The new face of Stolen Thunder

Hi guys! Thought I'd let you in on an exciting event in my life, I'm now the new face of an amazing jewellery company called Stolen Thunder. Stolen Thunder produce handmade jewellery which is made here in the UK. Support UK based companies!

Their brand new collection, the heritage collection, involves lots of new rings, bracelets and necklaces which are all gold plated.

The rabbit necklace above is my favourite!

You can check out Stolen Thunders website here - http://www.stolenthunderboutique.com/. They have some fab pieces of jewellery.

What do you think to my new modelling adventure?

Becca :) x

P.S. Sorry about the lack of reviews recently, I have a fab product review coming for you tomorrow.

Looking for cheap cosmetics?

I've received some pretty rubbish customer service recently, however one woman that's never let me down, and given me amazing products for amazing prices is the women behind Cover Cosmetics.

Her website is brand new, she's been working on it for ages! I've brought my Benefit Cosmetics products off her in the past, my Confessions of a Concealaholic and Porefessional came from her, and trust me they came in perfect condition and are 100% real.

So the website is http://www.covercosmetics.com/ the one stop shop for all your Benefit and MAC needs.

Becca :) x

Disclosure: I've not been asked to do this, I just think the website is a great idea and I'm trying to spread the word!

8 Disappointing Beauty Buys

I've realised I seem to tell you a lot about products that are good, products worth buying, yet not about products that are a waste of money! I have to point out, just because a company may make one bad product, this doesn't make the rest of their products bad. It's likely they'll still make good products. Also this list is going by my experience with the products, your experience may be totally difference.

So these are 8 products which really disappointed me:

1. Max Factor Smoky Eye Effect Eyeshadow (£7.99) - This product makes creating a great smoky eye effect really easy. At first I loved it, however after a few hours I fell out of love. It took only 2 - 3 hours for this eyeshadow to crease really badly. It even creased with a primer potion. Literally, all my eye lid crease was bare. My lash line and brow bone still looked perfect, but when I closed my eyes it looked a mess. Not impressed as this comes from a company with the slogan 'make-up of the make-up artists', no MUA would use this eyeshadow.
2. Benefit Porefessional (£23.50) - A simple silicon based primer which can be brought much cheaper from different brands. It also had no chance when it came to controlling my shine. The silicon feels thick on the skin, a simple mattifing moisturiser works much better. I recommend L'Occitanes Red Rice mattifier. 
3. Avon Ideal Shade Cream to Powder Foundation (£10.50) - The worst foundation I've ever used. It didn't help reduce shine at all (like it promised), and didn't last a few hours never mind all day (also promised). I stopped using it after a few wears. Avon made out it was the next best thing since sliced bread when it came out, I beg to differ.
4.  Une Breezy Cheeks Blusher (£8.99) - A simple cream blusher. It blends easily and add's a lovely glow. The one reason I brought this was because cream blusher normally lasts much longer than a powder. However this one didn't last long at all. My glow had gone by mid-day. Being pale I really need a blusher that lasts me throughout the day. I now use Benetint which is a god send. 
5. Illamasqua Cream Eyeshadow (£15.50) - Again, another eyeshadow that has a gorgeous colour, but really awful creasing. After around 4 hours the eyeshadow had creased so bad it had all disappeared, only when I closed my eyes and saw the crease is when I saw where it had all gone. Illamasqua have a really good reputation in the beauty world and I did expect much, much more. When I used my Urban Decay Primer Potion it did stay on much longer. It creased but not until the end of the day. 
6. Too Faced Baked Eyeshadows (£12.99) - Yet another eyeshadow! However this time the creasing wasn't a problem, it doesn't crease much at all. It's the fall out that bothers me, it's the most fall out I've ever seen. More eyeshadow ends up under the eye than on the eye lid. It takes a lot of time to get the shadow looking good. I only use this shadow when I've got a lot of time on my hands.
7. Avon Advance Techniques 3D Rescue (£6.50) - A new product from Avon. It claims it can repair 3 years worth of split ends! I normally use Avon's Dry Ends Serum which is great, but this new product looked good so thought I'd try it out. I've used it many times now and it's not touched my split ends at all. Won't be buying it again. 
8. Lee Stafford Bling Wake-up Call Spray (£6.19) - This smells gorgeous. It's meant to act like a dry shampoo, for when your hairs dull and tired to wake it up. It sounded like the perfect product to keep in your hand bag. But it just made my hair disgusting and greasy, really didn't work for me. In future I'll stick to my favourite dry shampoo! 

