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 ? 

Urban Decay - Vice 2 (Winter 2013 collection)

Urban decay - Vice 2 Palette

So the most awaited palette has arrived, for the winter season Urban decay have graced us with Vice 2. 20 new shades of beauty with a double ended brush included, there is also more additions to the collection and I'm hoping to grab the Anarchy face case to review.

They say 

Experiment with insanely cool brights, not-your-average neutrals, and sexy hits of smoke, all in our decadent, revamped formula. In case you weren't around for the frenzy of the original Vice Palette, here's the deal: yes, Vice 2 is limited edition and it WILL sell out. (With 20 EXCLUSIVE shades you won't find anywhere else, what would you expect!?) Every shade features our Pigment Infusion System™, the proprietary blend of ingredients that gives the formula its velvety texture, rich color, serious staying power and blendability. Even the case is luxe. It's drenched in a pretty-but-edgy, abstract orchid design that's applied with a special process-so no two palettes are exactly alike - and topped off with a gunmetal jeweled UD icon. With the touch of a button, the case opens slowly, seductively, to unveil all those gorgeous shadows, along with an oversized mirror and a double-ended, cruelty-free shadow/crease brush.

So as you can see the outer casing is just so impressive, I'm loving the marbled effect of the butterflies and the urban decay mix they do with there palettes. Its had so much thought put into it and when i opened it, magical. Seriously magically i took a deep inhale as i marvelled at the magic. Its embellished in crystal Urban decay initials, even has a protective foam around it. Then the biggest change is the button to open this palette, you know the cars that have the button and the boot opens slowly.... this is the Urban decay new High-end top spec palette with the works. 

So now we come to colours and lets saviour this together my fellow Urban decay lovers as its like fine wine it needs inhaling and just a pure appreciation of all the shades in depth and also which are the standouts of the palette. Sorry Matte lovers this has 2 only so if your hoping for a equal distribution then unfortunately this will not be your cup of tea. 

Ok so we have : Smokeout, Lovesick, Shellshock, Coax and X-rated 

Now the colours that make this row are Shellshock for sure is a lush buttery silver not to unlike the silver in Glinda palette. So glad to have another of this colour. Then coax and X-rated are two shades of purple mauve with Coax having a shimmer jewel tone to it and X-rates being the lighter shade. Now the first two colours Smokeout is almost black with a brownish tinge to it and Lovesick is a black with silver sparkle inside. Both don't have the greatest payoff but I did have a better effect with them wet so il show that in my Halloween looks.

So the second row : starts with the blue of Prank, Madness, Strike, Stash and poison.

This row consists of amazing jewel colours in the rich blues of Prank and Madness then transitions into the most amazing gold of Strike. Stash has a gold to green tone with it and just looks amazing then poison is a dark purple almost dark brown shade.

Third row : Radar, Damaged, Voodoo, Betrayal and Derailed.

So the third row starts with the amazing bronze of Radar which just is stunning mixed with the reddish browns in the palette. Then my personal favourite Damaged is just stunning as I love greens and this just screams amazing to me and what I was drawn too the most. 

Then the two standout purples Voodoo and Betrayal are just stunning urban decay at its best, Voodoo is shimmer shimmer and purple again working better being packed on with a mixing medium. Again il show this again in a look. However betrayal is just wow a lush amethyst colour that's just unique. Again the last colour Derailed is a darker brownish with green that almost looks like a taupish colour. 

So lastly the last row : Dope, Toxic, Habit,  Ambush and Rewind. 

So dope is a lovely off pink shimmer inner highlight tear duct colour and I would probably use habit too light under my brow. Toxic is the most amazing peachy light brown colour that's amazing with the deep red tone of Ambush. Perfect colours for the season ahead, I cannot wait to use these. Rewind is a matte taupe colour and great base for these bright looks.

So this palette is an amazing addition to the Urban decay family. It is a perfect mix of golds, reds and bronzes for the autumn season and then pop colour for the party's ahead with the Christmas festivities. So below is my first Halloween look with this palette and well you can see how amazing the colour payoff is and blend ability.

