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?

Some New Purchases | A Mini Haul

Hello Everyone! I hope you're all well and this sudden burst of rubbish weather isn't getting you down too much. If you follow me on Twitter then you'll know that I took my first trip to Westfield in Stratford this year! I go there quite often but unfortunately didn't make it there to the Boxing Day sales and yesterday was my first chance to pick up some bits I had on my wishlist. Again, if you know me then you'll know how obsessed I am with Victoria's Secret - all of their stock is so beautiful and I just can't get enough of their fragrance and make up line. While I was searching for a new lipgloss, I came across the new 'Secret Garden' collection and noticed how many new body mists they have out. I was in absolute heaven as I love finding new scents, especially with Summer coming up (hopefully!). They retail at £11.00 each which is a bit dear if you ask me - that amount of money does pay for a 350ml product though and the smell of them is absolutely to die for. I picked up Pure Seduction, Love Spell, Pure Daydream, Vanilla Lace and Coconut Passion. I picked up a few others which I'll definitely going back for as they smelt so amazing! Afterwards I took myself to Lush; I only went in last week but I was so determined to find the Popcorn lip scrub so was so excited when I saw a couple standing by the till. Don't get me wrong, I love my Bubblegum one but it's nice to have a bit of a change! I found myself speaking to one of the girls in there, who was absolutely lovely, asking for a recommendation of a new mask I could try. I find that I always opt for 'Cupcake' (read my review here) but wanted to branch out further when I was introduced to 'Mask of Magnaminty'. A mask that has the strongest peppermint scent ever and doubles up as a face scrub. Think Soap and Glory's 'Scrub Your Nose In It' and you get a rough idea what its like, minus the fact it contains 100% natural ingredients and doesn't need to be kept in the fridge like other Lush products! 

Now again if you follow me on Twitter then you'll know how rude I found the staff in MAC when I went to pick up a lipstick while I was there. I don't like to put a downer on posts but I know it isn't just me who found this to be true as a few fellow MAC fans agreed with the fact that the customer service in there is awful. For the first time ever I found myself feeling slightly uncomfortable around make-up and found the staff to be quite unpleasant. I asked one of the girls to help me out with finding a lipstick and she put her finger up at me as if to say 'one minute' - how rude! I then asked someone else who wasn't busy to help out and she was so blunt and rude, asking questions like "Have you even tried a lipstick from here before?". I don't think I'll be going into that MAC store again anytime soon, I reckon I'll be taking my money to Brent Cross where the staff are absolutely lovely and happy to help. Anyway, rant over, I picked up a Cremesheen lipstick in Sunny Seoul which I saw featured on Rebecca's blog at AutumnLeaves. It's a gorgeous pink coral shade which is quite opaque so needs 3 or 4 swipes to get some colour pay off. It's perfect for Summer so I'll definitely be cracking it out of its box when June rolls around! I also went to Topshop to buy one of their legendary highlighters as my other one shattered inside the compact. I hate it when that happens! I picked up the shade 'Sunbeam' and it's a beautiful deep gold shade with the most amazing pigmentation ever. It looks stunning on the brow bone and lasts forever, and for a measly £10.00 I practically made money on it! 

During the #bbloggers chat on Wednesday night, I asked for opinions on Benefit's 'They're Real' mascara and I got a mixed response. Not one to be put off I decided to take the plunge and purchase the smaller size to try out before splurging on the full size version. Needless to say the girl on the Benefit counter was so nice and really helpful too! I haven't yet tried it but am hoping for high things as I love the look of the brush. I also picked up Soap and Glory's 'Feel Good Factor' moisturiser to complete my skincare collection from that brand (read about my collection here) and after using the tester while I was there I'm really looking forward to trying it. It's a lovely sheer consistency and not greasy in the slightest while offering SPF25 protection. The last thing I picked up while I was in Boots was the Collection 2000 Smokey Eyes palette for a bargain of only £3.99. I know it was launched over a year ago but it's just never caught my eye before! It has a selection of 8 shadows along with an eye brightening cream and I'm looking forward to trying out a new selection of shades for an evening out. I bought some clothes too, however when I attempted to photograph them it went horribly wrong; I think I need some practice before I do any OOTD posts, put it that way! 

All in all, I had a great day shopping and spent the best part of 4 hours looking around Westfield. If you haven't been before I'd definitely recommend either Westfield centre, but I personally prefer Stratford as it has more high street chains. Don't get me wrong, I love the Shepherds Bush centre too, but Stratford gives me that little bit more of a buzz (is that slightly weird?) 

Have you picked up any great products recently?