Anastasia Beauty Express for brows and eyes product review

Here is the Anastasia beauty express for brows and eyes that I was lucky enough to be sent to review. Although this review has been in the pipeline for a while (my bad) I’m really excited to share it with you. Please note that while the packaging is impossible to photograph it was lovely to look at! The packaging is very sleek and inside a cardboard sleeve was this leatherette embossed case that is kept safe and shut with a handy magnet. I thought this was a nice touch as I travel a lot and don't want to risk anything popping open/exploding in my bag.

The products included are from left to right the brow wax cream, the brow powder duo and a matte and shimmer eyeshadow duo. I know this because somebody had the foresight to put a small insert into the box to tell me exactly what everything is. This is the set of shades for blondes.

There is a mirror in the lid of the packaging but I’d say that’s mostly useful for touch ups. If you’re holding a stencil and a brush I wouldn’t recommend trying to use the mirror in the packaging unless you have to. That said, it’s of a reasonable enough size. I used this kit on a train the other day! If pressed you could probably do the rest of your eye makeup in it. There also aren’t any tweezers included in the kit but if you view it as a makeup item, you’re already getting 5 different products, a brush and some very useful stencils. Which is pretty good going!

The brush is angled and I was a little surprised to see that for so many products there was a single brush. While I wouldn’t expect something to use for the eyeshadows the only quibble I had was using the same brush for both powder and wax and getting it gunky (for lack of a better word) fast. However, it’s perfectly adequate to do both jobs in one sitting, and would be quick enough to clean off. The hairs are both soft and fairly dense.

Step one involves selecting a stencil from the box. Step two involves applying the wax cream to your eyebrow to prep it. Step three involves placing the stencil over your eyebrow as shown in the diagram and filling in the area left exposed with powder. The next step is to remove the stencil and tweeze any straggling hairs outside of this powdered area. Although this means tweezing in the middle of doing your makeup it does make sense in that you’re still using the stencil as a guideline. The final step is to use the eyeshadows provided to highlight your brow bone, lid and the inner corner of your eyes. If you were to travel with this, you effectively have a whole eye look. The steps are repeated in French on the insert which is admirably thorough.

There is an impressive selection of stencils included in the pack and they are the slim high arch, full arch, medium arch, high arch and petite arch. This is one of the things I haven’t seen much of in smaller brow kits and I think it makes this kit much more comprehensive. After a few tests at matching up stencils I went for a medium arch, I initially thought I’d be using the petite one but given my over-plucking I probably wouldn’t normally match that. There is a small and useful diagram on the insert of the ‘Golden Ratio’ of where your eyebrow stencil should match up in alignment with your nose.

Here are swatches (from left to right) of the wax, two eyebrow powders and two eyeshadows. The wax is clear and doesn’t give as much of a ‘wet look’ as some products I’ve tried. The powder is buildable and the darkest shade doesn’t look out of place against my currently mid-blonde hair. The eyeshadow is very light and works as a good base/neutral tone. Unless you were to cake the products on all at once, it doesn’t look too much and in fact simply looks groomed and ‘barely there.' My ‘Scouse brow’ fears did not come true in the slightest. There also isn't too much of a red tone to the powder which I found when using my MUA pencil.

With my ELF kit I’d like to add that I used to put the cream over the powder. Don't ask me why, I just thought early on that it worked better. There is a risk of blonde eyebrows looking dark and overdone with my ELF kit (I use the Ash studio brow kit) due to the fact that both the powder and the gel are pigmented. Although it has two ends to the ELF brush I don't think I've ever bothered to really clean them (shame on me)and the one Anastasia brush gets the job done fine. The Anastasia powders seem finer and offer more of a shade range than my ELF kit.