I'll be back once a week with 8 different products. Coming up next week is 8 Best Bargain Beauty Buys (with all my product reviews in between of course). 

Want some great giveaways? Once I reach 50 followers I'll be holding some fab giveaways for you guys! So keep your eyes peeled and keep following :D.

Becca :) x

Disclosure: I brought all these products myself. 

Award Winning Hairdresser Guy Kremer With His Brand New Range...

Good haircare products can be the difference between a confident woman and a not so confident woman. Having beautiful clean hair that's full of life and colour makes women lift their heads, puts a smile on their faces and brings joy to their face. Having a great hair do brings a lot of confidence. Keeping your hair in good shape requires products that look after it, and lots of care and attention!

It's a good job that Guy Kremer understands this. Being an internationally renowned hairdresser, he should know what us girls want from a haircare range. And he's trying to bring us this in his brand new haircare range - Guy Kremer, Professional Salon Style. 

Guy has worked really hard on this new range. His been working alongside haircare chemists and using the finest ingredients in a quest to bring us a great haircare range. His products have been trailed by Guy personally and his team of salon professionals. 

His cleansers (shampoos) and rebalancers (conditioners) aim to prepare hair to it's optimum condition so it's ready for styling. His range includes; cleansers, rebalancers, sprays, puttys ETC.

So here I have the Add The Bounce Cleanser and Rebalancer:

I'm one of many women in the UK that have lifeless flat hair. When you have a hair type like so, volume is something you crave. Guy Kremer says 'Fine, fragile hair? It's time to Add the Bounce', 'Giving that salon finish feel every time'.

The pink bottles are so girly, they look pefect in your bathroom. The bottles are 250mL each and cost £6.95 each.

The Cleanser/Shampoo is what you expect from a typical shampoo really. A clear gloopy liquid that lathers well. It smells gorgeous too, a florally smell. The Rebalancer/Conditioner also smells the same, although the conditioner does condition, it doesn't un-tangle. I often use conditioner to un-tangle, having long hair means it gets so knotty while I shampoo it. If the conditioner doesn't un-tangle, it's a right pain!

A little before and after for you, to show the volume it adds. It doesn't add much volume from the roots, the volume is more added at the bottom of the hair.

Before - blurghhhhhh

After - much better!

Now, it doesn't add loads of volume, your not going to have roots going up to mars. It adds a great subtle volume that looks natural. 

It keeps hair clean for around two days, then you'll need to wash again. The volume lasts around a day and a half, depending on how you style your hair. This shampoo is great for flat hair that wants that extra volume. It's also reasonably priced in comparison with other hairdressers haircare ranges.

I'd love to try more of this range! I love the shampoo, it's added great natural looking volume, but I don't think I'd buy the conditioner again because it doesn't help un-tangle. The conditioner would be much more suitable for shorter hair. The conditioner compliments the shampoo well, but it's not for me.

Guy Kremer's range can be brought from Ideal World Shopping Channel (http://www.idealshoppingdirect.co.uk/), http://www.guykremer.co.uk/ and Guy Kremer's Salon.

What do you think to this new range? Will you consider Guy Kremer's range? Would you buy the range if it was easier to get your hands on? Personally I think Guy should try to get his products in drugstores like Boots or Superdrug.

Becca :) x

Disclosure: These products are PR samples, given to me free of charge for consideration. This in no way sways my opinion towards the positive side. My review is honest and my own opinion.

L'Occitane - Divine Cream

I'm actually having a total love affair with L'Occitane at the moment. Just can't get enough of them. L'Occitane comes from Provence in France, they bring inspiration from Mediterranean cultures and use them to create skincare, bodycare and haircare products. They use many natural complexes in their products, which have often been patented. Their ingredients are sourced sustainably and fairly, so the products come totally guilt free!

