L'Oreal True Match Foundation W4 | Review

L'Oreal True Match Foundation - £10.29 (Link here)

Hey Dolls! Happy Easter to all of you, I hope you eat your body weight in chocolate and are looking forward to indulging in some family time! I'm sure I'm not the only blogger out there who has been taking full advantage of the Boots 3 for 2 offer across make up, nails and accessories. I left with more than I bargained for a couple of days ago, but all in the name of beauty I suppose! Some of you may know that my go-to face during the week is all made up of drugstore products as I like to crack out my higher end products over the weekend. I've also made it no secret that I absolutely adore Rimmels 'Wake Me Up' foundation. A week or so ago I felt I wanted to experiment with something completely new. so I picked up the L'Oreal True Match foundation.

Of course it's a no brainer that I love the packaging - give me a sleek glass bottle any day and it's a winner to me! It comes with a mirrored pump applicator and transparent plastic lid, so is pretty handy if you wanted to pop it into your make up bag. I went for shade W4 as it's pretty much identical to a MAC NC25 which I got matched up with a few months back. It does have quite a yellow undertone, which I love as it cancels out any pigmentation on my cheeks nicely. To find your match a bit easier, the shades are broken up into three categories: Warm, Neutral and Cool. If you know your undertone, you can go straight to the appropriate category and figure out your exact shade which makes it a breeze choosing the right colour.

Don't be fooled by the bottle this comes in, the consistency is alot more liquid than I was expecting. At first I found it a little difficult to work with as I was used to the thicker consistency of Rimmel's Wake Me Up, but I soon got used to it. It's very lightweight so is a dream to glide onto the face and blend. What I love about its consistency is the fact it doesn't cake or dry before you've finished blending into your entire face like some drugstore foundations do, so once I set it with my Rimmel Stay Matte powder, my skin has a flawless matte finish. For a drugstore foundation, I was really surprised by the coverage True Match offered. I'd say it's medium to full but buildable coverage, and covers everything if I happen to be having a good skin day. I do still use my trusty Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection concealer under my eyes, but only to add shadow and definition as I go ahead and contour/highlight once the foundation sets. I use Revlon's Photoready Primer and MUA's finishing spray on a daily basis which definitely contributes to its staying power, and I'm never left patchy or with dreaded make up sliding.  

Overall, I think I may have found yet another drugstore holy grail product. As much as I hate to admit it, I think I'll be putting my trusty Rimmel Wake Me Up to one side until I finish this bottle. I love discovering new drugstore gems, and I seem to be spending more and more time in Boots while their offer is on! I've also managed to collect £60 worth of points but have absolutely no idea what to spend them on, so if you have any recent posts on some Boots products your loving be sure to leave your link below!

MUA Undress Me Too Palette | Review & Swatches

Undress Me Too Palette - £4.00 (Link here)

Hello Ladies! Being a fan of a brown smokey eye for my everyday make up, I was so excited for MUA to launch their new palette, 'Undress Me Too'. I already own the infamous 'Undressed' palette, and this one is the follow up to it, but with new packaging and an introductory price. Just like the original being a Naked dupe, this is an amazing dupe for the Naked 2 palette by Urban Decay, and I thought I'd buy this to try out the shades before I splurge on the Naked 2 palette. Something fellow MUA fans may notice is the difference in packaging. Instead of the classic glossy black plastic casing, it's now matte white with a reflective logo on the front. I personally prefer this to the original, as it's nice and refreshing and something you can easily find in your make-up stash. I could hardly resist the mere £4 price tag either, it's every bloggers dream to find a good bargain. Something else which left me jumping for joy was the fact MUA have named their shades this time round, which makes it so much easier when naming colours and picking them out. Well done MUA! 

The pans themselves are arranged in colour order, from a pale matte champagne to a deep off-black matte. I love the arrangement of this palette. It makes it alot easier to make a colour choice and I personally think these all work together really well. Something I won't be using in this palette is the applicator. It's nothing against MUA but I'm happy using my Real Techniques shading brush to pat in the pigments and my Avon smudge brush to blend.

Naked - A matte pale champagne nude

Devotion - A shimmer medium toned gold beige

Shy - A pink toned nude matte

Fiery - A shimmer copper with pink undertones

Lavish - A matte chocolate brown

Dreamy - A shimmer deep brown with 

Tranquil - A shimmer alternative to 'Lavish'

Exposed - A shimmer grey, off silver

Reveal - An off pik pearl shade, perfect for highlighting

Wink - A shimmer off gold brown

Obsessed- Dark chocolate brown with hints of shimmer 

Corrupt - Dark matte black

Left to Right: Naked, Devotion, Shy, Fiery, Lavish, Dreamy

Left to Right: Tranquil, Exposed, Reveal, Wink, Obsessed, Corrupt
Sorry about my tangerine coloured arms! The setting on my camera makes me look really orange!