I tried using the stencils initially without instructions but bogged myself down in too much product. This time I followed the very helpful instructions on the inside lid of the packaging and it couldn’t have gone better. The trick is to remove the stencil to check out your handiwork before you move onto the next step. I do tend to touch up a little after removing the stencil but honestly my brows look better than I’ve ever seen them. The stencils really help get your eyebrows to look more symmetrical and groomed when working with the product. As far as makeup products go when it comes to achievable immaculate, quick natural looking eyebrows? Anastasia has this one covered!

Here I used just the brow powders and wax with the medium arch stencil. This should also demonstrate the fact it blends right in with my hair tone!

Will I be swapping my usual budget ELF option for this? Given the higher price on this product I’d probably want to save this up for nights out but I actually can see myself being able to pull this look off every day. When the cream and powder product in the packaging runs out I might not repurchase this entire kit right away (specifically for budget reasons) but I’m going to treasure the stencils and brush for a long time! The stencil element and clear instructions would make this a perfect gift for anyone who is an eyebrow newbie like me and if you look at it like that it’s an investment. Trialling this product has shown me it doesn’t take that long to get the knack of brows. While I may try out another powder, pencil or cream in the future the stencil is the key aspect of this set and it’s a gem. Altogether this kit represents all of the cosmetic products you'd need.

The retail price of this product is $39.50 on the Anastasia website or £27.50 at cultbeauty.co.uk but I’m definitely a convert to just how natural looking and effective it is. I would very likely look at Anastasia products and try to somehow work them into my budget/stash in the future! While I can't say this is a super cheap product, it definitely does the job, you get multiple products and it would make a great gift.

Anastasia of Beverly Hills Lash Genius review

I know that I told you all I'd be trialing an Anastasia brow product a long time ago. Well due to issues in getting samples out to bloggers I ended up getting my parcel quite a few months later than expected but with the fantastic bonus of another product to try. I have been dying to try this because when I heard about it, it seemed far too good to be true.

Anastasia Soare's beauty range Anastasia of Beverly Hills has made bold claims with their new Lash Genius. This product primarily works to waterproof your favourite existing mascara. It is a topcoat that according to their website "instantly waterproofs, refreshes, and protects any mascara all day." I must say that I was a little skeptical but excited by this idea. With the summer coming, I couldn't wait to take this product and put it through its paces. On its own Lash Genius simply looks like a mascara in some rather nice packaging, but don't let that deceive you.

Apart from a slightly chemical smell in the tube (didn't notice it at all though from the wand), the product is clear gel-like and didn't irritate my eyes upon application. The brush has quite stiff comb-like bristles and while I was worried it might not cover all my lashes, it actually managed to get through my slightly stiff and already clumped lashes without much trouble. The stiff bristles actually helped it get to the roots really well. I strongly approve of any brush that lets me get to the roots of my lashes properly so this is a tick in my book.

So here is my everyday eye makeup. I had trouble finding a decent shot of this as by this stage in my photos I might have already applied the product. Can you tell? No? Me neither. What I'm wearing as my usual daily mascara is actually a combination of 2true's Voluptulash and Accessorize's lengthening mascara ... because I like to be awkward. Now I personally know that this combination isn't at all waterproof so I was really interested to see what would happen next.

Now the eye with two heavy coats of Anastasia's Lash Genius applied here is on the left. One application of the product actually helped define my already applied mascara and only after two very heavy coats did I notice the lashes looking at all like they had been moved. Lash Genius did very little to disturb the product that was already there and I don't feel I lost the desired effect of my chosen mascaras. All I notice is my lashes are slightly more bouyant? Between each application I left a few minutes for this to dry as I would a mascara - just to give it a fighting chance. This second shot is literally taken about a minute before I threw a lot of water at my face.

In the picture below however, it's fairly obvious which eye has the Lash Genius on! There is no visible product migration from the left eye and yet on the right hand side I'm sporting the panda look. There are actually droplets of water on my lashes and yet the black pigment on the left hasn't moved. I even screwed my eyes up for good measure before I took this in order to fully simulate what having a good cry looks like. The staying power is quite incredible and although my lashes themselves moved a bit after a soaking, the product did. not. budge.

