My Favourite Travel Eye Palette: Mac Enchanted Eve Eyes Palette

Hi guys and welcome back! 

Recently I have had to do some traveling about including going on planes with just hand luggage and I have come to appreciate how hard it is to find a good eye shadow palette that can do it all but still be compact. Enter the Mac Enchanted Eve Eyes Palette in 'Warm' 

I absolutely love this palette, it was given to me as a Christmas present and I loved it then and love it even more now! There are 3 main things that make this perfect for traveling (and life in general) 

1. The size: 

I don't know if you can guess scale in this picture but this little guy really is smalli can hold it in the palm of my hand (we'll sort of). This makes it perfect for traveling as it fits in any bag really easily and doesn't take up much room (it's smaller than my iPhone 5s!) super easy and convenient to transport! 

2. The shadows themselves: 

As you can see from the photo these colours are simply gorgeous! Really lovely warm yet neutral browns with a cpup of shimmers aswell. 

The 3rd, 5th and 6th shadows down are all matt finish and the 1st, 2nd and 4th are shimmer. 

Having the 3 matt shades means you can build up a lovely crease colour by using the 3rd as a transition shade and the others to intensify it. Or you can use these to create a basic eye look of you just want something super subtle. 

The shimmer shades can be used to add another dimension to your eye look and to brighten and add extra colour. They are subtle and pretty and will suit any skin tone! 

One thing to add about the formula of these is although they apply like a dream and blend out beautifully they aren't very pigmented and are quite hard to get much product on a brush, how wet they are easy to build. You will need to take a bit more time to build up a really intense eye look. 

3. The brush: 

How cute is this diddy little brush?! Aside from this brush being super cute it's also super helpful to have, and I love it when a palette comes with a brush especially a good brush at that! This brush appears to be a combo of the Mac 217 Blending Brush and the 266 Small Angle Brush which makes it really handy to have on the go and traveling. All of your basic crease and lid shadows you can apply with the fluffy end and if you want to intensify a colour then use the angled end, also if you don't pack an eyeliner you can wet the angled end and then use the darkest shadow as an eyeliner! This makes it so versatile which is what you want when traveling. 

Here is a look I created with it a while ago: 

The only thing that isn't good about this palette was that it was limited edition for Christmas! Sorry guys! However I promise to keep my eyes open for anything else that will work as well for me as this one does!! 

Hope you guys found this useful and I'll be back soon! 

Love 

Elle X 

My favourite foundation brush- Real Techniques

Hey guys and welcome back! 

Today I wanted to tell you guys about a brush I have fallen in love with in the last couple of months; the Real Techniques Sculpting Brush! 

This brush interestingly isn't actually a foundation brush, it's a contour brush! For those of you who don't know Real Techniques brushes have a colour coding system; gold handles for your base (like foundation and concealer) pink handles for finishing (like blusher and contour) and purple handles for eyes. 

This brush I'm talking about is their contour brush and it has an RRP of £9.99 (prices correct for the 12th March 2016) and I think it is well worth the spend! 

The actual brush head itself is slightly angled hence its original purpose for contouring but what I like is it is really densely packed with brissles which make it fantastic for buffing in foundation and I find gives me a beautiful streek free finish which I love. 

I tend not to be a big fan on the traditional paint brush style foundation brushes as I find they tend to leave streakes which is what attracted me to this brush in the first place. 

I use this brush most days as I find it workes well if you need to apply your makeup quickly as it worked liquids in so easily and quickly. On a day to day basis I don't use a Beauty Blender as I find this takes too long, so this brush is ideal. 

A nice touch to this brush is due to it ha being a flat base that tapers out it stands up on its own super easy which is something I've found useful when I have a big mess of makeup in front on me on my desk each day. 

The handle on this is also nice and thick so you have good control but it doesn't feel bulky in you hand. It's also nice and sturdy so I'm not worried about the handle breaking and none of the brissles have come out either!

Finally I will say that I really rate this brush I personally think it was a fantastic find and highly recommend that everyone gets one. Also despite Thai being designed as a contour brush there really is no set rules on what you use it for, brushes are your tools so use them however you want. 

I hope you guys liked this and found it helpful and I'll be back soon! 

Love 

Elle X 

Fierce liner: Rimmel London Scandal Eyes

Hey guys! 

This week I wanted to talk about a new eyeliner that I got that I'm seriously in love with right now! 

This is the Rimmel London Scandal Eyes waterproof gel eyeliner and I picked it up in the colour '001 black' RRP £6.99 This is what the packaging looks like:

So the product comes in this neat little box which I like as it helps protect the glass jar the product comes in, and helps protect the brush too. 