Divine Cream comes from L'Occitane's first Immortelle range the Divine Range. Immortelle is a yellow plant that never looses it's shape or colour when dried. L'Occitane used the essential oil from the Immortelle plant to create the Divine Range. Read my full coverage of the Immortelle Range's 'here'.

Divine Cream recently won an award in the Anti-Ageing Beauty Bible as the Best Miracle Cream. It's a multi purpose cream. It's for moisture, nourishment, wrinkles, and radiance. It has three patented ingredients meaning only L'Occitane can use the ingredients in their products. So you won't find those three ingrediants in any other cream.

Divine Cream comes with so many promises. The little leaflet inside the box is full of information on the product and claims on how well it works, and these are pretty high claims. 'From the very first use, the skin looks incredibly beautiful' humm, does it really work that fast? 'After four weeks, it appears regenerated. It is visibly younger looking and radiant - and the results are both instant and long lasting' a very high claim for a face cream without SPF. Although I must admit, I'm expecting a lot from a face cream that costs £65.00, you wouldn't pay that much for an ordinary face cream now would you? 

The cream is in jar packaging, my advice with jar packaging is not to stick your fingers in it. The bacteria from your fingers then lives in the cream, meaning it's all transferred to your face after every use. I use a fresh cotton bud each time and dip it in the cream. Or you can use spatulas which can be washed and re-used. The full size jar is 50mL. Which will last you ages! You need so little of this cream, it's spreads easily across your face and is thick and moisturising, meaning a little goes a long way.

As I said the texture of this cream is quite thick. It leaves a greasy layer on my skin after I've used it that slowly soaks in over the day meaning my skin is constantly moisturised. It's said to have 'excellent nourishing properties' and I don't doubt that. It's great for nourishing and moisturising skin. However my skin can get oily quite quickly and when I first started using it I wasn't quite sure if it would benefit my oily skin.

This cream smells gorgeous. It's not a sweet in your face smell, it's very subtle and elegant. It's slightly floral and very hard to describe! It scent doesn't last on your skin, you can smell it when your applying the cream though. It's not over-powering, just lovely and quite relaxing! Am sorry to say it isn't a natural scent, this product does contain a good amount of fragrance.

So here's my L'Occitane Divine Cream Diary!

• My first few days, not looking good. I haven't noticed any 'instant effects', and I've had an out break of ache. Not good. The Divine Cream isn't helping my acne because of how greasy it is. Hope it gets better! 
• I spoke to someone at L'Occitane, they recommended I use the smallest amount. This cream is so moisturising it's unreal. You need to use so little. Now am using less it feels a lot less greasy and am getting quite excited about the results. 
• One week on, I love this stuff. So nourishing my skin feels so healthy even with acne! My skin is looking noticablly more radiant. My skin just drinks the Divine Cream up every morning and evening.
• A little over a week, my boyfriend commented on how radiant my skin is looking!
• My skin is looking even better, I even braved going out without any foundation on, just a little concealer. Good stuff.

• So I've been using this cream religiously for two whole weeks now. I've used it every morning and evening without fail! I generally feel my skin is in much better condition. Much softer and my complexion has evened out. I do have to use a shine-free product on my T-Zone still due to the moisturising nature of this product.

End Result: 

Now as I say, I've only been using this cream for two weeks and I've seen amazing results (that aren't as obvious in a photo!) However L'Occitane say your skin will be even better if you continue to use the cream for four weeks. However being a beauty blogger I don't really have four weeks face time to spare! Another face cream must be tested! 

I do believe that whenever I'm not testing a face cream, I'll go back to Divine Cream. It's the best face cream I currently own, and I currently own a lot! Let me just share a few quotes with you from the Anti-Ageing Beauty Bible, these women also loved this cream:

• 'Skin instantly looked brighter and much smoother and plumped; after two weeks fine lines around the mouth much less noticeable and skin much more supple, and the improvements continued'. 
• 'My skin hasn't looked so good for a long time, so much brighter I look as if I've had a good nights sleep'.
• 'Complexion was more plump, less drawn, less sagging, with really nice bright glow, eyes glowed too and normally ruddy complexion reduced; improvements continued as long as I was using it'.