Having left my eyelashes to dry out naturally after this, the eye with a topcoat on looks simply a little clumpier than before and not panda-esque at all. Even having given it a good rub just now nothing came away. I haven't had any real irritation at this stage although by now I'm quite aware that the makeup is still there. However normally I would at least blot my eyes! My current mascaras when combined don't normally fare as well and there was no flaking, smudging or smudging of any kind. Removal with a makeup wipe was actually slightly better than what I normally experience with my daily mascara.

If you plan on visiting a pool, beach, the movies (Monsters Inc. gets me every time) or any other venue where you might not be able to guarantee a dry eye this Summer; I'm fairly sure that this product could literally save your face! As a precautionary measure, it works perfectly. I know that my Mum has very sensitive eyes and real trouble with mascara migrating, so I'm fairly certain this would probably solve her problems too. As for me, I know exactly when I'd wear this. There happens to be a hot-tub in my boyfriend's back garden so this will be in my makeup bag for the rest of the Summer!

The Anastasia Lash genius costs $21 and can be purchased here and their shipping is worldwide! Other Anastasia of Beverly Hills products are also available at Sephora. I also have my Anastasia brow review coming up soon!

New MUA pastel lipstick swatches!

Recently in my local Superdrug, I noticed that they had the new MUA £1 range lipstick shades for sale so I snapped them up. Shown above are the old shade 4, and the new 'bare' shade 14, 'juicy' shade 15 and 'nectar' shade 16 in the range. I put these together for a post as they are all pale pastel shades and I wanted to see how wearable they were on my chapped lips!

From left to right - 4, bare (14), juicy (15) and nectar (16)

Shade 4 from the original MUA range is a very sheer and quite glossy pink. It feels a bit more like a tinted balm in that sense. It's so sheer that when applying it it's can be hard to notice the baby pink tint - but it is there! Due to the how slippy this shade is, I don't see the colour hanging around for too long. However I do like the effect and it was very quick to apply.

Now this is 'bare' or shade 14. Much to my own surprise I really liked the tones in this! This shade doesn't make me look that dead and it doesn't look like I'm wearing foundation on my lips. Instead this is a very subtly peachy beige that tones down the natural pinkness of my lips. Impressively it didn't  drag or gather at all in the dodgy patches of my lips. This was creamy to apply and once on it wasn't sticky or slippy at all. For this reason I think that shade 14 would wear longer than the others here.

Unfortunately while shade 15 or 'juicy' was my favourite in colour, it had the most difficult consistency and application. While this lipstick is pigmented, it is also quite sheer and had a tendency to slip and show up my damaged skin. However, this is a gorgeous pinky peach and a true pastel shade that really pops. While it looks quite pale here, it's lovely and vibrant. I think that with a bit of blotting and some balm, this could still be worn in all weathers.

Shade 16 or 'nectar' is actually the most similar to shade 4 of the original MUA lipstick range. It's very sheer and very glossy but instead of being pink this lipstick is a coral orange. This would probably normally be considered more of a summery shade but I will be wearing it no matter what. This lipstick makes a bold shade a lot more wearable. It also livens up my lips whilst still looking vaguely natural. This may be sheer and glossy but it doesn't seem to budge as easily as shade 4. It doesn't have the most even application but my lips aren't in the best state at the moment so I don't think it's really the fault of the product!

Chit Chat mascara

So the other day I bought a mascara. Not really that much of a big deal. I guess you could say it looks like a lot of other mascaras out on the high street at the moment. The difference? This mascara is part of a relaunched Chit Chat makeup range I spotted in Poundland.

While you're probably thinking I only ever buy makeup in pound shops, I'll be deflecting your attention to the brush. The reason I picked this up was that I strongly suspected a mahoosive mascara wand... and I was right. While the formula itself is really wet, the large brush is what made me try this product. I'm not normally one for brushes as big as this but at the moment my current daily mascara is giving up the ghost and I'm all for experiments. For £1, I could definitely justify trying this out.

