Morphe 35B review | look & swatches

If you've been around here for a long time you'll know that I used to have a slightly unhealthy obsession with buying makeup. Pretty much 25% of my student loan definitely went on unnecessary makeup purchases, but it was my biggest passion at the time. For quite a while makeup was on the backburner and I really enjoyed creating fashion content, but now makeup has won it's way back to 1st place. With the fashion/beauty battle going on in my heart (wow that sounded dramatic), I hadn't made any new eyeshadow palette purchases in quite some time, until the Morphe 35B palette caught my eye with its bold and bright colours.

If you're here, chances are you were thinking of buying this palette and wanted to see what someone else thought of it and what the pigmentation is really like. Well, short answer is that it is a great palette with pretty good pigmentation, but as with all palettes there are some colours which are lacking a little. Stay tuned for all the swatches!

Falling back in love*

this post contains gifted items*

Clickbait title much? Sorry - couldn't help it. I have genuinely fallen in love again recently, just not with a person, with makeup. If you've been following me since the start of my blog you'll know it started as a beauty blog, and predominantly makeup based, but recently I fell out of love with makeup and in love with fashion. You know when you first get a new boyfriend and neglect your friends a little...? Well, makeup was the friend I neglected, and fashion was the new boyfriend. However, the lovely guys at FalseEyelashes.co.uk sent me over some gorgeous new lashes, and it reignited my love for makeup once more.

How gorgeous is this look I created (if I do say so myself...)?! I knew I wanted to use my Jaclyn Hill x Morphe palette, alongside my Revolution palette for the warmer pink tones. But whenever I do wear makeup, I always reach for pink tones, so I shook it up a little for this look and added a pop of electric blue and canary yellow. It's definitely not your everyday makeup look, but it does make a statement!

Collection Speedy Blush Stick

We all love a quick fix when it comes to doing our Makeup in the morning, and I think I have found my new Autumn favourite 'Speedy' Blush. It comes from Collection, and is a stick which you can just draw onto the cheeks and blend out with your fingers or a brush. Personally I find it easier to blend it out with my fingers, and it is also much quicker. However, when I do use a brush I use the Real Techniques Stippling Brush. The range also contains a highlighter stick which I was also tempted to, however I own way too many highlighters to justify buying another.

I have the blush shade 'Pinch Me' which is a gorgeous plum tone with a tiny bit of shimmer in, which is perfect for the Autumn Season, and looks lovely with a berry toned lip. With a flawless base this creates the most natural glow on the cheeks. However, I often wear it without any other base products as it blends in well on my skin.

Although these are very pigmented, when they are blended out they look natural on the skin, and this is how I like to wear them, as on my skin it gives that natural "pinched" look. They can definitely be built up to a more extreme blush if that is what you are in to. 

  

Please ignore the bad quality - my camera is being ridiculous!

Have you tried any stick blushers? What are some of your favourites?

Blue Liner, Say Wha'?!

On yet another trip to KIKO I saw some eyeliners on sale, and this cobalt blue one caught my eye. Its called the Miami Click Slick Liner, and it came in six colours I believe; a light brown, a dark brown, a turquoise, a gold, a black, and the cobalt blue. I've been searching for a good bright blue eyeliner for ages, as it really makes my brown eyes pop, and I think I have found the one. 

   

 

 

The liners formula is supposedly more than 50% water, which means that the colour is revealed instantly. Not only this, but the brush is very fine which means that you can create a variety of liner types, however I personally like it best for a traditional winged liner. I find that the colour payoff is brilliant, however it can be very easy to take the colour off if you go over the same spot more than once. It is a little strange working with a brush rather than a pen style nib, but it is a lot easier than the brush makes it look.
With a gold eyeshadow on the lower lash line I think this looks beautiful, and a much more summery alternative to the classic black liner, although Summer is nearly at a close.

Summer: The 5 Product Face

Recently I have been loving going for a slightly more minimalistic and natural makeup look, which is strange for me as usually I am all for thick winged liner and a bold lip. The look I have been going for is achieved in only 5 products, contain your excitement! 

