This nail look uses several techniques. This uses grading and fading, gems, and detailed drawing.  This is not a look for those with a faint heart. This nail art can be vamped up the way which suits you, you could do this with other shades, or more dramatic. 

This look uses the following: Base polish, nude nail color(Sally hansen),pale blue nail polish (Rimmel cornflower blue 60 second dry), Darker blue (Electric blue collection 2000), gold glitter polish (Sally Hansen Wedding glitter), Orange nail polish (Revlon). Gem stones and gold beads. 

Tools you will need: 

• Sponge for blending 
• Nail glue 
• Striping brush/fine brush 
• dotting tools 

Firstly you go in and grade the colors for the fading effect, this will take a few layers. Paint the gold nail with the glitter. Allow it all to dry and paint on the star fish and apply the beads with nail glue. Top off with a super shiny top coat such as Gel effect collection 2000. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this, if you have questions please ask. 

Laura 

Heart design nail art

Negative space hearts 

Here is a super cute nail look for everyone. Easy to do with a bit of patience, this look will make your fingers look like an expensive nail day. So have yourself a good nail day. 

Tools you will need: 

• Dotting tool or equivalent
• Two nail polishes 
• Nail gem/Butterfly gem 
• Glitter polish  

Start in the same way with any nail look; start with clean nails. Make sure all your tools are clean and you have everything ready. Start by painting the nails the full color, use a base coat and then a nude polish (optional for the negative space nails). Use a good quality nail polish, this look used Barry M nail coloring. For the negative space, start with a french nail and draw the heart shape round to the base of the nail. You can clean up with a small tipped brush in acetone or good nail polish remover. For the nail with the french tip, get the tip ready then using a fine brush go under the line with a glitter polish. 

There you have it, negative space hearts. I hope you enjoyed it. You can always update this look for another season using another color. Everyone should have a good nail day. 

Laura 

MAC eye shadows

MAC eye shadows 

Mac has long be hailed the GOD of all the makeup products. Expensive and fashionable I was greatly disappointing by the products I received. I felt robbed of good hard earned money, by a products with far poorer quality than I expected.  

I paid a high price for these two products. I brought them thinking they were unusual and unique. They were very much those things, and also not the quality I was expecting. Considering I paid around £15 each, these were not what I had anticipated. There was very little pigmentation, but a lot of glitter. I felt like I had brought children's glitter at a pumped up premium price. They were hard to use and had terrible fall out. 

The products are called Enchanted (right-blue eye-shadow) and Smutty Green (left). They were chalky and hard to use, didn't pick up well on the brush and fell all onto my cheek. I felt so greatly disappointed as I had heard fantastic things about MAC, and I loved their blusher. What a difference products in the same range can be. They didn't blend well, and refused to come off easily, and were gritty causing irritation to the eye. 

I wanted these to bring a real sparkle to night out look. They seemed just the thing to add a touch of something special to any night time makeup look. I was really excited to get home and try them out. 

The green eye shadow called smutty green comes out a dirty grey color with too much glitter. It was chalky and really messed up my eyes, I was covered in a grey powder with glitter. I tried with primer, and even creamy base eye shadow and wet brush. Although the wet brush stopped the massive fall out, it didn't help the color. This also slid down my eyes creating panda eyes!

The blue eye shadow which is called Enchanted is anything but... It also comes out a more grey color. I really wanted a true navy blue eye shadow to mix with dark browns. Despite the price it was again a grey tone on the skin. There was a massive amount of glitter, but this didn't seem to add anything special to the product. 

Well that is the LAST time I EVER buy MAC eye shadow again. Have you guys had any more luck than me? Please comment. Also, if you know of a true blue eye shadow please let me know; i'm still searching.

Thank you for reading

Laura x

An Urban Decay Love Story

An Urban Decay Love Story 

Urban Decay is the dreamers jewel in the makeup box. Expensive. Desirable. Delicious in every way. The explosion of colors is phenomenal, the range is tantalizing and the quality is unequal to any
other. This is the brand of all brand lovers; Urban Decay.   

This rather expensive brand is not something I own a lot of, or have brought for myself. Often, many have been brought for me as gifts and over a long time. I have 8 in total, and I feel due to the cost this is all I will own for a long time. They are the grand cost of £14 each! Costly, but are they worth it? The range has a huge amount of colors, and could keep any makeup loving person besotted for hours. From lavish purples, to jewels of emerald and ruby; this range really has it all. 

I find all the eye shadows to be a good quality, easy to blend and with no irritation to sensitive skin. The products last a long time in pristine condition, not sneaking away into the folds of the eyes. Another bonus, they come out of the pots they are presented in allowing you to build your own pallet. Personally, I do not like this. I think the packaging is substantial and well built, I have never found the need to transfer these colors into another pallet. The texture is buttery and with minimal fallout depending on brush and technique. 

So, lets start with the two more toned down shades. Bust (left) and Cobra (right). Bust is a soft cool tone brown, the product has a small amount of glitter and a lovely sheen. It goes really well with Haight from Urban Decay (see below). Cobra is a full on dark brown with a lavish amount of large golden glitter, although this is a glittery product it does not feel too heavy. The only downside to this product is the glitter has a lot of fall out. Both are fantastic colors and are both easy to blend. Bust makes a fantastic base color and Cobra is a beautiful crease color. 

Here are the greens and blues. from Left to right: Haight, Lounge and Bender. 

