Too Faced Gingerbread Extra Spicy | Palette Review

As soon as I saw the Too Faced Gingerbread Extra Spicy palette I knew that it was the ultimate Christmas season palette. This palette contains 18 shades and like the Too Faced peach range, it smells like its name. It smells like gingerbread and it's perfect in the winter season. The palette is a perfect combination of warm toned brown, nude, and pink tones. All the colours are based off that of a gingerbread man which is also very cute. 

The palette not only smells amazing but the colours are great quality, as you would expect from Too Faced. The shades are very soft too touch and are smooth to apply. They have a little bit of chalky texture so don't always pay off as much as other shadows with a wetter texture but with a bit of primer and setting spray there's no issue. They are really nice shades for everyday use. The colours are all very neutral while also adding a nice festive edge throwing in some red and pink shades which are always nice in this season! Warm tones when you want to be warm is always a good idea.

My favourite shades from this palette are Midnight Snack, which is a dark blue in the pan but on the eye its a bright electric blue and it contains a gold shimmer throughout. It goes really well against the other warm and neutral tones. It's the only exciting shade in the palette which I am glad to see but I would've liked one or two more exciting shades. I also like In a Pinch, which is a nice brown toned orange and Extra Spicy and Hot Tamale, a variation of the same shade, one more red and one more pink undertone. I like that the shades are a mixture of matte and shimmer shades, more matte than shimmer which I love as I feel like there's too much glitter in every palette now.

The swatches above are of the first and second row in order (I unfortunately lost the image of the last row of swatches I'm not sure how)

Overall, I like the theme of this palette and it's also limited edition, so more than likely won't be around for too much longer. Definitely it will be my most warn palette to compliment a red or dark lip this season. Has anyone else tried this yet? What do you think? 

Pastel Goth Kat Von D | Palette Review

It's my first post back and I have a lot of products that I have tried over the past year that I have been AWOL. The palette that I have used the most recently is Kat Von D's Pastel Goth palette. When trying to link this product it seems that it has been discontinued on Kat Von D's website -  but is still available on a few others. I was really drawn to this palette as every single colour in the palette was a shade that I did not already own. Being pastel and rainbow coloured was really appealing for me as I was trying to expand on my makeup skills and looks and therefore this palette was an instant hit. Although I wasn't anticipating to wear it as frequent as any other neutral shade palette I own. 

There are only eight shades in this palette which makes it quite small - yet each shade is very different from the next which gives it extra versatility. The shades are all pastel versions of the colours mainly found in a rainbow. As they are pastel I assumed they would be slightly muted in colour - yet was I extremely wrong. The colour pay-off of these shades is amazing. The consistency is very chalk like which is a little strange but it really allows the colours to stand out when applied. If using this palette using Skull - the white shade as a base is also a good idea for giving stronger colour pay-off for the other colours. The weird thing about this palette is that I'm using shades like green and blue like they were a casual brown or beige and I'm loving it. My most used and favourite shades are Star, Clementine and Meow (the first three shades) as wearing them all together makes a really beautiful sunset eye.

The below swatches are of the palette in order - although the quality of the picture is not the best. You can see in the picture that the shades are very chalky and look subtle but vibrant in shade. They look so much better on the eyes than on my arm I can confirm. This is the first Kat Von D palette I own and the quality is definitely worth investing in. Her products are all cruelty free and vegan which makes it much more appealing to me also.

If anyone has any suggestions on which colour combinations I should try please comment below! And if anyone has tried this palette before what are your opinions?

Lush Haul | September 2018

It's no secret I love Lush and I ran out of a lot of products recently, and I use a lot, so a haul was something that was so needed. I run out of bath bombs a lot quicker than other things because you obviously use them all in one go but I did pick up a few new pieces and older favourites, I am putting some of the products that I've never tried before in a separate post to do a better review of them, but here is the bulk of what I bought. I didn't buy this stuff before the new Halloween stuff arrived in store either, but I do know I will be picking some of those up too.

The first thing that I picked up was my favourite bath bomb of all time, Intergalactic. This has been my favourite for about two years and no other bath bomb has topped it yet. I love the mint smell and how relaxing and bright it is. I love watching the colours swirl in the bath and the colour that it leaves the bath with is amazing, and watching the glitter float around it is so pretty.

The next product is the classic Charity Pot, I have gone through so many pots of this stuff. It's super moisturizing, not sticky, soft and smooth on the skin. The best part about this product is that they donate the money from purchasing (minus tax) to charities that are on the packaging.