1. Bourjous Healthy Mix Foundation
2. 2True Pressed Powder
3. MAC Bronze Eyeshadow
4. Sleek Eyebrow Kit in Extra Dark
5. Maybelline The Rocket Mascara
And that is all! Its such a super quick and easy look and for summer I think its really great to minimise the number of products you are putting on your face so that your skin can breathe in the hot weather. This look would also be super cute for the night time when you are on holiday!  

Fragrance Direct Haul!

As payday was last week I decided to order a few bits and bobs from Fragrance Direct (amazing makeup for extremely reduced prices). I ordered 2 Maybelline Popsicle Lipsticks, a Calvin Klein Lipstick and an Elizabeth Arden Colour Intrigue Cheek Colour (i.e Blusher). This lot only came to something like £12 which is incredibly considering the Elizabeth Arden blusher alone is usually double this (at precisely £24).The Elizabeth Arden Blusher was only £4.50 and I got it in the shade "Berry Blush" because I own quite a few pinky blushers and I thought that a purpley shade was different, and something I certainly wouldn't normally pick up in Superdrug. I was a bit worried one I placed the order that maybe this was the wrong choice but now that it's come and I've tried it out, I'm so impressed and happy that I bought it! You really don't need a lot of it (else it looks like a bruise on your cheek), and the colour is so beautiful yet subtle. There is a slight shimmer to it but not too much - which is perfect for me! I'm so pleased I put this in the basket before I paid because it was 100% the right choice!

 I got the Maybelline Popsicle Lipsticks (RRP £7.49) in the colours Tropical Pink and Cherry Pop. Again I hadn't heard very good things about these lipsticks but at £1.99 I thought I might aswell give them a go. I chose the pink and the red because they were the most standard colours available and the ones that I would get the most wear out of. I swatched them on my hand when they arrived and I thought "what...they don't even have a colour" - but if you go over it a few times there is a subtle colour and it looks really natural and pretty. I find that these leave my lips feeling moisturized unlike most lipsticks! I do recommend these but I don't recommend paying the full £7.49 because although they are good, they aren't that good. 

Lastly, the Calvin Klein Delicious Truth Lipstick in the shade Contrast. I was a bit disappointed by this product if I'm completely honest because I find the twister to make the lipstick rise up is very weak, in other words it takes a lot of twisting before the lipstick is usable. I'm not sure if mine was just faulty but I found it didn't seem right. The colour on the other hand is lovely, maybe slightly too much shimmer but the colour itself is very nice and bright. I suppose that since I only paid £1.99 for it (RRP was £15) I cannot complain about there being too much shimmer.

Hopefully you can see the colours and the way these products came out on my skin from the swatches above. Personally I think my camera has dulled down the colour of all the swatches a tiny bit - but you can get the idea!

Don't forget to leave a comment and follow my blog!

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Get Cara Delevingnes' Natural Look!

I have this new found love for Cara Delevingne and her eyebrows. To be totally honest she is who inspired me to sort my eyebrows out and make them more even and bold!
I created this little collage of all the things I think you need to create this natural look that Cara has in most of her Burberry photos. Obviously I am no makeup genius, however from what I know and have tried, I believe that you can create a similar (less expensive) image with these products.
One thing that seems to have fallen off my product list is the Sleek Eyebrow Kit which in all honesty is the thing that holds this look together. It contains a wax and a powder - and together they create perfect bold eyebrows. You do have to perfect the technique of applying the product because too much can ruin the effect you're going for.
I believe the Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation would be a good alternative to the, probably, incredibly expensive one in which Cara has in this photo. It makes the skin look revived and bright, whilst leaving a natural look but also providing good coverage. I know this post isn't detailed because I didn't want it to turn into a tutorial, just a "here's the products you need" sort of thing.
I hope its been somewhat helpful!
Please drop me a comment!

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It's A Neon Summer!

I absolutely love how fluorescent colours have come back in recently! I created this little outfit which I think is just perfect for an evening out or evening a day out with shopping with friends.
I've had my eye on these Joni jeans from Topshop for so long but as a curvier girl with the least flat stomach ever, they really don't look that great on me - one day!
This satchel is my all time favourite item from June. Unfortunately I cannot afford a Cambridge Satchel as at £115 with only a weekend job, that's over half my monthly wages. I shall just have to continue to look at it and admire. 

These shoes are from Topshop - again so beautiful but I don't think I can pull them off as I'm fairly tall as it is and these would make me well over 6ft. I can imagine them being worn on an evening stroll along the seafront in Spain or something. I'm really getting into the summer mood!

