Beauty UK - Baked Blush blushers

I spent the past weekend in London for a friends birthday (we went to see The Bodyguard at the Adelphi Theatre - what an amazing play!!! A definite must see) and you can't go to London without having a browse around the shops. As well as the ridiculous amount of clothes now added to my wardrobe (my credit card has taken a serious hit) I picked up these two blushers from Beauty UK. 

The first shade I picked up was the gorgeous pink shade no.2 Rose Rouge. It is a very warm, subtle pink that gives a really nice blush to the apples of your cheeks. I have been looking for a pink/red blush for a while that I could get along with, as I find most have next to no pigmentation or are at the other end of the scale making you look like a doll with the tiniest amount applied. I find this one applies really well to the face and has just the right colour pay off. It is also the perfect colour for my skin tone.

The other I picked up was no.3 Halo. This is the PERFECT powder highlighter, giving the most flattering shimmer to your brow arches and along the top of your cheek bones. I wore this to go out Saturday night just to highlight my brow arch and I'd happily say it looked better than when I use Benefit's High Beam. That's not easy for me to say because I love High Beam, but it really was good and credit where credit is due.

These come in good quantity compacts, complete with little mirrors. They remind me slightly of the Bourjois blushers as they are similar in colour and composition what with the dome shape, but come in a lot larger amount for a cheaper price. I would definitely recommend these!!

Have you tried any of the Beauty UK blushers? I'm loving more of their products every time I go to their stall in Superdrug! And for the amazingly cheap prices I think they are just brilliant. Ok, I probably wouldn't buy their eye shadow palettes as I think they look a bit cheap and tacky, but that's a void that the new Make-up Revolution eye palettes easily fill.

Beauty UK Baked Blush blushers are available here for £3.99, currently also on 3 for 2

The Perfect Couple?

As you may have read in my last Glossybox post here, I received a pearl pink highlighter from MeMeMe Cosmetics. After using it to highlight my brow arch and cheek bones a few times I had found myself slightly unimpressed with it in comparison to Benefit High Beam, which is OK with the price difference! So I was all but ready to banish this product to the bottom of my make-up bag until I tried something different with it...and now I'm loving this highlighter!

So what happened to make me discover a new found respect for this product? I mixed it with my foundation (well my Beauty UK CC cream to be exact) and found that with it's consistency being a bit thinner it mixed effortlessly and when applied to the face this mix gave a good coverage with a gorgeous dewy finish. It isn't OTT shimmery in the slightest and actually looks really natural but almost leaves the skin with a glow to it. Lush!

All I did was mix a small blob of the CC cream with some of the highlighter (in about a 3:1 or 2:1 ratio, depending on preference) on my hand with a foundation brush until it was all mixed together and then applied over the face with said foundation brush and then evened it out on the face with a make-up sponge (this part isn't actually necessary but I personally prefer the finish you get from using a sponge).

From the above pictures you can see the mix of CC cream and highlighter blended in to the skin (left) against just CC on its own (right). It's very easy to see the subtle dewy shine given in the mixed swatch compared to the matte look of the right. If you prefer the matte look then this is probably not an idea for you, whereas if you like a subtle glow then you really need to give this a try!

I used to do this same thing but with foundation and nSpa Illuminating Beauty Serum which was also quite good and had the same effect really, but I just don't think it is quite as good as with the MeMeMe highlighter.

Do you try mixing your foundation with a highlighter to give your skin that extra little glow? If so, what products do you prefer? All comments welcome!

MeMeMe highlighter is available here for £5.50
Beauty UK CC Cream is available here for £4.99

Subtle make-up looks - Wedding day!

So, with the wedding rapidly approaching (in case you missed it, it's my brother's not mine!) my mum and my aunt have asked me to do them some subtle but pretty make- up for the big day. As they are complete newcomers to make-up I was a bit nervous about using different products and styles on them on the morning of the wedding without trying them on them beforehand, so have started experimenting with some basic make-up looks on them. Understandably they didn't want anything to heavy for the day, partly because I think it would be a massive shock to the family as it is if they are seen with make-up on! So I tried to really tone it down.

Last night I tried out some looks on my aunt for the first time, it was actually a really fun evening! She has quite dark eyelids and under-eyes naturally and so she just wanted to lighten them and even out the colour as well as give a nice even glow to her face in general, so these are the products I used:

Firstly I applied the Garnier Caffeine Roll-on to her under-eye area. I love this product because it works immediately as well as long term; it has a subtle nude pigment (you do have to pat it in slightly with your ring finger) which instantly conceals any dark circles whilst the caffeine in it works to fight their appearance long term. Here's a swatch so you can see what I mean by the pigment, bear in mind this is just rolled on, I haven't blotted it in to the skin in the picture:

It is quite thin so really easy to pat in to the skin and doesn't leave it looking cakey under your eyes.

I then applied a CC cream to her entire face. I chose a CC cream over a foundation as they are much lighter and so would look softer on her face. The one I used is from Beauty UK and is in shade 20 Fawn. It gives a lovely even cover to the face and is the perfect texture to blend in to those tricky areas around the nose and eyes.

I then set this with Rimmel Clear Complexion Powder in Translucent as mentioned in my earlier blog post here. I applied this incredibly lightly with a chunky powder brush and it suited her face a lot better than it suited mine! Then a quick brush of Avon Illuminating Face Pearls to brighten her face and add a little colour.

I love these pearls, they give a gorgeous shimmer and highlight perfectly without being heavy in any way.

And then it was just her eyes to do!

I applied some Benefit Stay Don't Stray in shade light/medium just over the eyelid up to the brow to hold all the eye products in place and then applied a light pink illuminator (I think I got this in a set from The Body Shop YEARS ago!) to highlight her brows to make her eyes look more open. Then Mac Eyeshadow in shade Gleam to the lid just to add a bit of colour and shimmer. This eyeshadow is perfect because it doesn't settle in the creases of your eyelid like some others do and so looks even all day long. Here is a swatch of the 2 colours together:

As you can see, they are very gentle colours but great for highlighting. I then finished the whole look off with a couple of lashings of one of my favourite mascaras - Maybelline The Colossal Volum' Express Smokey Eyes Mascara.

Overall I was incredibly happy with the look, and more importantly my aunt loved it too! It was a nice toned down 'barely there' look that just looked great on her.

Do you have any suggestions of looks/ products to try out? Recommendations and comments are always welcome!