This is what comes inside the box, you get 2.4grams of the gel liner which comes in a glass jar and the Rimmel London logo on the screw on lid. It also comes with a neat little eyeliner brush with it aswell, which is nice if you don't have any brushes yourself, a lot of liners don't come with brushes. 

The brush is not bad for a complimentary brush and does a reasonably neat application and can create a clean line but personally I found it worked better with an angled liner brush. 

The formula advertises as being 24hour wear and although I haven't had it on for a full 24hours it did last really well from morning till night.

The formula it's self is really soft, smooth and creamy it really does glide on super easy, it a good one to go for if your starting out using gel liners. 

One thing I will mention is to screw the lid on tight as it will dry out quickly if you don't, but this is typical with all gel eyeliners. 

The eyeliner is really opaque so you don't need to use a lot to get a sharp black line, and it doesn't come off patchy either. 

You can see on my hand how opaque the formula is and it feels so comfortable to wear too o haven't even noticed it on my eyes where as some eyeliners can make them feel tight. 

This is what the liner looked on me when I did a small wing with it: 

This is it with my eye closed: 

It looks really neat on the eye and it's easy to get it to look nice and sharp I didn't need to sharpen it up with concealer. 

Overall I'm really happy with this eyeliner I think that for the price it's really good, I will definitely repurchase it when I run out. This is definitely a good gel eyeliner to start with if you are trying to learn liner tricks. 

Hope you guys find this review helpful and I'll see you guys again soon.

Love 

Elle X 

Finally a BB cream for pale skin! The Body Shop Tea Tree Flawless BB Cream

Hey guys!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while I've been a bit busy! But now I'm back and I'm really exited to announce that I have finally found a BB cream that is actually pale enough for people with pale skin! 

On one of my many visits to The Body Shop (shout out to The Body Shop Derby!) out of the corner of my eye I spotted their Tea Tree Flawless BB Cream. I thought I might as well have a look at it and try it on my arm and I was so surprised to see it was a really pale formula! I brought it on the spot! I've been trying this out for a while now and I've been really pleased with it.

It is a really nice creamy formula so it glides onto the skin nicely, I've found its beat to use your fingers for this. It doesn't give a lot of coverage it merely blurs the skin a little bit so it's ideal for on the go or if you only have a short time to get ready. This was good as that was what I was after in a BB cream.

The colour I got was shade '01 Light' this is a touch darker than my normal skin tone so it would be better in summer when I pick up some more colour in my face but at least in the winter it makes me look a bit less like a ghost! The only downside is it can oxidise a bit throughout the day.

This is what the formula looks like on my arm. 

What is great about this BB cream is that as well as being moisturising it's also from their Tea Tree range which is great for blemished skin as Tea Tree helpes fight spots and clear skin. So this is a great skin care combo, a great idea for teen skin or if you suffer with acne as an adult. 

This is me with bare skin: 

And this is me with a layer of the BB cream on: 

As you can see it's not a lot of coverage just enough to blur and smooth the skin for a natural look. 

This BB Cream retails for £8.50 so it's not the cheapest on the market but I think that the combined moisturiser and blemish fighting properties make it worth the investment. 

Hope you guys find this helpful and I will see you next time! 

Love 

Elle X 

Kiko Matte Muse Lipstick: I love this!

Hey guys! 

Last week I went on a shopping trip and went a bit mad in Kiko, I picked up quite a few things but this one has really stood out to me! 

This is the Matte Muse Lipstick, it's a liquid matte effect lipstick and I picked it up in shade 04 Gaudy Red. 

I don't normally go for bold reds or liquid lipsticks as I find them a little difficult to apply effectively, but I spotted this in their sale and thought 'why not' and I'm so pleased with it! The colour suits my hair and complexion surprisingly well and it's so pigmented you hardly need to apply any to build up really solid colour. It's also really easy to apply, it has a funny doefoot applicator (see below) which makes it easy to use.

One thing that surprised me was that the bottle it comes in looks so like a nail polish bottle I thought I had brought the wrong thing! It's glass aswell so it's looks so nice on my shelf really high quality packaging. 

The colour is actually a little darker in real life than on the bottle, closer to a blood red on colour* 

This is what it looked like on me: 

So you can see it workes really well if you have pale skin and red hair like me so definitely going to be reaching for it more often. 

Here is a close up 

Some advice for this is to definitely use a lip balm before had as it can dry your lips a bit, but the colour lasts so long I had it on for 8 hours straight on a night out and it didn't budge! 

I couldn't find a price for this as I think it is limited edition, but if you guys can find it online or in store then go for it. I think this is great, will definitely be going back to Kiko! 

Love 

Elle X 

My product empties

Hey guys! 