Now here is the obligatory creepy 'before' photo of my eye with no makeup on to show my natural lashes. What you can see below is the after.

The plus points of this mascara are the price, pigmentation and lengthening properties. With one tiny dab of the wand, my lashes were instantly black. Applying this in gradual thin coats seems to be the way forward (which as you might be able to see from my sloppy application, I didn't quite manage) and so it definitely does do what it says on the tin. The wand reached the base to the tip of my lashes fine, however I did really have trouble with the wetness of the formula. Once it was on, it seemed to get everywhere. I also had an issue with getting mascara on my eyelids, which is a pet hate of mine. Finally when I was taking this off earlier, I got major panda eyes thanks to the uber pigmentation. Perhaps it might not be so great if it rains?

If you compare this to my previous review and photos of the Maybelline New York One by One mascara the photos don't actually differ too much. I'd say that the One by One covers my lashes individually and adds more volume. It also adds a lot more control. But if you can be more careful with your application than I was I'm sure the results would be pretty close.

I'll definitely keep playing with this mascara because despite its flaws I have yet to try a better mascara for as many pennies. I almost feel I'll regret saying that when it comes into contact with the air a little bit, it'll probably be better, because I don't want this to die off too soon! Personally I like a little bit more control and volume in a mascara but when I applied this over a base it really gave a lot more impact to the look. Either way I can still see myself reaching for this quite a bit. For £1, I can't really argue with that. Will any of you be checking out the revamped Chit Chat range?

MUA professional matte foundation

Finding a foundation is never an easy task. I spend forever in shops trying to swatch as many as possible but still seem unsure of what to buy. Due to how pale and pink my skin is, I have trouble finding a light shade that'll even out the pink without making me look like a ghost. After quite a bit of swatching in superdrug on Saturday, I couldn't resist trying the new MUA professional matte foundation for £2 and I'm so glad I did!

The shade has enough yellow tone to even out some of the pink in my skin. It is what I've been looking for shadewise - a non-orange and non-ashy shade, that's sheer enough to blend with my skin whilst providing decent coverage. The consistency of this foundation is quite thick, but it doesn't settle into every dry area of my combination skin and similarly it doesn't instantly dry patchily on my skin. It takes a while to blend in due to the thick, slightly tacky consistency to apply it (I use my hands to apply foundation 99% of the time) but once it's on, it has great coverage without making me look like I'm wearing a mask. 

I was surprised by how light it felt as one major problem with cheap foundations I've swatched seems to be the strange muddiness and dodgy formulas. I didn't find it drying but I would note some shine and fading (mostly under my eyes where I normally conceal) after about 6 hours of wear. Also, despite the fact that it was quite a thick formula, I didn't need immense amounts of the product because it could be blended before drying out. I don't mind the fact that it wasn't as matte as I was expecting but I would say for those with particularly oily skin, it might not be the best idea. Above is a swatch of the foundation straight out of the tube and below it is blended right out.

So here are the all important before and after photos. Firstly, I'm going to warn you outright that I'm wearing absolutely no makeup in this photo. Zilch. Nada.

So there it is, and I even have a spot for the occasion! Aren't you all lucky. Now, I'd like you all to compare this monstrosity to the photo below, where I'm wearing only MUA's professional matte foundation in soft sand. This product boasts it is "velvet smooth" and will leave a "long-lasting finish."

 

I have to say I was seriously surprised to see such a difference. The redness in my cheeks and around my nose has been reduced (which is something that I suffer from all year round). Also, the dark shadows under my eyes have been pretty considerably reduced. While I do look a little shiny, I actually don't think I look like I'm even wearing makeup. There are still quite a few freckles and admittedly that great big blemish visible, but I think that this foundation covers what I seek to cover. While I wouldn't describe this effect as matte, it was definitely smooth and I'm seriously impressed for £2!