Did you buy the Vice 2 ? What colours do you love ? 

Sigma - Resort palette

Sigma is a brand well known for its brushes and until now I've known of a few palettes and the eyeshadows being released. I even had my eye one the Paris palette they released which was a collaboration with beauty bloggers. Plus a new one in collaboration with TiffianyD, however i love this  Resort palette as it just screams Summer to you.

They say :

The Sigma Beauty Limited Edition Resort Palette contains a collection of high-quality and pigmented makeup products including eight eye shadows, one blush, one liquid highlighter and one dual-ended eye liner pencil. Rich, warm tones complement vibrant ocean-like hues in this unique palette ideal for creating your own oasis.

However the one palette I've heard of and seen many reviews via YouTube on is the resort palette. With its 8 beautiful eyeshadows, Heavenly blusher, tube if liquid gold highlight and duel ended eyepencil this was a real bargain of a palette. I do wish that it came wrapped like it was in America with the flower garland and reall holiday feeling.  I was just extremely happy to be able to purchase this in the UK on cloud 10 beauty website. 

So as you can see the colours of the palette are very summery and give the tropical feeling especially with Midori and Papaya. I cannot wait to do lookbook with this and feeling that this palette will be the one I use for my earth goddess look. 

Now I used the gold already with my fire goddess as the highlight and this works really well that I needed very little plus its just beautiful as you can see in the swatch above. 

The duel ended pencil is of excellent quality being pigmented and also very soft butter consistency. 

Swatches 

Going in order left to right as on the palette plus Midori is on the bottom right next to the Heavenly blush (Sorry ran out of room as so pigmented)

More up close in depth look

I love this palette as the quality I know is always raved about sigma brushes, however I do think the quality of the palettes are improving. This offered so much quality with the highlight, duel ended pencil plus blush to included. Its a whole travel palette made for holiday and I love it.

The swatches show the pigmentation and I will be keeping my eye out for further releases via Cloud10 beauty online. Also offer a loyalty scheme if you purchase and collect towards items. I'm hoping to save towards my first Sigma brush set. This was limited edition and apologies it took so long to release the review. 

First Light Cosmetics

First Light mineral makeup is a UK british make-up company, bringing affordable and quality mineral foundations, Blush, Bronzer and eyeshadows etc. They also offer the best tools with an assurance of cruelty free products. Now this post is going to have a lot of pictures,as i want to show the quality in the pigments etc plus tell you more detail to how it applies and feels.

As said on there website plus details of the brilliant fact they also trade in some of London's most prestigious markets, meaning you can try and sample this brand up close for yourself.

First Light Cosmetics is a young British label, offering gorgeous, natural, chemical-free products, that are not tested on animals. We offer high quality mineral makeup made in UK. Our product is made of minerals that are so finely crushed and ground that they feel as weightless as silk.  We are a London based Company. Occasionally on Saturday we trade in Spitalfields Market, one of the oldest and most beautiful of London's Markets.  We will publish the dates on our Facebook page. We are member of NMTF. Find us also on I Love Markets, a new vibrant social network connecting all the exciting and cool markets in London.

I was kindly sent some products to trial for them and i must say a massive thank you. As the sample sizes in the bags were brilliant. I could get a real feel for the makeup plus have enough to play around with mixing different shades, dependant on my skin tone. I generally thought i could not wear mineral makeup due to my dry skin and it enhancing the dry patches i have at times. So after a lot of research (Youtube tutorials) and playing with methods. I finally figured it out and its not that hard at all. 

So these are the Products above and i really love the beautiful logo they have embossed on there packaging.

Lipstick in Dusk and Candlelight 

Candlelight is the raspberry red and Dusk is the nude brown 

 

So the first two products i want to share are the lipsticks. They come in the standard tube and are to me very highly pigmented. Its my first experience with mineral lipstick so I'm not sure on how it should react or apply. This was buttery but the minerals used are pressed into the lipstick so whilst you may feel that its a little lumpy, its not the quality being bad, far from it. 