Recently I have been clearing out a lot of old products that I've either forgotten I had or used up and don't want to let go of. So I thought I would share a couple of them with you 

These are all the empties I was willing to photograph for you and the rest looked a bit grim and old as heck!

This is all skin and face care today as I did a makeup throw out befor Christmas. 

First up are the John Freida Frizz Ease Dream Curls shampoo and conditioner RRP £5.89 each 

I actually quite liked these two products they smelt nice but didn't have a paticularly stand out scent and a little went a long way! 

I think when my hair is freshly cut and the layers are more obvious and defined this works better to enhance my curls but sadly towards the end of the bottle when I hadn't had my hair done in a couple of months I got less definition in my curls (maybe due to the fact I needed a hair cut!) 

Thai did make my hair feel very soft and silky which is a big achievement for my hair but I found it could go oily quicker than win some other shampoos and conditioners I've used.

Big plus is that they last a long time which is good because this is a more expensive hair product so I want to feel like I'm getting value for money. I wish I got a bit more curl definition with just the shampoo and conditioner as I'm a bit lazy when it comes to hair styling.

Would repurchase again (once I've had my hair cut!) 

Next is the Bed Head Foxy Curls Contour Cream RRP £12.95

I have had this product FOREVER! Genuinely had it for years (I probably should have thrown it out earlier) it smells delicious like skittles so super sweet which I love.

This is a tried and tested favourite I take 1-2 pumps of this rub my palms and run it through wet hair and either let it dry naturally or go to bed in it. It really helps define curls and give that naturally tousled curl look which is what I like to go for every day. 

Make sure you spread it evenly or it can go hard in places and give you that too much mouse look which I don't like at all. But give your hair an good brush through when it's all dry and it should be good! 

I think the bottle that this comes is is cute and fun but it's awkward size can make storing it a bit of a pain, also you can get product left in the end of the pump which dried into a hard plug which I'm not a fan of, but on the upside you can screw the pump down for traveling! 

A for sure repurchase.

This is my all time favourite shower product, the L'Occitaine en Provence Almond Shower Oil RRP £18.00 

I just love, love, love this shower oil! I know it's expensive but I just don't care! 

This smells heavenly it uses fresh almond oil and it's such a deliciously sweet scent I feel like goddess when I use it.

The oil turns into a really fine milky lather when on wet skin and it glides all over the body really easily so a little goes a long way.

The whole point of this shower oil is that it's like a shower gel and in shower body moisturiser in one, and it works! I feel so soft and smooth every time I use it there's no need to moisturise after your shower, it's brilliant in winter when your skin gets dried out yet sensitive on sunburnt areas in the summer (I'm a redhead I burn!). Tip: it's really good for shaving with, really close shave and no razor burn!

This also works so nicely as a bubble bath too! Run a bit under hot water and it fills the bathroom with that lovely sweet scent that isn't too overpowering and leaves you feeling relaxed and wonderfully moisturised at the same time.

This is my favourite product in this post, I think this is my 4-5th bottle I just love it so much! A must have! 

Following from that is a really nice (more affordable) scrub, the Soap and Glory Sugar Crush body scrub RRP £8

*You actually can't get this one anymore, this is the old scrub the new one has citrus in it* 

I quite enjoyed using his scrub, it was a gift from a friend and I loved using it but when I moved house it got put in a box and I kind of forgot about it a bit (oops) when I rediscovered it after Christmas it had gone off 😞 

This scrub is really nice, because it's a sugar one you massage it in until the sugar has dissolved which means you gay really good exfoliation from it. It gets rid of a lot of dead skin cells and always left me feeling smooth just make sure you don't put it anywhere near and cuts abrasions or rashes as it will sting like heck! 

I love Soap and Glory packaging so it looks super cute on the side of the bath. What's good is that the tub is nice and big so you get a lot of product, but if you like me you use loads in one go anyway! This should last a good amount of time too if you use it once a week.

I will be getting the new one with citrus in it.

And finally an empty face moisturiser: the Clinique Moisture Surge Intense RRP £34.00

As much as it saddens me to say, this didn't really wow me. I love most of what Clinique does but this moisturiser although it was ok, for £34 felt rather 'meh'. It did moisturise my skin and leave it feeling soft but it didn't wow me, I didn't use it and think 'oh my god this stuff is amazing' to me it's not worth the £34 price tag I have products that are 1/3 of the price which I feel work better for me. 

It may be a holy grail for some of you out there in which case that's great but it just didn't not work that well for me. I used it all up as I wasn't going to waste a £34 face cream.

I will not be buying this again. 

Hate to end on a negative but I hope you guys found this review helpful and informative and I'll be back soon! 