Haight is a bright ocean blue with an extravagant sheen which almost makes this product have an inner glow. It is perfect for a peacock eye in smoke. Lounge is one of the new range in Urban Decays range, it has an oil slick effect; with several tones and a dual color of green, brown, red and yellow. Although difficult to pair for day wearing, this is a stunning going out and formal dinner shade. Bender is a ever green shade which is perfect for brown eyes. It is just the shade of green I was looking for, not too dark or bright; just perfect. All are easy to use but Lounge has the most fall out of the three. 

Here are the final three, from left to right: Sideline, Bordello and Pistol. 

Sideline is another dual toned eye shadow which flecks green, yellow and blue. So stunning for that dramatic swish of color every girl needs. A must buy. Bordello is a pink tone (discontinued), it has flecks of silver within the formulate which makes it very cool. It does not give the morning tired eye effect which so many pink eye shadows do. The final eye shadow is Pistol, and it really is a pistol silver. Stunning and easy to pair with many other colors within the range and others, this is one of my most used Urban Decay eye shadows. 

Pistol is also available in the Urban Decay Naked Pallets. 

Here are the products with their primer. I recommend all these products, they are a lovely quality. 

Personally I think Urban Decay is better than MAC and many other major cosmetic retailers, I love their pallets and they always have an interesting array of everyday and unusual shades. The only thing i'm disappointed about Urban Decay is they don't do a good navy blue, the one they do comes out a dusty grey. 

So there we have it. The fun love story of Urban Decay. Will you be the next to fall in love? 

Laura x

Blusher- Sleek

Blusher- Sleek 

Sleek is a British based brand which make inexpensive highly pigmented makeup products. I came across this brand by accident, when a friend of mine brought the Urban Decay Electric pallet, it was stunning and nothing similar  to anything I had seen before. I was besotted by the dazzling ocean blue and the cocktail orange colors. I wanted that pallet so much, but could not justify spending that much on a product; £38... I will post her blog down the bottom. So, I got home and googled bright eye shadow pallets; up came a brand I have never heard of: Sleek. I did my research and found that this brand had got a lot of good reviews and ratings. I was convinced that spending £7 would not be the end of my financial stability, and if it turned out to be a pallet fit for a four year old I wouldn't be too upset. I brought that pallet it is called V1, and it's fantastic. Since then I have been Sleek hooked. It is my secret and affordable love. 




I brought their blushers when I wanted something fun and dazzling. I brought rose gold first. It was like nothing I had brought before; it was shimmer and i'm a lover of cream formulations and not shimmer or glitter. This was not an impulse buy, but an attempt at something new. My last blusher had run out and it was time for a change. 

I was stunned, yes it was shimmer; but no I did not look like a happy shiny clown ready for a night out in shimmer town. It was subtle and attractive. It is very close to the texture and finish of NARS orgasm £23; but for a substantially less eye watering price of £4.49. 

The product blends well, builds easily and has just the right amount of pigmentation where you don't feel like you're going from zero to a hundred in one sweep. I think this is as good as my MAC blushers. It is a soft rose pink with a hint of finely milled gold shimmer. 

Here is another of their blushers: Coral. This is a mid toned warm brown. This would not be suitable for ladies with cool tones in their skin as it will make you look orange. But this is a fantastic blusher for summer. This can also be used as a contouring powder as it contains almost no shimmer or glitter. I would describe this as a matt. It blends perfectly and is similar to Elizebeth Arden Terrarose in color and texture. This is again the small price of £4.49. This is my everyday go to blusher after my love of Elizebeth Ardens blushers and Diors CD blush. I was a brand lover before coming across gems like this on the high street. 

Pomegranate punch is the next fantastic pot of joy(Right of text). A rich deep pink/red with pink and gold shimmer. This is very similar to a Dior CD blusher I had years ago, and comparable in texture and quality. It is very pigmented and needs to be used sparingly. However, if you have a deeper complexion this really is going to be your new love affair. For me this makes my cheeks look fresh and warm, without that over the top pink look. In person it almost has a wine coloring to it. 




This blusher on the left is a lethally bright coral called Life's a Peach. In the box it looks like a bright tangerine orange which is both intimidating and compelling. I was daring and brought this one for a bit of fun. It is the color of pumpkin and the finish is matt. Although is is super bright it is very wearable. Instead of coming out horrid and like a bad fake tan it comes out coral. I would say if you have pale skin give this a go, it is easy to build and has no pink in it. 

The final blusher I own from Sleek is called Antique. This is almost a purple with a hint of cool brown. This is the perfect shade for Autumn. This does have glitter in it but no sheen. The glitter is sparse and not too reflective. It gives a lovely warm tone to the skin. I have never seen a blusher in this color, but I have seen an eye-shadow by the body shop. This blusher can also double as a contouring shade. I love this as I like a natural look to my makeup, I hate the OTT cake face look; it looks hideous on me.  











Want another positive? I have very sensitive skin, which is why I tend to avoid cheap cosmetics! I have had no reaction, no spots or irritated skin. It has lasted all day in work and out of work, easy to wear and wash off. I give this product a 10/10! I never give anything a 10/10... Truly a high-street find. Now get your butts to the shops and buy, buy, buy! HIGH STREET HERO PRODUCT! 


So there we have it, SLEEK blushers all for £4.49 each and often on special offer. Let me know what you think, here is the friend who was lucky enough to get the Urban Decay pallet.

Available at Superdrug and Boots UK. 


Here is Sleeks main website

All other information on prices were sourced from Debenhams and NARS. 


I hope you enjoyed my first attempt at a makeup post. Please feel free to comment. 

Laura x