The Divine Cream scored 8.98/10 in the Miracle Cream section of the Anti-Ageing Beauty Bible, the highest score they've ever received for a Miracle Cream in the Beauty Bible series. 

So, this cream costs £65 for 50mL. A 50mL bottle will last you a good three months for dry skin or for more oily skin, I think it'd last around 4-5 months, so little is needed!

Anyone with dull tired skin, this is the wake-up call your skin needs! And I'm giving you the chance to trial this cream for yourself. I have a five day trial to send off to one lucky reader:

Entering is simple. Follow me by GFC and comment below with your email address. That's all! I'm going to be ever so lovely and say this giveaway is open internationally. I'll announce the winner next Saturday (1st of October). 

What do you think to L'Occitane? Will you be trying any of their Immortelle range?

Becca :) x

Disclosure: Divine Cream and Divine Cream Trails have been provided to me free of charge for consideration. This in no way sways my opinion towards the positive side. Like all the women in the Anti-Ageing Beauty Bible, I think this cream really makes a difference.

Even more Liz Earle Goodies....

At the beginning of the month I reviewed Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish (see review 'here'). Since then I've been eyeing up other Liz Earle products on the shelves in John Lewis. Their packaging is so pretty and unique, and the little bags some of the products come in are gorgeous. I was so eager to see if other Liz Earle products also lived up to expectations. So when the wonderful Andrea at Liz Earle offered me the next two steps in the skincare routine it made my day.

Liz Earle are a company that pride themselves in using ingredients derived from plants. 'We are passionate about all we do and create products that work on every skin type by harnessing the potent powers of the finest quality naturally active ingredients'.

Liz Earle always package their products beautifully (when ordered of their website - http://uk.lizearle.com/). It adds that extra finishing touch and shows how much love and attention they put into their products.

I've been sent the 2nd and 3rd steps of the skincare routine. Instant Boot Skin Tonic and Skin Repair Moisturiser in Light for Oily/Combination skin. 

So many Liz Earle products have won awards, and these two products are not excluded. 

Instant Boost Skin Tonic:

• Silver Award in Bridal Beauty

Skin Repair Light Moisturiser:

• The Green Beauty Bible Awards - Winner

I'll talk about the 2nd step first :). This is the Instant Boost Skin Tonic and costs £12.25 for a 200mL bottle. It also comes in a 200mL Spritzer for £12.50.

I've tried many many toners. It's really difficult to find a budget priced toner that's alcohol-free and helps oiliness. So you normally end up buying one from higher end retailers like Liz Earle. Getting a good toner costs much more than getting a good cleanser. So many companies struggle to make good toners and some don't even make them at all. However a good toner can make one hell of a difference to your skin. Use it after cleansing to revive your skin and close the pores. It helps restore a healthy balance to the skin after cleansing.

The Naturally Active Ingredients in this toner are; Organic Aloe Vera, Calendula, Rose-Scented Geranium, Cucumber and Natural Vitamin E. It claims to 'Revitalise, sooth and tone for instant radiance'.

This toner like most others is a watery liquid. You pour it onto a cotton pad or cotton wool and sweep over your face and neck. I have to say, this is the best smelling toner I've ever used! It's very floral, with strong hints of rose. This product does contain a small amount of fragrance, which is a shame really, seeing it's meant to be a gentle toner and fragrance plays havoc with many peoples skin. 

While sweeping this toner over your face it has a calming effect. It makes my face feel really balanced and refreshed. It's not harsh and stripping like some toners are. It does a great job of restoring your skins natural balance and removing any last traces of make-up or dirt. It's going to be perfect for any skin type as all skin needs a healthy balance. However I would avoid if your particularly sensitive to fragrance. 

Next up is the Skin Repair Light Moisturiser. This costs £18.25 for a 50mL pump.

Many people with oily skin don't moisturise. They believe it will make the oiliness worse. I have combination skin, so have an oily T-zone. Yet you do still need to moisturise. Starving your skin of moisture will only make it produce more oil. It's all about using the right moisturiser for your skin. For people with oily skin I really believe this is a great moisturiser for you! If am having a dry day I wouldn't use this, but for oily times it's perfect.