From my understanding mineral lipstick is pigments pressed with natural oils, so like a powder you get the odd lump the same applies with the lipstick. This didn't impede my application and experienced no product loss, the only thing i did do was use a lip brush on further applications. Its only because the warmth is making the oils warm and once its again cool it reforms. By all means you can use this from the tube, Its just a mineral makeup tip.

Rich deep red Candlelight was my all time favourite to use as it didn't bleed or feather. Nor did Dusk and i used this as a day time nude. It was lovely and creamy. Not drying on the lips as really did make them stand out with no loss of pigment. 

Eyeshadows in Midnight Mauve and Japanese Blossom 

So we come to the Eyeshadows/Pigments, now I'm going to classify them more as an eyeshadow but you can pack these on with some makeup mixer to use them as pigment to so very universal in use. So these were the two i was kindly sent and wow, it was like they knew me and my colour loves.

 I love purples and rose gold colours, as they bring out my green eyes so much. Its what i have mostly in my collection but never have found a lovely rose gold. I've done a look with all these products at the end of the post.

 Now with mineral makeup you would expect a lot of fallout. However with the right base i packed this on with little fallout and in-fact the purple once applied then blended out so easily. Plus i could build the colour, I used my tape trick to prevent a glitter overload on the apple of my cheek. Im so impressed with these mineral shadows i think i may need to crack my others out. I literally thought they would be such hard work but nope i was proved so wrong. 

Foundations in Perfect day, Peach blossom, Spring morning and Breeze in Beaches

So i had originally been sent these in bags as the picture shows above, but i potted them so that they would be protected and also store better. It was a mix from the light collection and fair skin. As i have a Cool undertone with a tendency to then, completely change come summer to more neutral. So this gives you a chance to take literally a little finger full. Then colour mix to your complexion. These pictures are enhanced so what looks like a pile is actually a end of a teaspoon amount. You need so little, i used all four colours adding a little more of the cooler tones. Then mixed in a little container i have. Now when i had finished i kept what i had left, as its literally so little you need why throw good makeup away. I just labelled it accordingly. 

So firstly i will say as I'm on the dry to combination skin type. I moisturised, then applied a light concealer followed by a primer. Then allowed that all to absorb and was ready to apply. Now at first i was told to lightly tap it into the skin which i did on the areas i would need a fuller coverage.

Then taking a stippling brush worked my way around the face making sure to dab rather then swirl. It was so odd to me as i use full coverage and love that flawless look so when you see my picture you will understand why i was so shocked with the results. I am so impressed and now my skin is going back to its normal "summer" complexion, i can say i would rather mineral foundation, now that i know how to apply properly then a full heavy duty cream foundation. Its nice to know i have an alternative option if i decide to just dash and go rather then blending and all that faff. 

Blush in Kohilo, Zephyr and Bronzer in Santorini 

So now we come to the Blush and bronzers and really again, i would use these as eyeshadows as the pigment is amazing.  Santorini is a golden bronzer that just makes you radiate and you literally need a dab, i again took tiny little dots of an amount then stippled my brush and tapped them off to apply. As they blend so effortlessly. Now i took a light hand as i used Kohilo as a highlight/blush then used a little Zephyr and Santorini mixed to tone its all in together. The dusky pinkness of Zephyr really brings these colours together.  Finely milled and just a joy to apply as its not makeup thats caking or feeling heavy as you apply the layers. Its light, fresh and flawless plus i really wasn't used to it but i love the final look. 

So as you can see i went really lightly on the blush and bronze colours just to give a hint of colour. The eyes were done with the base being a Colour tattoo in Rose Gold, packed on the Japanese blossom and Midnight mauve, blended then simply used a liquid eyeliner and kohl for the waterline. 

The lipstick i did a duo effect with the Candlelight being on the bottom lip and the cupids bow lined the top lip, then taking dusk i filled my upper lip with this to really make the colours pop. 