Now this last photo is just me with a dusting of collection 2000's powder over the top which is my every day cheap powder product. Instantly the dewiness is toned down and my skin looks matte and even. While I normally top up my foundation and powder combination with a touch of concealer (yes spot, I'm looking at you) I think that for £2 this is great. After a day of wear today, I can probably say that it did probably fade somewhat around my nose and  undereye area but I'm not adverse to topping up with powder to mask shine. For £2 I think this is a nice and light formula and cheap alternative in a sea of dodgy foundations.

The blonde brow dye-lemna part 2

So here is the second post in my brow series, this time focusing on the lowest budget products I've found available on the high street.

For starters, here is a picture of my light brown eyebrows before I do anything to them. Yes they're unkempt, and yes it's bugging me too. I hope that we can move on from this together. And below you can see a picture of my made up eyebrows (complete with silly facial expression) next to my hair, which as I established in post 1, is naturally brown.

Now, I do confess that these products were the first ones I'd ever bought with my brows in mind. I know that there are many reasonably priced products out there (several from ELF for starters) but due to convenience my first brow product purchases were pretty predictable! Day to day, I've been using 2 products that in total come to the price of £2 and only one of them is specifically designed for eyebrows! From the price tag you've probably also already guessed that they are by MUA. My daily brow products at the moment are limited to MUA's clear mascara (shade 1) and their eyebrow pencil in blonde.

This pencil impressed me from early on. The consistency of the product is incredibly soft and the tone is quite ashy and not too vibrant. While it is easy to work with this pencil due to its softness, I can just as easily be quite heavy handed with it due to the instant colour payoff. I also don't actually use the comb on the other end of the brush as I prefer using a mascara wand to blend away the sharp edges of the pencil and comb my brows into place at the same time. One criticism I do have is that the pencil can verge on the slightly orange tones if applied too heavily. Properly strawberry blonde girls should have nothing to fear, but it can be quite noticeable if I'm not careful.

Now, here is my not so clear mascara! The brush has in fact over time picked up a lot of the pencil's pigment and so the tube is a delightful murky beige. I've been meaning to pick up another one, really. Also, while this mascara does blend with the pencil's pigment and make it look a lot more natural, it does have some shortcomings. Firstly, it doesn't set my brows all day and I do unfortunately still sometimes have those moments where I look in a mirror and see that the hairs are totally skew-whiff. Also, it can leave some wet product on my brows for quite a while after application so I often end up dabbing this away.

While I do like both of these products I'd say that the pencil is the standout buy that I'd highly recommend. As you can see, while I make do with this routine it's far from perfect. I'm in the process of looking at my options and hope to have some follow up to this with alternative products!

Revlon Golden Affair sculpting blush

Here is a fantastic budget buy I snapped up the other week! Whilst staying with my boyfriend, I popped into Poundland Canterbury and fell head over heels for this Revlon Golden Affair sculpting blush. I saw it in a slightly deeper shade over at Artdonatella's blog (check out her post here) quite a while ago and loved it on sight. So when by chance I found this limited edition product in a slightly lighter shade for £1, I knew I had to have it!

One thing you can't ignore about this blush is how good it looks in the packaging. The packaging itself is simple but isn't that cheap. The design of the blush itself is gorgeous. Call me fickle but I was totally in love with it even before I got to try it out!

Unfortunately, when I started to swatch and use it a considerable amount of the gold lifted. I'd say about 80% of the gold is sprayed on very lightly so my blush went from how it looks in the picture above to how it looks in the picture below in one use!

The shade I found was 'berry daring' which although not their darkest shade, looked pretty dramatic at a first glance. When initially applied or swatched the shade is a deep crimson with some vibrant gold shimmer. From these swatches I hope you can see the punchy pigmentation. On the left is the crimson base on its own, the centre swatch is the sprayed gold and the second is the two combined.

