Soap and Glory - Girl O Whirl Christmas set

Soap and Glory Website 

So in the run up to Christmas when we all are looking for the perfect gifts, why not look at Soap and glory's offerings. This year they released a selection of gift ranges from their cosmetics line. So I'm am reviewing the Girl O Whirl set, which has a selection of the Soap and Glory cosmetics within a glossy black casing. Now this will be a picture heavy review as I want to show you the full beauty of the set. 

So Soap and glory discribe the set as ;

A cornucopia of colour, a stack of glamour, a bundle of bestselling beautystuff. Any way you apply it, colours that’ll give any girl the gift of gorgeous. 

This beautiful set includes ; 

- 6 Lid Stuff™ eyeshadows

- 6 Supercolour fabulipsticks™ 

- Thick & Fast™ Super Volume mascara 

- Sexy Mother Pucker™ gloss stick in Nudist

- Glow All Out™ luminising face powder 

- Solar Powder™ multi-shade bronzer

- Eyeshadow brush 

- Lip brush

- Blusher brush

Eyeshadows and Lipsticks

I will go through the eyeshadows and lipsticks first (swatches included). 

The fabulipsticks come in 6 shades, which are a perfect mix of nude through to a red shade. 

Top shades are : Naked beige, Guavarama and Red my lips

Bottom shades are : Missing pink, Perfect day and Man trap 

Now they are creamy and highly pigmented. It has a lip brush included for application, which is soft considering I do find applicators redundant in kits. This brush is suitable if you wish to travel and not bring additional tools.

The eyeshadows I've used before from a lid stuff quad palette. However I don't have these shades, so it was nice to have more to experiment with. 

Top shades : Vanilla, Wild blue and Smokin

Bottom shades : Minky , Dandy plum and Black gold 

Now Vanilla is embossed with the Soap and glory logo (as is like the quads, one shade being embossed). From my experience of the quad which was very creamy, blended well however I found a shade or two a little chalky. These shades seen to be more buttery and extremely pigmented with only a little swatch needed. Wild blue and Black gold are the most pigmented of the set, which was lovely as the blue is beautiful. A very unique shade indeed, then paired with smokin or Black gold could be an amazing smokey eye look. The colour choices are perfect for the season, plus defiantly give you more then one look. 

Beauty powders

The bronzer (Solar powder) and luminising (Glow all out) powder within the kit are just like the boxed versions. 

Solar powder is the bronzer side and a subtle bronzer with slight shimmer when applied. It can easily be built up using the darker half of the powder if you feel it's too subtle. 

Glow all out is the luminizer powder included. Now it looks quite heavily white on the swatch, but this is a heavy to show how it appears. You would not use this much in reality and only need a small amount. It can be used multi purposely for highlighting the cheeks, nose and Cupid's bow. It's not powdery and does blend well to a shimmer finish, help bring out that seasonal glow. I do like this powder as it is easy and blendable. 

Additional extras

The added extras in the kit you will find the brushes needed for eye, lip and powder finishes. They are soft and perfectly usable tools for the application of the products intended for use.

Sexy Motherpucker : Gloss stick in Nudist 

I use this gloss stick as a handbag essential, they are hydrating and offer a hint of colour. Perfect for winter also as they offer the perfect shade to look natural. 

Thick and fast Mascara : is soap and glory's mascara that offers thick and Volumous lashes. A bristled ended brush that seperates and coats lashes, leaving no clumps. A perfect way to finish a look off. 

The contents :

So all in all this impressive kit will give a loved one, a full set of makeup introducing them to Soap and glory. Also offer them quality and the perfect travel case (the plastic holding is not fitted, so can be removed easily).

I do wish that the Cat-eyeliner had been included as this truely would have made it the set to beat. However as whole this set won't disappoint, the colours are pigmented and a mix of usable products.  Very impressed at this years gift offerings from Soap and Glory. 

Do you like Soap and glory's Christmas offerings this year ? 

Nima brushes - The Elite Collection 12 Piece set

Wow seems like we are now inundated with a real variety of brushes, when before we had barely any choice. So I was kindly sent for review this collection for Nima Brushes and I just want to say a huge thank you for the products.

They say

Nima Brush was established by long time Irish makeup artist, Niamh Martin, after over a decade working as a professional in the Irish and UK market. The aim was to provide fun, professional grade tools at low cost.

