NARS Radiant Cream Compact Foundation: Review

Hello all! :)

I've been using for about the last two months the NARS Radiant cream compact foundation and thought I shall share my thoughts on it. I literally wanted to try this ever since I saw Wayne Goss complementing it on his Youtube channel, I just flipping love that guy! 

NARS say it's meant to be a lightweight formula that is weightless on the skin and can build up to a medium coverage. It uses advanced emulsion technology which allows it to seamlessly blend in a wet or dry application. 

I got colour matched to light 1 SIBERIA. Now as you can see it looks very dark in the first image when unused but the foundation has an almost top coat before you use it which is a lot darker looking than the foundation itself. (Second image hopefully shows you what i'm trying to explain!)

Firstly the colour for me is just the PERFECT match to me skin! I have never managed to get an 'exact' match from other brands mainly because they look far too yellow, or the lightest shade is just that tad too dark for my skin. But NARS I thank you so much, no more having to bronze the neck hoorah!

So here's a picture of the left side with the foundation on and the right side of my face with out. (Love how symmetric my eyes are haha naat!) As you can see it does seem to get into little lines around my eyes which are slightly noticeable. And the below image is the final outcome, sorry about my fluffy hair!

So what do I think? Yes this is a lovely foundation to apply it really does feel lightweight and you can definitely build it to a medium coverage. I usually apply this with the Urban Decay Optical Blurring brush as I feel this really helps create a smooth even coverage. The only downfall for me is that I don't find it lasts that long on my skin. I would say after five hours I would definitely need a touch up. It's not that it goes patchy its just I can't see it on my face anymore! What I think this foundation is perfect for is for touch ups. If you're someone that's always on the go and has a busy lifestyle I think this is fab just to whack in your handbag. The sleek and thin packaging makes it easy to travel rather than a chunky glass bottle of liquid foundation and it comes with a great size mirror too! Also a plus is that if you do want to re-purchase you only need to buy the refill of the foundation as you buy the compact separately. I do think I would repurchase this in the future. 

Love to here if you guys have tried it and what you thought :)!

Jessica x

Maybelline The Rocket Volum' Express Mascara Review

Well after using the Clinique High Impact Mascara for a good 5-6 months now I thought it was time for a change!
It was buy one get one half price on the Maybelline section in Superdrug and I fancied picking up this little number as I've heard many youtubers rave about it! I also bought the very hyped gel eyeliner of theirs which I'm thinking about reviewing on here soon :).
I went on the Maybelline website and under the "why you'll love it" section it states:
"You'll love this mascara because it's glidable and goes on lashes so cleanly, leaving a glossy finish. You don't need to apply many coats as our Jet Glide brush charges big, explosive volume in Rocket time."
So lets see if it lives up to the expectations!

The wand is your silicone type style similar much like Covergirl Lash Blast and Max Factor False Lash Effect. I really like these kind of wands as I find they separate my lashes more easier. Oh and before I forget I got mine in the black non-waterproof version :).

The first thing I noticed was that it was a very wet formula. Usually a good sign to know that it will last you long as it won't dry out!

So this time I thought I would take the photos of one eye natural and one eye with the mascara (Sorry still learning how to shoot fancy/pretty blog photos...I'll hopefully get there eventually!)

The top two images are with one coating. As you can see it's definitely elongated my lashes. Fairly decent separation of lashes with the wand... but I think it's lacks an incy bit in curl ability.

The bottom images are then with two coats on my top lashes. I really like the outcome of this coating but I do agree with Maybelline to not apply many coats as it would become a little too clumpy. If the "spikes" on the wand were more longer I think it would separate it better if you did add another layer but personally I would keep it at two.

And what about the wearability? I was pleasantly surprised it didn't budge! I've been wearing it for about a week and a bit and my lashes look the same six hours after the application. No flaking or panda eyes! I even cried (not purposely :P) wearing it and although it did loose its shape a bit. However it didn't give me the oh my goodness there's literally mascara all over my face scenario that some mascaras do if you've been tearing up hahaha!

All in all for the price of this mascara I definitely think it's a gooden I think I'll curl my lashes more frequently when using this mascara but was really happy with the length, volume and the wearability! A thumbs up from me :)!

If you've tried it I'd love to hear what you think!

Also just want to say thank you to my new followers on Bloglovin' ! I follow people on there mainly so if you have a beauty/fashion blog i'd love to read them and give them a follow :)

Anyway enough babbling hahaha...I'll be back soon with more reviews I'm thinking an Illamasqua foundation review next :).