Something which impresses me every time with MUA is the product quality. All of them are unbelievably pigmented (apart from 'Naked' and 'Lavish') and the staying power is definitely above average. I use the MUA Pro Base primer on my eyelids everyday, so this may have something to do with it as I've noticed products from the same line have a way of complimenting eachother. I don't find that they crease or drop onto the skin, but admittedly you may need a few swipes for your desired colour pay off. Overall I am beyond impressed with this new addition to MUA. At such a small price tag I can definitely see it as a staple essential in my make up bag and I'm excited to see new product being launched soon. I've planned to do a post comparing the MUA Undressed palette and the Urban Decay Naked palette soon, so keep your eyes peeled! Have you tried the Undress Me Too palette?

Urban Decay | Naked Palette | Review & Swatches

Naked Palette - £36.00 (Link here)

Hello Ladies! If you follow me on Twitter (@MissEssex) then you'll know that I treated myself to a shopping day on Saturday at Oxford Street, which was heaven. As the saying goes, good things come to those who wait. This is something I know to be true as I finally managed to get my mitts on Urban Decay's infamous Naked palette! I can't believe I didn't take the plunge sooner. There was just something about the £36.00 price tag which put me off up until now, but after buying the Naked Basics palette (read my review here) it gave me all the better reason to see what I'd been missing out on this entire time. The price covers the palette itself and two lovely extras, the sample size Primer Potion and the Urban Decay eyeshadow applicator. 

Yes, granted I know this has been out for absolutely ages. But somebody had to be last! I stood deciding between the original or Naked 2 for quite some time, but went for Naked as it has shades which are more brown toned rather than silver. I also read countless reviews on both palettes before deciding, and I'm so glad I did because I'm completely obsessed with it. One thing that stood out for me was the packaging. The twelve shadows are cased in a chocolate brown felt material palette, which I think is lovely. It may be prone to become covered in make-up, but for the time being it's stunning. I love the inside just as much, especially the metallic 'Naked' motif on the spine of the palette. 

The Naked palette is a dream to use as all colours have organisation to them, i.e they go from lighter beige shades to dark greys and navys. I think this was more of an investment for me, as beige is my go to colour for an everyday eye. I know MUA's 'Undressed' palette is a great dupe for Naked, which I also own, but the quality of these are absolutely to die for. 

Virgin - A pearlised off pink shade, ideal for highlighting

Sin - A shimmer/metallic pink shade

Naked - A matte light beige, perfect for a base colour over the lid

Sidecar - A shimmer/metallic darker beige

Buck - A matte biscuit colour, ideal for shadow in the crease

Half Baked - A gorgeous gold shimmer shadow, essential for brown smokey eyes

Smog - Slight darker colour than 'Half Baked', also with shimmer

Darkhorse - A beautiful chocolate brown with a hint of shimmer

Toasted - A light burgundy shade with a hint of metallic

Hustle - A metallic dark off-purple shade

Creep - A shade close to black with brown undertones, with a hint of shimmer

Gunmetal - A grey/navy colour with a small amount of a metallic undercoat 

Swatches as they appear in the palette 

Left to Right: Virgin, Sin, Naked, Sidecar

Left to Right: Buck, Half Baked, Smog, Darkhorse

Left to Right: Toasted, Hustle, Creep, Gunmetal

As I found with the Naked  Basics palette, every single shade is so pigmented and of such good quality, one swipe of shadow is all you need. Depending on the look you want to achieve, all of them are buildable and offer the best staying power imaginable. I don't necessarily need to use the little Primer Potion as I don't find they crease as easily as other shadows. That brings me nicely onto the extras which came with the Naked palette.

I've been pretty content using my MUA eyeshadow primer, purely for the fact I've never really branched out and tried others until now. I think the 3.7ml size is so cute, and I love the purple metallic finish on the bottle. The texture of this stuff is to die for, it isn't too thick but it's definitely creamy enough to do its job. This definitely helps colour stay put throughout the day, and once I've gone through the sample size, I'll be taking myself down to the Urban Decay stand and buying the full size. I'm aware there are other types of the Primer Potion, but right now the original suits me just fine. I've also developed a bit of a love for the eyeshadow applicator, it's a lovely item to have sitting at the bottom of the palette screaming to be used. I've never used any type of brush from Urban Decay but since discovering this I feel I may need to invest in some. The handle carries the same purple metallic finish as the Primer Potion, and has synthetic bristles so there's not a worry about it shredding and leaving those dreaded stray hairs on the tops of my cheeks. 

All in all, I'm super happy and impressed with the Naked palette and I still can't believe I didn't pick it up sooner. I'm hoping this will take me through the next year or so and I'm still hoping to pick up the Naked 2 palette soon to complete my collection. 