Niamh has acted as a supplier for fantastic cosmetic brush brands such as ‘Royal and Langnickel’ and American brush company, ‘Bdellium Tools’. Now after years of supplying colleges and professionals it came to the stage where she wanted something to call her own and with the support and back up of a fantastic family, NIMA BRUSH was born! NIMA Brush specialise in brushes which are manufactured using the most natural fibres and strongest brush ferrules. This will ensure your brush not only lasts for you, but is of the highest professional grade.​

With that resume of experience in brush knowledge to some amazing brands. I hope that Nima brushes become more well known in the UK. Now I have tested many brushes I have purchased from the cheaper end (amazon set), affordable (Real Technique brushes, Furless) and now I want to try more higher end (Nima brushes, Sigma, MAC etc). As this 12 brush set costs €120 with a cylinder case included, (works out to £100 and £9 per brush) so I think that's amazing value. 

So the brushes hair varies (Goat:Contour, Taklon:Kabuki's/Crease, Sable:Large powder/Blush, Pony:Small shader/Pencil, Synthetic: White liner/Lip/Angled brow/Concealer ) there was only 3/4 hairs lost in the first wash on some face, then none lost whilst in use and since. Which is impressive, I wash my brushes with Johnsons or Dr bonner soap as its soft on skin plus helps keep the natural hair brushes soft. (Now that's my preference)

So you recieve 5 face brushes in this kit - L to R ( Contour/White Goat hair, Blush, Large powder, Kabuki round, Kabuki flat).

The presentation starts with the handle being a White glossy painted wood with the black logo writing of "Nima Brush". Sturdy plus comfortable in the hand. Offers confidence on use, as you feel you have control no matter where you hold the brush from.

 The white angled bristles look a little corse however there not, being natural hair maintaining this brush will keep it fabulous. They don't kick up too much product that can cause wastage, especially if expensive. Very soft and gentle on the skin too. The round kabuki is a brilliant tool to make Blush/Bronzer/highlights more natural with soft quick blending. The large powder brush picks up product well plus an even distribution as you set your foundation. Fits the contours of the face well with a sturdy handle to manoeuvre the product. The White angled brush offered a remarkable quality in that on the white bristles, high pigment products were easier to determine an amount due to seeing the product in the fibres. So excess could be buffered on the back of the hand before application, then that excess used on the other side. Very clever and impressive brush. I preferred this for applying blush and cheek items then used the Blush brush for more lighter items and natural makeup days. 

 The two stand-out brushes are the Kabuki brushes which are so soft and precise. Compared to my RT stipple I think the Nima is far superior quality, it is comfortable to use, blendability is second to none plus keeps shape better. My RT stipple is not as dense and now splaying already, its washed/stored the same as my others and this hasn't happened to them. (Cylinder on my makeup dresser) Its not even a year old and works out more expensive then the Nima brush. I know everyone loves RT but sometimes in every collection you will come across ones that let you down. This is just how I know Nima brush to be of professional quality as claimed.

( I do test brushes using high end, right down to affordable pigmented products that just need a little more time to blend.) 

Now the 7 Eye brushes you recieve are- Top L/R then bottom L/R ( Lip liner, Angled brow, Small shader, White haired liner, Pencil, Concealer ) 

 I would easily compare the brushes to the well known high end versions. They pick up product amazing and blend like a dream, also so soft. Now for a rundown on each brush which I will do in order of how I apply my detailing and eye work.

So I forgot to mention above I used the Concealer brush to tap on my choice of blemish magic remover as il call it. You'll notice this brush is flat and I prefer this as on application. It taps it gently in to the blemish, keeps your hands sterile and also can navigate areas like the nose very well and its just easier. I then used the small shader (applied primer firstly with my finger) to find this is amazing for packing on colour, now I tried this with every variant of eyeshadow available. It doesn't clog with cream based, any form of high glitter/pigments shadows.

Then distributed evenly and very little to no fallout as due to the small bristles, this brush can grab product tightly and then pack it on. So as it adheres to your primer being that it is shorter hair.

Next I used the below Crease blender  and the Pencil brush to blend out my shadows and define the crease. Perfect size to just build and add your colour and also to help transition your colours up towards the brow bone. The Crease blender is so soft and brilliant to make all the shadows work together. I found it a lovely brush and so multifunctional too. The pencil brush was just the right size to define the crease and also make a cut V in the corner. I didn't use my guiding tape to achieve that so I could see if this brush could guide me to do it by technique only and so far its been a real tool I can rely on to teach me this and feel confident. For my brows I used the small angled which is amazing, as the powder blended effortlessly with this brush. It gives a fine, precise brows and I was done in a second.

 I'm trying to find fault with each brush and these were so vigourusly tested like previous companies before. I can't seem to find any faults. So then i used the lip liner for my Gel/liquid liner as its so thin for detail and i usually use lipstick straight from the tube, again another fantastic mulitfunctional brush. The white haired liner is light weight, even product and distribution. I do use this for more detailed contouring on areas such as applying eyeshadow under eye, chin, nose, Cupid's bow etc as I find it worked better and was so soft. I didn't want to stain the white hairs with black and coloured items. So it's used with powder highlights, blush, bronzers and contour.