On the top right is just a plain white spaghetti strap Cami which I am in love with! River Island have an amazing variety of these loose fitted Cami's for only £10 - I'm in desperate need of a bright coloured one so I may be taking a trip down to River Island. The white one in this picture isn't from River Island, I believe it was Forever 21 - but its very similar!
At the bottom I put a picture of an infinity bracelet that I bought of eBay back in February. My boyfriend and I both have one and they've joined our ever growing bracelet arm. I literally paid 99p for them and they're just so cute - and as they're in black they go with every outfit, so there's no need to take them off!

Lets hope we get the weather to wear all these summery clothes this year! 

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Nails of The Week

Last week I was wearing Barry M Gelly - Grapefruit. I feel there is a grapefruit theme running on my blog, I promise it was unintentional! This colour is such a beautiful pinky-coral and I have this weird thing for coral at the moment so I had to put this on my nails for the sunny weather. I did two coats and then applied a top coat just to ensure it really didn't chip as I didn't have time to redo my nails last week. Luckily they didn't chip, I find the Gelly nail polishes last well. At £3.99 I can't really fault this nail polish, I'm a sucker for the Barry M makeup stand in Superdrug...sorry bank balance!

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Soap & Glory - No Clogs Allowed

Hi guys!

I started using Soap & Glory's - No Clogs Allowed! face mask once a week to clear my pores and keep my skin feeling fresh and rejuvenated. Technically, the product isn't actually mine as I stole my sisters to see what it was like before I spent nine odd pounds on it. I've used it for 3 weeks in a row and my skin is feeling so soft! The mask is self heating and its a sort of scrub at the same time. You put the product on your face and then use warm water to rub the mask around your face allowing the scrub to do its work. I do this for about a minute and a half and then rinse it off with warm water and my flannel to dab the product away. This works really well for me and I think I have a slight obsession with self-heating face masks. The bottle does say that you can leave the mask on for 3-5 minutes for a deeper clean, which I am yet to do, but I presume the mask begins to go hard and works more like a face mask.
After I use this product I do find that my face burns in small patches which is weird, but I'm not entirely sure if this is the desired effect. My skin is not left dry and is very soft so I'm not too sure what the burning means,   I hope its meant to happen but I'm no expert so hey ho.
I do really love this Soap and Glory product, surprise surprise, but it doesn't have the traditional smell of their normal products which saddened me a little because to be honest, its the main reason I buy this range of products. That's really my only complaint about this product, oh and the fact that you need to shake it vigorously before pouring it into the palm of your hand because otherwise all the warming liquid comes out and the scrub part of the product doesn't, its very annoying.
Overall though I think I may have to purchase my own tube of No Clogs Allowed because it does wonders for my skin and it proves a good product until I can afford something from a higher end brand.
I'd rate this product an 8/10 , it lost 2 points due to the un-Soap&Glory smell.

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Calvin Klein Lipsticks - Orange Too & Eros

Eros (left), Orange Too (Right)

I came home from Sixth Form today to the best surprise - my Calvin Klein lipsticks had been delivered *thank god for Amazon*. I ordered them last week when I was bored in Sixth Form and was browsing on Amazon for an Orange lipstick. I came across this company selling these Calvin Klein lipsticks for around £3 and I couldn't resist. They are the older lipsticks, but still! I was a bit speculative about whether these were going to be knock-off's or whether they would be damaged, because the price was so low, but I was proved wrong! 
They arrived in fairly good condition - they weren't sealed but they weren't used when I opened them. The colours were so pigmented when I swatched them - on the swatches I did go over the colour twice because that's what I do on my lips anyway.

The colours I bought were Eros and Orange Too - the orange was slightly more red than I was looking for but I don't even care, I'm still so impressed with the price I paid. There isn't a huge selection of these lipsticks available on Amazon, maybe due to the fact Calvin Klein have released new lipsticks in a new packaging and there are not many of these discontinued ones available, I'm really not sure (I haven't done my research oops).

I really recommend these lipsticks - they're not heavy and they're very pigmented. They do have a slight sheen to them so if you're not fond of lipsticks that have a sheen - don't buy these!

I rate these a 9/10 because they're just a bargain!

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