The next thing I purchased is Scrubee, which is a packaging free body scrub. This is so soft due to the shea butter and exfoliating scrub within leaves skin fresh and new feeling. This is my favourite scrub that I have tried from Lush, I also really like scrub scrub scrub, and I know that they have released some new ones recently that I need to also try.

The last thing I purchased is the Think Pink bath bomb, this bath bomb smells really sweet with vanilla undertones, and I love how vibrant it is. It is also a very glittery bath bomb and it's a wonderful colour in the bath, perfect for when the days are looking a little more dull.

Has anyone else tried anything from Lush recently? What would you recommend?

Colour Counterpart | Outfit

I always think that Summer means a lot of outfit posts and although it does, I always forget to take them, even when I have great outfits on. Although I've been working almost every day this summer and a lot of my outfits are not the summer outfits I've been looking forward to wear all year but I love when I do get a chance to enjoy the sun and wear cute outfits. I'm getting to go away again at the end of the year and I will get a week of that and sun so I am very excited and hopefully will have a lot of content after. I saw this wall while out exploring last week and realised that the colours on the wall matched my rainbow shirt, and I'm a sucker for a painted wall. 

Outfit Details

Shirt | New Look (Similar)

Trousers | River Island (Similar)

Shoes | Nike 

Bag | Primark

I have a lot of colour in my wardrobe this summer and I'm loving it, what has everyone else been wearing to enjoy the nice weather?

Current Hair Products & Routine

While I like to use products to make my hair feel and look nice, I don't think I use a lot when it comes down to comparison with other people. I'm very minimal with my hair care, and my hair generally is good with doing what I want it to do. My natural hair is slightly waving which makes it easy to straighten and curl. It's also a dyed blonde now, which means I have to put a little more care into looking after it than I would if I was still my natural brown, to maintain colour and softness. The products I'll be discussing are what I use all the time to keep my hair daily, while I use other conditioners too, they change regularly, but these are the products that I've been using constantly for a while.

The first product is usually what I use first in my shower routine, it's the Lee Stafford Bleach Blondes Shampoo. Purple Shampoo is good for dyed blonde hair as it enhances the colour of it and gets rid of brassy undertones and helps it glow and shine even more. I use a handful of this to help my colour stay and last even longer, I know that there is a conditioner to go with this but I feel like using both might make my hair feel like it has more chemicals in it, even though it's bleached, so using a natural conditioner with this helps my hair get a break from that. The size of this product is really good, and depending on how often you use it you can get a good while out of it. It definitely does the job and doesn't dry out my hair, while helping it stay blonde.

I didn't include my other in shower products as I thought there would be too many so I've decided to do another post in the future. The products that are next in my routine come after my shower before I dry my hair. I use the TRESemme heat defense spray, this is my favourite heat protector as I love the smell of it and I feel like it does a good job. I think it's important to use heat protector if you put a lot of heated products on your hair as it does a lot more damage than you may think, I definitely notice a difference when I use it, my hair feels softer and less coarse.

The John Frieda Go Blonder Controlled Lightening Spray is something that I don't use every time I shower as it contains a lot of bleaching qualities to obtain its lightening. This product gradually lightens your hair, I find that like the purple shampoo, if you're blonde and really want to go a little lighter this is perfect. You spray this on wet hair and dry it and gradually after a few weeks your hair becomes brighter. The only thing with this is that you need to be careful with how much and where you're spraying it because you can make really light patches in your hair so you need to spray from as far away as you can. I think this is great for blondes who want to go lighter without psychically dying their hair. 

  

The last product that I like to use is the Mark Hill Miracoilous Moroccan Argan Oil. I hate the feeling of argan oil, but I know that it does wonders for your hair. You rub a tiny bit of this product in between your hands to warm it up then spread it into wet hair. It leaves your hair silky smooth and shiny when dry and its super hydrating.

Does anyone use any of these products or have any suggestions that I can add into my routine?

Skinny Dip Liquid Lip Products | Review

I know you're probably thinking that you didn't know that Skinny Dip did lip products, well either did I until a friend gifted me these Pout Power Matte Lip Paints. These came in a set of three and they're quite different than the lip products that I would normally go for. I don't have any lip colours that come in tubes like this unless they are lip balm like products, but these are more like liquid lipsticks than anything. I thought I would dislike them but they're growing on me more and more and I'm reaching for them more lately than I thought I would. 

