Review: MUA Elysium Palette

I was in Superdrug, on a mission to buy cotton pads, when I stumbled across this little beauty on the MUA stand today:

An eyeshadow palette consisting of 10 eyeshadows and a double ended black eyeliner/pale pink highlighter pencil. This retails at just £6. Of course this made its way into my basket! 

Above is a picture of the back of the palette, with the names of the shadows. 

And a picture of the ingredients. As you can see, these shadows do contain parabens, so if you're tempted to buy these then please use a primer (paraben free if possible!) underneath to stop your body from absorbing them. 

I noticed that at least 6 of the colours bore a striking resemblance to 6 of the colours in the Naked 3 palette...

"Air" and "Cherub" look very similar to Naked 3's "Strange" and "Dust".

"Charm" is an amazing dupe for N3's "Limit".

"Refine" is also a great dupe for N3's "Nooner" (one of my fave matte crease/blending colours).

"Adore" is similar to N3's "Blackheart".

"Astral" is a very good dupe for N3's "Buzz".

The other four eyeshadows don't much resemble the Naked 3 palette, but I really love this palette as a cheap dupe. It has 5 metallic colours, four mattes and one black matte with red sparkle (Adore). 

Of course I had to try this palette out (sorry, swatches turned out crap on my phone so I deleted the pics), so I did this look for college today:

For this look I used Charm as a transition/blending colour, then Refine in the crease and lower lash line. I used Cherub on my eyelid, Adore in the outer third of my eyelid and on the outer third of my lower lash line, lined my upper lash line with the black eyeliner pencil and set it with some more Adore. I then used a highlighter around my inner eyes to bring light to this look, lined my waterline with black waterproof gel liner and curled my lashes and added plenty of mascara (around 3/4 coats) to pull the whole look together. 

My thoughts: I absolutely love this palette, it's a fantastic price, the colours are well pigmented (the metallic ones are super creamy and beautiful to wear), has some brilliant Naked 3 palette colour dupes and they apply and blend amazingly well. The only negative thing I can think of (other than the shadows containing parabens) is that the double ended pencil (the size it is now with the lids on both ends) fits perfectly in the palette, but once the pencil is sharpened, it'll be shorter and it won't be able to fit, so will fall out easier and perhaps even get lost. But! That's only a minor negative - I'm sure I can move the pencil to somewhere safer! I will definitely be using this palette a lot in the future and I recommend it to anyone on a budget or that doesn't want to fork out £37 for the Naked 3. 

Hugs x

Review: Little Mix love All About The Eyes Palette

I went to my local Superdrug today. When I saw this cute little eyeshadow palette, at just £2.99 I knew I just had to have it. 

It's a little cardboard palette, just over 4 inches long, 2 & 1/2 inches wide and has 6 beautiful shades of cream, sparkly gold, shimmery brown and black. 

Colours from left to right: 

Feather, Sunkissed, Golden Sand, Dazzling Brown, Cocoa Dream & Blackbird. 

My thoughts: This palette is cute, small and the perfect size for travel (and if its cardboard packaging gets ruined, it only costs £2.99 so it's not the end of the world). The colours are quite creamy and pigmented ('Feather' being the exception, being slightly less pigmented and a little chalkier), apply and blend well and are perfect for natural looks (similar to the look I was sporting above) and darker, smokier looks, thanks to 'Cocoa Dream' and 'Blackbird'. It's a fab palette, and although the eyeshadows contain parabens, I use MAC paint pots as eyeshadow primer, so it's not a problem. Worth the money, for sure. Recommended for anyone wanting a decent eyeshadow palette on a budget! 

My current skin care routine

I can't remember if I've ever done a skin care routine, so I thought I'd show you my current favourite skin care (all of them paraben free!) items. 

Left to right: Hydraluron Serum by Indeed Labs, Naturally Radiant 2 in 1 Moisturiser and Serum by Superdrug, Miracle Mattifier Moisturiser by Good Things and Wonder Eye Cream by Balance Me. 

My skin is combination/oily (normal outer cheeks, normal under eyes, slightly oily forehead & chin, very oily nose and inner cheeks (nearest nose)

I apply the Hydraluron first, wait until it sinks in and then apply 3 pumps of the 2 in 1 serum/moisturiser straight after all over my face (I use another 2 pumps for my neck). Hydraluron's moisturising properties won't work on their own, it needs a moisturiser on top of it. I wait a good five-ten minutes to allow that to sink in and then apply a small amount of the Miracle Mattifier all over my face, starting from the outside (where my skin is driest), working my way in to the centre of my face. Lastly I put a grain-of-rice-sized amount of wonder eye cream under my eyes. Voilà! My skin routine for every day! 

Hydraluron can be found in Boots (although it's quite pricey). 

Naturally Radiant 2 in 1 serum can only be found in Superdrug, UK. 

Miracle Mattifier can be found in supermarkets across the UK (and it smells really sweet). 

The Wonder Eye Cream can be found on www.balanceme.co.uk and costs £20.