Crease blender brush.
 

I just can't fault Nima brushes. The soft fibres and performance are just amazing, its been a pleasure to be introduced to this amazing Irish brand. I would not hesitate to purchase another set as the sheer quality is second to none. It makes application of makeup a pleasure and has a brush for every use plus can be used for multiple uses. Perfect for a beginner to use and get used to professional feel brushes. I also would buy more being a makeup enthusiast I use alot of brushes. I'm quite sanitary as I use more cream based products so I prefer to wash too sanitising and reusing. However I'm aware over washing a set of face brushes can damage them. So it's why I have multiple ones. I'd happily repurchase this set with a container to give my business to a Irish brand, as my aim is to support more close to home brands. 

Nima Brush Website

Clarisonic - My diary

So yes i know I'm a little late to hit this beauty cult wagon, in my defence i had this on my wish list but its a lot to spend in one whack for me, but by the love thats QVC and there amazing easy pays i was able to afford the one thing I've been lusting after for years.

Now i will say i have researched and done my homework on this product extensively as when you purchasing a large item you need to know whats coming your way and if its something that may be right for you and what accessories you will need on top. Will you need any products to use along side it and what would be the perfect one or if the one your using is already a viable option ?

So i did this via you-tube videos also the help of other beauty gurus and women who blog about daily life in general, to see which model is the best or if there is any difference between the classic and mia version.

Clarisonic Mia - Aqua Blue

So after gathering my vast knowledge on the Clarisonic as a brand and finding out about the routines of use to the brush heads, benefits and cons. I decided yes i will use it and invest in my skin more as what is the point in buying so many creams and lotions for it to sit on my skin and i can feel this happening with my skin, i wake up and the cream is still there and i feel like I'm suffocating.

So i picked the Aqua blue as it was more me and goes with my bathroom, as i will keep mine in there on the holders i have for my items as i don't like residues so i know i will be a stickler for taking the head off after use so it will dry proper and not build up with any nasties. I received a mesh holder with it so it can breath but be protected on my shelf, also 4 brushes - delicate, sensitive, deep pore cleansing and normal plus the clarisonic cleanser. Also the magnetic charger enclosed to and the instructions with information on the benefits.

So the main reason i bought the clarisonic was that i exfoliate a lot and i do this to take of dead skin i get in the winter and then struggle with till summer when it just goes back to normal. The cycle goes that over and over again, if i could get the moisture in then i know my base for makeup would be better plus my overall mental wellbeing will improve as when you have skin imperfections it can affect your confidence greatly. So I'm hoping that it will help to smooth my skin and make application of makeup more flawless and no dry flakey patches showing also to help improve absorption of moisturisers.

So this ... don't be scared is my skin with not a spec of makeup on and clear , product free. Believe me i hate these pictures and I'm over-coming some major issues but i thought document this journey for others who maybe in similar situations and thinking will the clarisonic help me. So as you can see i have a lot of red areas and dry spots around my cheek area, i used to as a kid always get rosy cheeks in winter and then i would burn up in that area when summer hit so its an area that over working in both situations of the seasons. Lucky i don't get spots in this area, i get hormonal spotting around my corners of the lip area in that crease of my dimples up the the corner of my nose, so areas that cleansing can be tough. As you can see i have a blemish healing on my chin again hormonal by nature and thats the worst i will get. So I'm not majorly challenged and lucky in many ways that i can cover most of my imperfections quite easily. Now I've noticed I'm getting a darker area happening around the tops of my lips and i cant tell if this is age and maybe some starting of facial hair, yes i know I'm throwing it out there, i have no qualms as i pluck from my eyebrows and other unsightly places, if I'm growing a tash then so be it, i have some facial hair remover that will have it off in a jiffy. But i don't want to use it if say its a pigmentation issue with the skin so i will look into this and see.

Day 1 

So i used my mia in the evening and i have chosen to use the elemis freskskin cleanser to start my cleansing routine to then go up to the elemis cleanser after a few weeks. I used this in the evening with my routine and read the instructions fully plus charged it for the full 24hours. I used a warm water sink full to gently apply the cleanser to my face with my hands and apply a little on the mia after i had wet the bristles. Ive chose to stay with the delicate brush to get my skin used to this type of cleansing. I did the 20 seconds on my forehead with circular motions and same going down to my chin then followed by the 10 seconds on either cheek. I can honestly say I'm so shocked at the makeup its removed i thought i had taken off with my remover prior to cleansing. Its made me realise just how much i was missing and where these imperfections maybe coming from stale makeup making my skin irritated from lack of proper removal.

Overall impression : Fantastic

Signs of purging : Not yet

Times used today : Once

Brush used : Delicate 

Cleanser used : Elemis fresh skin