The three different shades of these lip colours are Flawless, Flamin' Hot and Girl Gang. Flawless is a brown and oranged toned nude, which I thought I would hate as oranges don't look good on me because of how pale I am, but it's my favourite of the lot. Flamin' Hot is a dark pink red shade, which isn't as dark on as it is on the packaging. The last one is Girl Gang which is a really pale light pink, which is my least favourite as I think it's a little bit too pink, and I hate that in a lip colour.
The application of these lip colours is one I actually enjoy.

The nib of the lip colour is a fluffy applicator that you squeeze the tube so that product comes out. It doesn't look so nice after you've used it as the product stains the top, and I cant imagine it being very hygienic. I actually love how easy it is to apply, and it feels like you're applying a lip balm rather than liquid colour. The product is creamy and smooths out nicely, admittedly it doesn't last an awful long time, it's not a hassle to re-apply. The product is completely matte but gives a nice moisture to your lips, not drying them out. One of the other great things about these is that they're cruelty free and aren't that expensive.

The above swatches are in order, Flamin' Hot, Girl Gang and Flawless.

I would love to try more products like this if anyone has any suggestions!

Has anyone tried these before? What do you think of them?

Subculture Palette | Review

Yes, I know the hype over this palette is long over, but I have a habit of buying products long after everyone else buys them. It's partly because if I still want it after a long period of time I know that I still want it, and I get to read more reviews and see if it's worth it. I've seen a lot of reviews about this product with people not liking it, the main reason is that it has a lot of fallout compared to its counterpart, the Modern Renaissance palette, but although I agree with that, I still have a lot of love for the product and thought I'd still give my own review. 

The ABH Subculture palette, along with the Modern Renaissance palette, are both two palettes that have stood out to me as ones that I needed to have. The selection of colours in each is amazing, and so different to others out there. Although I think the Modern Renaissance palette is more versatile in terms of neutral, bright and normally more wearable shades, I loved and love the contrasts and choice of colours in the Subculture palette. Admittedly, I don't wear darker colours often as I'm always afraid of not being able to blend them right or making a mess. Yet I thought that the colours in this would be great for experimenting and seeing what I could come up with, which might be a good blog post idea for the future, let me know what you think.

   

There's eleven matte shades and three shimmer shades in this palette, and it comes with a a mixture of light and dark colours that seem a little odd with each other. The actual pigmentation of this product I like, yes I agree that there is a lot of fallout, as you can see from having been used in the photos, yet if you are gentle with the product, it's not too bad. Maybe they've changed the formulation since its first release. The product is creamy and powdery at the same time, which makes it easy to blend and mix together. I find that even a little product is very pigmented and they come out the same colour as in the pan.

My favourite shades from the palette are Edge, which is a bright yellow, which is similar from ones in the Modern Renaissance palette. I also like Untamed, a green and dark blue pigment, Cube, which is an iridescent white with a colourful shimmer, and Electric, which follows its name, a sparkly gold yellow. I like to use this palette especially on nights out and I've loved trying different combinations out so far.

   

The swatches above are of the top row of the palette, in order, Cube, Dawn, Destiny, Adorn, All Star, Mercury, and Axis.

These swatches are of the second row in the palette, in order, Roxy, Electric, Fudge, New Wave, Untamed, Edge, and Rowdy.

Has anyone tried this palette before? What do you think of the shade range and pigment?

Lush Love Boat Bath Bomb | Review

Every time Lush releases new products I feel like they just get better and better. When they released their new valentines range I wasn't sure which one to get but after seeing them in person I fell in love with the Love Boat bath bomb. The bath bomb smells of citrus and also has a floral scent which is just so springy and different from their other products and the Christmas ones that were just out.

   

The bath bomb is like its name and it's in the shape of a boat. It has pastel colours on it, blue, pink and yellow at the bottom and it has a love heart at the front of the boat. If you hold the boat in a certain way when you're putting it in the water, it will float around like a boat, you can see in my photos I failed in doing so. If you hold the bottom bit in for a while until it starts fizzing a little bit and let go, it can float, you might need some practice as mine was falling backwards too much but not bad for a first attempt. It melts and fizzes in a pastel blue and pink and as the bottom melts a yellow fizzes into the mixture. The colours are so pretty together and the scent is so fresh and bright, if you can call a scent bright. When it finishes fizzing and the colours settle it turns the bath a rose red colour which is also very pretty.

   

Has anyone else tried this bath bomb from the Valentines range or anything else? What should I try next?