The intense pigmentation and deep berry tone to this blush were both slightly scary to me when it came to application. As you can see from the shot above - I'm pale and pink with lots of freckles. I loved the berry tones, I loved the look but I didn't want to end up looking like a panto extra! Below is a shot of me with just foundation (and some rather worn in eye makeup) so you can compare it to the after shot later on.

Upon application I can actually understand why it's called a sculpting blush. Don't ask me it how it does it, but I can definitely see some contouring that wasn't there before in the after shot. I applied this very quickly and am hardly a blush expert, so I'm over the moon that it has such a pretty effect so easily. Admittedly I did apply barely a dusting and did blend quite a bit but still, this took seconds to achieve.

Although this blush is awkward to track down, it's a gorgeous product that is very cheap for such lovely pigmentation and presentation. I had been looking for a berry toned blush and I think I've found a stunner!

So...? Kiss me review and giveaway!

Recently I was given the oppurtunity by So...? Fragrances to try out their So...? Kiss me body spray and eau de toilette. I have always been aware of the brand but have finally got a chance to try out these two products myself when they arrived in the post last week!

This perfume is a girly scent packed with a lovely blend of fruity blackcurrant and vanilla notes with a sweet dose of vanilla and woody musks. The fruity notes were the first thing I noticed but after a while I was left with a quite sweet musk. I've worn vanilla scents in the past but this perfume is definitely more distinctive than that. I was actually surprised that the fragrance was quite so musky!

The perfume I tried was 50ml and was simple in design but easy to hold. Yes, this actually matters to me. I've got tiny hands and am pretty clumsy, so I can tell you all that this product is foolproof! For a £10 product (via So...? website) I do think the design is quite basic but I can say that the bottle is in no way awkward. The body spray I tried was 75ml and was printed with the So...? Kiss me lips motif that I really like. I'd personally love to see the lips theme continued onto the perfume bottle or in the shape of the lid?

I actually think that I'd wear this on a date regardless of the name. The sweetness that lasts on the skin is rather nice, so for a lingering vanilla scent on a night out I'd probably reach for this. The perfume also lasts for a few hours on the skin. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of musk, but prefer the fruity notes in this fragrance... Which is unsurprisingly where the body spray won me over!

 
The body spray is lighter than the perfume and I find it much brighter for it. While the musk in the perfume can mask the light fruity notes, as soon as this spray is used you can smell berries with a good dose of pineapple. And although the blackcurrant is there, I'm not reminded of squash at children's parties! While this spray unfortunately doesn't last for as long as the perfume, I use body sprays daily and have reached for this product a lot more. It's definitely my favourite and I've been wearing it a lot!

'So...? kiss me' body spray has a fragrance that I think would be great for the winter as it is lovely and warm but not overpowering. If this comparison makes any sense to anyone, it reminds me a bit of the 'Diva' Batiste fragrance which I really like. Anyone? I can definitely imagine myself keeping this in my bag during the day while I'm at uni. What I like most about it is the warmth and clear berry notes. Anyway, for £10 and £2 respectively, these products are definitely an option for anyone looking for an afforable new fragrance this autumn!

So...? Fragrances are definitely budget friendly and provide numerous options for gifts and little treats! I'm going to personally investigate more of the offerings from this brand and I'd definitely say they are worth looking into! I'm very pleased to say that So...? have given me the chance to give away one of each of these products.  

To enter for the giveaway...

- Like the So...? Facebook page
- Register/ become a member of the So…? site
- Leave your registered email address in a comment here so that So...? can contact the winner!

- The competition is open to UK residents only.
- The competition is closing on the 5th of Oct 2011 at 11.59pm. Good luck everybody!

Products reviewed here were supplied to me by So...? Fragrances, but the views stated here were my own!