First Impressions: Anastasia Beverly Hills DIPBROW POMADE

So my brows have never been professionally shaped or plucked before. I think it's because I'm too scared of someone over-plucking them as I have them quite thick due to my hair being very thick also.
I've been feeling sorry for my brows recently as they have just not been looking there best. I was using Sleeks BrowKit (A very good dupe for Benefits BrowZings). However all though the wax part of that kit I completely loved, I ran out of it very quickly and the powder part is just way to light for my brows and that was in the shade dark. I was going to re purchase it. But EVERY time I went into my my three nearest Superdrugs all of the BrowKits were out of stock! I must have tried atleast five or six times so I gave up.
After browsing Anastasia Beverly Hills beeeeeeautiful photos of people using their products on Instagram pretty much I was staring at the eyebrows the whole time. They looked amazing! And a lot of them said Dipbrow Pomade was what they used. I had to try it.
I ordered mine at cultbeauty.co.uk in the shade Ebony. Firstly a big thumbs up on cultbeauty.co.uk it arrived within two days and it was so cutely packaged!

I was worried that the shade wouldn't be correct as I bought it online but it's a perfect match! Yay. So here's a picture of my naked brows. As you can see they're not perfect but I've been really trying to grow them to be more symmetric to eachother. (If you need help in shaping brows I really recommend reading Rae Morris MAKEUP The Ultimate Guide. She has a section all about achieving the perfect shape eyebrows and the dos and don'ts. The whole book is stunning and very helpful.)

So I just used your average slanted eyebrow brush. (I use just a brush I got from a Groupon brush set I ordered when I was about seventeen!) I literally dapped the tiniest amount on my brush and holy moly it's so pigmented! The product literally slid on so beautifully and couldn't believe how such little product on my brush could go a long way! What I did notice though my eyebrow brush was too thick to get the precise thin lines that I wanted. I really want to invest the Anastasia Angled Cut Brow Brush as I think this would help improve the sharpness of the shape so much. Will have to wait for my next payday though being a typical pennyless student and all.

The top left image shows my right eyebrow with the dipbrow pomade and and the left without...gosh what a difference. I cannot praise this product enough it will last you agesssss! I've been wearing it for about four days now and totally agree that it's long wearing and smudge proof. Even had it on at the gym and not one ounze of smudging woohoo! It held my brows hairs in shape aswell and I've already had compliments on my brows! :) One very happy customer here, thank you Anastasia :).

Has anyone else tried it yet? I'd love to hear your opinions on it! :)
Love,

Clinique High Impact Optimal Mascara Review

So my very first review on my blog goes to.....Clinique High Impact Mascara!

This was actually a present from my lovely Mum she got this for me when she went on holiday with my step Dad, isn't she a cutie! This was about five months ago now! But I'm one of these people who I can only open and use one mascara at the time and must completely finish it! So about three months ago I finished my other mascara (pretty sure it it was Urban Decay Supercurl) and moved on to this one.

I actually first spotted this on a Pixiwoo video on Youtube talking about Clinique Mascaras, I think it was Nic who applied this one on her lashes and it looked amazing on her, so I said I must try that one!

Looking on the Clinique website it states:

High Impact Mascara is a multi-benefit mascara that adds maximum volume with definition and length. Specially developed brush and formula work together to dramatically thicken lashes while separating. 

I better start of describing my lashes. They are relatively thick and quite long in length however I do lack on curl. For me I know a mascara is good when I can actually feel my lashes touching my brow bone and I love them nice and separated :)!
Now after a good three months using this mascara I have to say. I like it but I don't love it.

Firstly mascara consistency. It's a pretty wet mascara but at the same time the product itself is very thick.

Secondly mascara wand. I think this is what slightly lets it down for me. The wands fibres are very compact and close to one another. Now of course this helps give volume or the 'impact' as it makes the product go on quite thickly to the roots of your lashes. I like to put two coats of mascara on my lashes and I found by the second coat it became really hard to separate my lashes and some lashes were clumped together.

So heres a set of images for the first coat:

So as you can see from the left image very little length, however it does tick the box of volume for sure.

With the bottom lashes again very difficult to separate them individually on the other hand people may like that as it did made my lashes look thicker.

One element I do like is the instesity of the black, the mascara also comes in a black,brown shade.

Lets have a look at the second coat:

Now that's more like it! So much more volume, a vava voom effect ;)! However again it's the blooming wand! I found it so difficult to separate them on this second coat I had to use a disposable plastic mascara wand just to separate some of the lashes more.

Long wearability?

Yes very much so, on a uni morning I will apply this at around half eight in the morning by the time I get home at five it still looks the same. It's not a waterproof formula and I have found when I use my Clinique liquid facial soap to remove with water it removes very easily however I don't think I've cried in this mascara (thankfully!) so if it can remove that easily with water and cleansing soap I don't think I would recommend it if you're watching The Notebook or Beyonce sing Halo live (They both get me welling up to tears! Hahaha)

So overall:

This mascara is good it really is. Colour pay off good, volume is good, wearability is good! But it doesn't make me want to rave about to my friends. I think it's mainly because I strive for length in my lashes and I just don't think it ticks the box in that element. However I've always had good experiences with Clinique and if you are looking for thickness and volume in your lashes this may be the mascara for you!

I'd love to know if any of you have tried this mascara and what you thought of it so please feel free to comment below. :)

And this is it, my first beauty blog post is done! I really hope you liked it or it has helped you, and I shall be back soon for some more beauty chatter!

Lots of love,