The Naturally Active Ingredients in this toner are; Borage and Avocado Oil, Echinacea, Beta-Carotine and Natural Vitamin E. This moisturiser says 'light, gentle and balancing for fresh naturally healthy skin'.  Perfect for people with the awkward oily sensitive skin.

One thing I love about this moisturiser is that it's in a tube! Yay! It's a much better packaging option for moisturisers. Jars are un-hygenic and the air gets into the cream causing some ingredients to break down.

The texture of this moisturiser is really light, it's like a cross between a cream and a gel. It soaks into the skin really quickly and provides a refreshing feeling. It's not overly moisturising, but provides the amount of moisture oily skin needs. It's a great base for make-up and keeps skin looking quite matte for most of the day.

It smells gorgeous! All Liz Earle products seem to smell gorgeous. It does also contain a little fragrance. It's not a floral smell, more a natural smell.

Use all of these steps together - Cleanse & Polish, Instant Boost Skin Tonic and Skin Repair Moisturiser - and you've got the perfect base for make-up. The three together really balance your skin, leaving it healthy and refreshed. Meaning make-up lasts and looks fresh for longer. 

The perfect skincare routine comes to you from Liz Earle which is available from selected John Lewis stores and http://uk.lizearle.com.

Becca :) x

Disclosure: All three steps were sent to me free of charge from Liz Earle PR. This in no way sways my opinion towards the positive side. I truly think these products are amazing. 

NEW Limited Edition Shea Butter range from L'Occitane‏

I love a product or range with a good story behind it. L'Occitane products always have great stories behind them (check out the Immortelle story 'here'), I think this Shea Butter story has to be the best yet.

L'Occitane have been working with women in Africa for over 30 years. They work closely with women who make Shea Butter in Burkina Faso. They have a stable working relationship, which enables L'Occitane to buy the Shea Butter directly from the women and pay them a fair price so they can feed and look after their families and send their children to school. The new Limited Edition Shea Butter range reflects the optimism in L’Occitane’s project. They've created three products for this range; Lip Balm, Hand Cream and Body Cream. All which contain the fairly traded Shea Butter, I love products with fairly traded ingredients, they come totally guilt free and really help people that need it most.

These products are packaged beautifully. The packaging is much more colourful than your normal L'Occitane packaging. The packaging is designed using inspiration from the bright and colourful Bogolan Clothes that are worn by men and women from West Africa.

The three products come in three different scents. These scents are taken from three flowers that are found in Africa; The Desert Rose from Morocco, Egyptian Hibiscus and Cocoa Flower from the Ivory Coast.

I've been given a lip balm in the Cocoa Flower fragrance.

The packaging of the lip balm is so eye catching, it's going to be such a crowd pleaser when they hit the stores. 

The first thing I noticed when using this lip balm is the consistancy. Because it contains 10% shea butter and comes in a tube I expected it to have a creamy consistancy. However it is called a lip balm (which at first I failed to notice!), and has a oily texture much like Vaseline. 

The most gorgeous thing about this lip balm is that it smells like chocolate. It's the cocoa flower scent, and I think when it hits the stores I'll buy all the range in this scent! When you apply the lip balm to your lips you can really smell the scent, although it doesn't stick around for long. Probably a good thing otherwise I'd be craving chocolate all day!

Another chocolatey thing about this lip balm, especially for us chocolate lovers, is that it also tastes like chocolate. It's a very sweet taste and too much makes you feel a bit ill, but it's great for a chocolate hit every so often. 

So other than the chocolate hits, this lip balm aims to moisturise your lips. I noticed my lips were much softer from the first application. It takes a good few applications to notice a real difference. It's really helped soften my lips and they're now full of moisture. Shea butter has great moisturising properties, and L'Occitane have really used them to an advantage in this lip balm. 

This balm adds a little sheen to your lips:

Before

After

To me, this is the perfect lip balm. Here's my reasons as to why:

• It comes in a tube so you don't need to go dipping your fingers and getting them messy.
• It smells gorgeous.
• By buying one your helping women in Africa that produce the Shea Butter.
• It taste pretty good too.
• It's made my lips a lot softer.
• It's got amazing, original packaging. 
• It lasts a good length of time on your lips.