I can honestly hand on heart say I'm so impressed this is flawless looking to me and i love heavy cream foundation. Now i was also sent an eyeshadow brush to use and I'm sorry i got it in a mess, so when i have it cleaned i will Instagram a picture of it to the side of my blog. Its a soft tool that picks up the minerals well, helped with packing on eyeshadow so probably is why i suffered very little to no fallout. 

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So you can find all you need here 

First Light Mineral makeup

At the minute they have a brilliant offer for samples of the makeup available. 

BUY £2.50 SAMPLE AND GET £2.50 DISCOUNT ON YOUR NEXT PURCHASE

Buy a First Light Cosmetics sample for £2.50 and we will give you a discount code for the same amount when you purchase the full product.

You can buy as many samples as you want and get a discount to the sum you spent in one card transaction. With the sample we will post you a discount code to use next time you want to buy our products online.

This offer it is specially addressed to the Foundations since we know it is difficult to find the right one. But you can purchase Finishing Powder, Bronzers and Blushers as well

You can find and buy sample on the product page, selecting the option "2g sample £2.50"

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So what do you think of my look and first look with Mineral Products ?

Lookbook - Wet and Wild, BeautyUK looks

So im going to start doing a weekly look-book at what products I've used and how I've achieved these, plus the finished result. Then if you like any you can see the relevant post from that week or brand to see the full review. 

So we will start with the basics of what i used to prime my face on these looks and that would be these

products 

Elemis Pro-radiance Flash balm (Primer) - review to follow this week 

BeautyUK - New matte FX Foundation (Suited more for normal to combination skin)

BeautyUK - Blush and Brush - I used both mixed with the Pink giving the flush of colour and the more peach to give a light bronzer effect and highlight, they are really great products to use and you need a tiny amount.

Eye-Primer as always my Urban decay primer potion

Palettes used are Wet and Wilds - Don't steal my thunder and BeautyUK- Glitz 

YSL - Volumise and lengthen mascara 

Now i have done separate look charts and if you want any thing added to these look books please leave a comment and il be happy to answer or if you want any looks to be done.

So the first will be the BeautyUK look i achieved with the Glitz palette 

I started by using the lightest pink on the eye and a touch of the silver to the inside corner of the eye as highlight, then taking the darker pink fill the lid with this colour so the light pink still is present and makes the eye pop. Then with the lightest blue i blended a little in the crease and it made this amazing purple shade when blended and also made the lid pink have a purple tinge to it. 

When all is blended take some of the black shimmer and pack a little into the outer "v" and blend inwards so you just have more definition to the eye and the other colours will just look like they have faded making the lid the focal point. I then used the BeautyUK jumbo pencil liner (Black side) to lightly line the eye and make it pop. As you can see in the bottom left picture the BeautyUK blushers being used as a pop of colour to the cheek and the rustic peach as a gentle highlight. When doing a bold eye that has a lot of shimmer i don't like using a more pearl highlight as i find its too much.

So the rustic peach blush was a fine and lovely highlight. Also the turquoise side of the pencil i just lightly used it under the waterline to the outer V then continued into the inner V with the black side. 

I really like how these shadows blend and work well together, so many variants can be used with this palette.

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So look 2 was done with Wet and Wilds - Don't steal my thunder ONLY, bar the eye-pencil which again was the beautyUK one, I started from the inner crease with the brow-bone colour at the top as a base for the whole eye then i cover the lid with the silver colour. I then used the define and packed it along the lid till half way in, then i blended this until it was a fluid colour and even, it must have a duo-chrome in all the shadows as it looks dark blue but i assure you i used none. Then going in again with the define black colour i used a pencil brush to define the crease and V. Then again lined my eyes with the Black jumbo eyeliner. 

So what do you think ?

Now in the coming weeks i will be reviewing the 

Stila - Daydream Palette , MAC vs AVON eyeliners

W7 - Nude palette , e.l.f nail polish remover pads  

Technic , Nail art posts 

e.l.f - Custom palette , Skincare posts 

Plus branching into fashion and lifestyle reviews of everyday items used

This will be mixed with other reviews i have coming.

*Disclaimer is in my pages sections