Love 

Elle X 

My Lancôme collection

Hey guys! 

Today I want to share my thoughts on some more luxury items I have so we are doing Lancôme! 

I only really started purchasing their products about a year ago and I've accumulated a few, some are hits and some are misses so without any further ado lets get started

These are the products I have from them so far a lipgloss, lipstick, a concealer palette, brightening concealer pen, kohl eyeliner and a mascara. 

All Lancôme products I find have really good colour range, good looking high quality packaging and they do look nice on your makeup shelf! 

Let's kick things off with concealer's! 

This is me with only a little BB cream on for refrance

First is the concealer Le Correcteur Pro professional concealer palette and I have the shade 200 C Buff RRP £29.50:

In this pallet you get 2 concealer's and one setting powder and when you buy it it comes with a guide for how to apply each concealer and to each area which is nice. You also get a double ended brush with it. 

First off it's the wrong colour for me, the lady at the counter insisted it would be fine even though I said I thought it would be too dark, but hey I don't want to waste it. The cream concealer's are very smooth and creamy but a bit too thick for my preference, also the brush is not very good I found that it went on better with my fingers. 

Due to the thick consistency I found this product difficult to apply and blend and it had a tendency to crease rather easily on me. The setting powder is exceptionally stiff, this is what I found the most disappointing part of the palette, I could barely get any on the brush in order to set the concealer and it didn't work applying with a finger either. 

Overall I won't repurchase this and the thick cream concealer doesn't work for me I prefer liquid. But it may work for others with more oily eye areas. 

This is it on my right eye, it doesn't have as much coverage as you would expect.

Second is the Tient Miracle Corrector perfecting concealer pen, natural light creator in shade '01 Rose Lumiere' RRP £26.50

This pen is activated by clicking the top down to dispense product.

This pen I actually quite liked, it's a good shade for summer but not quite pale enough for winter. It gives a pretty good coverage and does brighten the under eye area and being a liquid formation I personally prefer it.

It took a few clicks to get the product flowing but once it did 2-3 clicks was enough to do both eyes, it applies very smoothly and the bristled end means there product can be easily spread but I recommend blending with the fingers. This is not a full coverage concealer and it is quite a runny liquid so it's harder to build up, it's also not easily set with powder either. 

What this is good for is defining the brows as the bristles are really fine so you can get a good crisp line.  

This is the product under my left eye.

Next is the Le Crayon Kohl eyeliner pencil in shade '01 Noir' RRP £17.00

This is one of my favourites from Lancôme there's not much to say about it other than its a really good quality easy to use kohl eyeliner pencil, it crates sharp lines but is still blendable. It's a really nice creamy formula and is just a staple I will always have in my makeup bag! 

This is some very basic lining I did with it, I'm not wearing mascara so you can see better 

As you can see you can get a nice thing crisp line with it. 

The only other eye product I have is a mascara.

This is the Grandiose wide angle fan effect mascara in '01 Noir Mirifique' RRP £25.00

This is the mascara and to start isn't the packaging just gorgeous! 

Unfortunately this is my biggest purchasing regret, I love the effect it gives (see below) and the angled brush it comes with means you capture lashes beautifully all the way into the corners.

However this products biggest drawabayis that on me it smeared everywhere! Within half an hour it had smudged underneath my eyes and it would continue to do so all day. I tried all sorts like powder under the eye using a primer on my lashes nothing worked! 

I have more oily eyelids but for £25.00 the formulation should be better in my opinion. 

Again didn't work for me but it may work for someone else, still a gorgeous effect though 

Onto lip products 

This is my lips without any product on them.

Up first is the Lip Lover is shade '316 Rose Attrape-coeur' RRP £19.00

I think this shade is so pretty it's a lovely soft pink that really suits red hair, the gloss is really pigmented and goes on fairly evenly. It lasted a long time too I don't need to top up for a couple of hours, it works really well over a lip liner too. 

I don't normally wear gloss but I find myself reaching for this more and more. 

Finally is the Shine Lover vibrant colour and shine in shade '388 Plum d'audace' RRP £22.00

I've mentioned this before in my 2015 favourites and here it is again.

This is a lovely blue toned dark pink shade which work well with my hair colour. 

It's claims to give 8hour moisture which it would if it lasted that long, I generally have to top up after a few hours. It is also a much more sheer colour which means it's buildable from a slight tint to the more full on look above. 

One thing to bear in mind is that it looks a lot darker in the tube than it is on the lips but this is due to the more sheer nature of the lipstick. 

It lasts a long time too. 

Those are my thoughts on the Lancôme products I have so far, I hope you guys find some of this useful 

Love 

Elle X