This lip balm comes out in mid-october, I've heard through the grapevine it'll be in stores around the 12th. It is part of a Limited Edition range so hurry and get it as they won't be around for long, I'll be stocking up on a few myself! It costs £8 for 15mL and is worth every penny. 

Will you be buying any of these range? Do you own any L'Occitane products? Any more questions on this range?

Becca :) x

Disclosure: This product is a PR sample which was provided free of charge. This doesn't sway my opinion towards the positive side. I truely think this lip balm is the best thing since sliced bread and carry it around everywhere with me. 

Vivo Cosmetics - Alive with Colour

As money becomes more difficult to come by, budget cosmetic brands are becoming more and more popular. Drug store brands are becoming more well known and even selling out of new releases. So this is the perfect time for good quality budget store brands to be released. So here comes Vivo Cometics. A budget priced cosmetic brand that's been released in Tesco this month. They claim to 'bring you catwalk inspired looks to the convenience of the supermarket but without the hefty price tag'.

I have to be honest, if I have the money, I always head to MAC or Urban Decay or Benefit ETC for my make-up needs. However, as my boyfriend keeps telling me, I'm a student now and need to budget. This has found me looking around and trying cheaper make-up brands. It did make me die a little inside at first, but now I've really realised what these budget brands have to offer, and that's a lot! 

This is a Vivo Cosmetics Trio Eyeshadow Palette in Sugar Plum, which is a purple palette. I find if a brand can make a good eyeshadow, they'll do well. Especially if they can make it cheap! A good eyeshadow keeps eyes looking fresh all day, if it doesn't last eyes can look tired by the end of the day. I've spent a lot of money on bad eyeshadows, it's about knowing what's worth your money and what isn't. 

Sugar Plum is described as 'A palette of beautiful shades that add a touch of romance to give perfectly pretty eyes'. Vivo Eyeshadow Trios cost £2.50 each - so really cheap!

These colours are gorgeous. The middle purple is my favourite as it's a shimmer colour. The light colour isn't really much use if I'm honest. In the end I used it to help blend the middle purple into my eyelid. The light colour just isn't pigmented enough. The darkest colour is matte. The two purples are nice and pigmented.

One thing I love about these eyeshadows is the lack of fall out. I really hate it when eyeshadows have fall out, I've had eyeshadows that fall out so bad that I've never used them again. I do tolerate a little fall out, however these had none. That's right, none at all! This made applying the eyeshadow so much quicker. 

On the back of the eyeshadow palette is a little guide of how to apply the eyeshadow. It's just the normal way you'd apply eyeshadow. 

So applying my eyeshadow like shown, my look ended up like this (I used an eyeshadow brush, not the applicator provided):

It's a really gorgeous look. At first I wasn't sure about having a matte colour along the lash line and shimmer along the eyelid crease, I normally do it the other way around. However I'm starting to warm towards it, the colours really compliment my eye colour (blueish). The eyeshadow applies well and blends easily. Then there's the small matter of, does it stay on? Short answer: yes. Long answer: I wore this shadow for around 6 hours, and it had no creases at all, nor did it fade. 

Another amazing budget product, keep them coming guys! I'm loving them. 

What's your favourite budget brand/product? What do you think to Vivo Cosmetics? Will you be trying them out?

Becca :) x

Disclosure: This product is a PR sample and was provide free of charge. This in no way sways my opinion to the positive side, my review is still 100% honest. 

Nails Inc. Magnetic Polish Demo

The most recent craze in the nail polish industry! Magnetic polish. I'm lucky enough to have my hands on the Nails Inc. silver Magnetic Polish. Here's how it works:

Sorry the audio is out. There's nothing I can do about it, I know how to fix it now for the future.

Becca :) x

Disclosure: My mum brought me this polish :).

Slowly but Surely taking over the World - The Make-Up Store.

The Make-Up Store are a high-end cosmetics company from Sweden. They sell colour cosmetics and tools. They're expanding all over the place at the moment! They're particularly big in midland Europe. They have stores in: Australia, Costa Rice, Denmark, Finland, Guatemala, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, USA, United Kingdom and Vietnam. Phew, that's a lot of stores! In the UK they only have stores in London.