Sleek lipstick in rose petal

I'm not sure if anyone else is familiar with this phenomenon but I often find myself inheriting makeup from my Mum. Whether it's too dark, shiny, bright, or just plain wrong on her, makeup in my house often is given a lovely new life when i get my grubby mitts on it. Case in point with this Sleek true colour lipstick in Rose petal.

The thing I love about this lipstick is the fact that I can't quite pin down the colour. It's got a bit of pink, a bit of gold and a bit of coral in there but it isn't too garish. It also applies far better than the previous Sleek lipstick I had tried (Amethsyt). Contrary to my previous experience, this lipstick glides on and provides an instant rose-gold sheen that looks pretty without being too dark or too shiny for an everyday look. Rose petal also doesn't dry my lips out or accentuate any existing damage (looking at you again Amethyst) which will be a godsend over the next few months. When blotted, the subtle shimmer remained without looking patchy or losing too much colour.

In this photo I'm wearing very minimal makeup but I do think that the shade of the lipstick works well with my pink based skin tone. Despite the fact that the lipstick is so shimmery, I don't think it looks too OTT for a daytime look. So when the temperature plummets I will be reaching for this in the mornings as a my-lips-but-warmer shade. Finding everyday lipsticks is 10 times harder than finding statement brights so I'm considering this a success!

So naturally when I looked this lipstick up on the Sleek website, it wasn't there! Just when I finally find a lovely autumnal shade, fate snatches it away. I suppose I'll just make the most of it while I can. I'm 100% sure there are highstreet dupes available, but I strongly suggest you all have a dig around to see if you've got a hidden autumnal gem lurking in your makeup bag somewhere! My faith in Sleek lipsticks has definitely been restored.

Peacocks blusher and bronzer

Two of the most interesting items I picked up in my haul are the blusher and the bronzer that I picked up a Peacocks cosmetics sale at £1 each. There was even an offer of 10% student discount on so one of these was picked up for me by my boyfriend at 90p!

While the blusher carries a pretty gold shimmer and looks an almost apricot shade, it shows up on the skin as quite a natural flush of pink. I thought that due to the low price, it might give quite a heavy-handed dose splodge of colour or be hard to blend. In fact, the base of this blusher (and similarly the bronzer) is a fine gold shimmer underneath which a gentle tint builds. I like the illuminating qualities this gives the fact that it can be blended so lightly.

I couldn't resist picking up the bronzer too although there wasn't an unboxed example on display to peek at. I was quite surprised at how dark it was when I opened in and might not have bought it had I seen it but I'm glad I did. Though the colour looks deep, the fine shimmer particles lift the shade and make it good for applying an easy summery contour.

I've actually been wearing this instead of my Accessorize blusher because while the Accessorize blusher is a similarly shimmery pink, to build the tint, you need to build the shimmer. With the Peacocks blusher I find that you can build the colour a lot quicker without needing to layer up on the product as much, making it a preferable shade for summer!

One of my favourite things about the bronzer is the fact that it isn't cakey. While the shimmer is clearly gold, on my skin this product also doesn't create orange layers like some budget examples I've tried. A little goes a long way but it can of course be built up. I wore this dusted over a light base on the hottest day of the year so far and was extremely pleased with the results!

For my pennies, I recieved two boxed block powder products weighing in at 13.5g including a small brush. Now, I have actually used the brush (as I normally use supplied eyeshadow applicators) mostly out of my own laziness but I have to say they're not great. They do shed and mine seemed to be a a bid dodgy but I don't really mind for the uber cheap pricetag!

I feel almost guilty for saying that I didn't look twice at these products when they were at their full price. I believe they were originally £3 each, but then again bronzers and blushers aren't usually everyday products for me. I think that the bronzer has found its way into my heart as a distinctly summery product that I wouldn't necessarily splurge on but I'm glad I found! The blusher has become my current favourite for wearing in the evenings. I know that I'm fickle, but these two products are definitely some summery sale treats that I would advise you all to check out!