♥

Topshop Highlighter | Sunbeam

Happy Saturday Girls! I'm currently on my way to see my boyfriend and am posting this from my iPhone. Ahh, the joys of the Internet! I featured this beaut in my mini Westfield haul yesterday (read it here) and thought I'd share my thoughts in a more in-depth post. This is a repurchase for me as my old one shattered inside its compact last week which is the worst thing to ever happen to a beauty addict. I don't ever skip highlighter in my everyday make-up as I just love the way it lifts the whole eye area, and this for me is a 'holy grail' item which does just that. This cost me a mere £10.00 from Topshop, which I think is such a great price. It really does last forever and I used my old one for 6 or 7 months. I love Topshop make-up packaging, it's so pretty! A really cute matte white circular compact with scribbled little stars on the top and a black box to match. It's set inside the compact very much like MAC's Mineralize Skin Finish products, sort of dome shaped and raised in the middle. I think this means that it is made similarly to MAC's products, slowly baked to uphold colour and pigmentation. 

Sunbeam is a beautiful deep toned yellow gold and as you can see from the swatch below (with my very sausage like looking fingers), the pigmentation is to die for. It sweeps onto my brow bone with ease but if I'm 100% honest it does have a tendency to speckle into my eyebrows. This is completely fixable though as I just use a cotton bud to swipe away any naughty excess highlighter! After using this for quite some time, I can definitely say that I prefer using gold toned highlighters rather than pinks. I find that pink highlighters can look a little bit ashy and slightly washes me out which is why golds are perfect for my skin tone. I used to use Benefit's 'High Beam' as a highlighter but fell out of love with its cream formula. It just felt too heavy on my brow bone and slightly sticky even after it had dried, so my alternative was to start using powder form highlighters, and I genuinely can't rate this highly enough. In regards to staying power, this ticks the box too. I've worn this on nights out and when I get home it's still firmly in place and doesn't budge at all. One thing that can happen is to slightly overdo it and use a bit too much product. I use a very light hand to apply this, and build it up a little bit at a time using my MAC blending brush. If I wear this on a night out which is more often than not, I use a sheet of tissue underneath my eye to make sure no loose bits of highlighter fall onto my cheek. If you have used eyeshadows or highlighters which drop onto the skin then you'll know how much of a pain it is to get rid of it without blending the colour out onto your skin. Using tissue makes sure that doesn't happen! I think once Summer comes along (please hurry up) I'll be braver with application and apply a little more than I do in Winter. 

Have you tried Topshop make-up? Do you love 'Sunbeam' as much as me?

Soap and Glory Kick Ass Concealer

Hello everyone! Before I get started with today's post I just want to thank Beth from BirdsWords for giving the heads up on this product. I was reading through a few of her posts and noticed her blog on it, and seeing as I'm such a big Soap and Glory fan I thought I'd put my own spin on it! 

I know the majority of bloggers swear by Collection 2000's Lasting Perfection concealer and I have to admit I'm definitely one of them, but I had a voucher to use on S&G make up so thought I'd give it a go. I've read a few mixed reviews on it so the beauty blogger in me decided to whack it down on the till and give it a bash. I've used this for a few days now and I have to say I'm quite impressed! 

First off, it's a no brainer that the packaging is gorgeous. Very compact and I'm sold on the gold stars and reflective packaging it comes with, not to mention the amusing comments and words on the back. It's a 'three piece camouflage kit' and is complete with two concealers - one for the under eyes and one for blemishes - and a translucent setting powder. It also includes a cute little white powder puff which I think is ultra cute. Now I bought this in shade Medium as the Light compact looked a little too pale for me, but be warned fellow olive skinned ladies; it's got quite a yellow undertone to both concealers so if you have more of a pink skin tone, then be careful not to overdo it!

Both concealers apply so nicely and have a gorgeous consistency, really creamy and an absolute doddle to apply. I don't find that it creases under my eyes but I think this is because of the primer I use along with the setting powder. I find that when I use this along with Benefit's 'Eye Bright' I genuinely look a lot more awake and alert, without looking too cakey or plastered in make up. I'm quite lucky in the sense I don't suffer too badly with spots or breakouts, but I use the other concealer across the tops of my cheeks which cancels out the colour underneath my trusty foundation. The powder is a really nice formula too. The only slightly annoying thing about it is the product pay off on the powder puff. I do find myself having to scrape the pan a little bit to pick up a sufficient amount, but for what it is and it's durability I'm still sold. 

All in all, I think I'll be ditching my trusty Lasting Perfection concealer and I'm finding that I reach for this instead. Once this hits pan (which I doubt will be for a long time) I'll definitely be repurchasing it. Yet again, I've found another gorgeous product from Soap and Glory! I hope they keep on coming! 

Have you tried Soap and Glory's Kick Ass Concealer? What did you think?