I hadn't actually heard of the Make-Up Store until I attended the iFabbo event in London in July. There I met people from the Make-Up Store who told me all about the brand. I also received a Make-Up Store lipstick in Drama, which I fell in love with. Ever since I've been craving more of their products. As you can't buy them online and the only stores are in London, I couldn't really get my hands on any.

When I visited London recently, the Make-Up Store was my first stop. They sold me a lovely umbrella as England was doing it's favourite thing and raining, and I also brought one of their Mircoshadows in Masai.

The thing that really drew me to the mircoshadows came during swatching. I was happily walking around the store covering my hands in swatches, once I got to these mircoshadows, I couldn't stop touching them! The powder is so soft to the touch, so fine and pure. It's really so much softer than any other shadow I've swatched. They're really pigmented too, I've been struggling to find a light matte colour that's properly pigmented. So I knew I had to have this shadow.

The packaging of Make-Up Store products is the boring black packaging, also their products don't come in boxes, they just come how they are, I love little boxes myself so was slightly disappointed. However they make it a little more original by adding 'M' in see through plastic and printing 'Make-Up Store' all over the product.

The colour of this eyeshadow reminds me a lot of 'Copperplate' by MAC. There's a slight price difference though, Copperplate costs £11.50 for 1.5g and Masai costs £11 for 3.5g. So the Make-Up Store version is much better value.

One more problem I find with matte eyeshadows is they have much more fall out than shimmer shadows. Fall out is something that really gets on my nerves and is why I often avoid matte colours. However I've had absolutely no fall out with this shadow. The shadow does tend to crumble a little when your sweeping your brush over, this is due to how fine it is.

This shadow is a very light colour making a swatch difficult, so I've done a comparsion for you.

I brought this colour because it'll be perfect to finish off most looks. A sweep along the brow bone, and blended into the shadow along the crease will create the perfect finish.

The shadow lasts all day without creases appearing. The Make-Up Store say 'Mircoshadow is of the very finest quality, resulting in an eye make-up that lasts all day'.

So I created this very simple look with my Masai shadow:

I've used my Masai Shadow from the eyelid crease upto the brow bone. I then used a light brown from MUA Heaven & Earth and Urban Decay Pencil Liner in Zero. 

I can see myself using this shadow a lot!

What do you think to this shadow? Have you tried any Make-Up Store products? Are you going to try any?

Becca :) x

Disclosure: I brought this product myself. 

The MUA loving continues with MUA Eyeshadow Trios.

When MUA professional hit the shelves a couple of months back it sold like hot cakes. Leaving all the MUA stands in Superdrug dry. Since then it's all been re-stocked making many beauty addicts very happy. 

The lovely Maria over at Maria Sparkle, recommended these too me, saying that the trios were better than the palettes! Well I had to investigate this claim! So off I trotted to my local Superdrug store. I brought this trio (called Innocence) because it looks perfect for creating a less dramatic smoky eye. I already own MUA's Heaven and Earth palette which I love (see 'here' for a review) and couldn't wait to try more. MUA Cosmetics are available from Superdrug stores in the UK and http://www.superdrug.com/, this trio cost £2.50. It contains three different colours: 

On the back is a guide on how to use the eyeshadows:

And I have to say, Maria was right! These eyeshadow trios are more pigmented and creamy than the palettes, and the palettes are not to be missed. The quality is amazing for the price you pay. It really makes you wonder why the others charge so much.

The colours in this trio are all shimmer. I find shimmer eyeshadows are much more pigmented and have less fall out, I generally prefer the finish they have too.

So I used the colours how MUA recommend and it looks like so:

The eyeshadows blend really easily, making this look so simple to create. I used two eyeshadow brushes, one for dark shadow and one for light. This means the colours don't become mixed up.

Creasing and fading is so minimal. Only near the end of the day will the eyeshadow start creasing, even then it's only tiny creases. So impressive. If you want it to not crease at all, a base will keep it in place.

Here's the overall look:

I love it! A great look for little money, now that doesn't happen much anymore! MUA cosmetics are available from Superdrug stores in the UK and http://www.superdrug.com/.

Have you tried any MUA products? Do you want to try any of their products? Any more questions? 

Becca :) x

Disclosure: My boyfriend brought me this trio.