Crown Brush Haul

(from left to right)

M10 - Taklon Foundation

BK13 - Blending Fluff

B02 - Blush

C147 - Round Angle Blender

B22 - Mascara Spoolie

C1441 - Pro Blending Crease

C250-1 - Taklon Liner

I found this brush brand on line last week and after seeing the price I did not hesitate to make an order. Crown Brush do lots of sets of brushes but I felt I would benefit better from choosing individual brushes that I lack in my kit. 

These are the brushes I chose. Collectively they cost me £23 including P+P and for seven brushes that is super duper cheap and they took two days to get to me (amazing)!

Overall these brushes are quite good. I'm especially impressed with the Round Angle Blender as it is a good dupe for the Nars one. The Blending Fluff is also a good dupe for the MAC 217. The quality is not as great as the more expensive brands however they are excellent value and are good to have in your kit!

All in all I would recommend you to take a look at their website. 

Have you got any Crown Brushes?

Make Up Look: Golden Smoke

My recent Night out Make Up Look.

Rimmel - Wake me Up Foundation (Ivory)

Rimmel - Eye Primer

Benefit - Browzings (Light)

Maybelline - Tattoo 24h Cream (Eternal Gold)

Sleek - Eye shadow palette (Storm)

Rimmel - Kohl eyeliner pencil (Black)

L'Oreal - False Lash Flutter Mascara (Black)

YSL - Touche Eclat (1)

Nars - Bronzer (Laguna)

Maybelline - Lipstick/Lip liner (Sweet Pink)

This is my look for a recent night out in Nottingham! I did a Golden Smokey eye and a Nude Lip. I kept the skin fresh and dewy looking with the amazing foundation. I reviewed the foundation, mascara and lipstick in recent posts too so be sure to check them out. I loved this look, I hope you do too!

Lush Face Mask Pamper Sesh

Just a quick post to tell you guys how thoroughly impressed I was at this face mask from Lush! It has been a long time since I used a face mask (naughty Fi) and my friend Bridie had this one for our super crazy Saturday night (in). It is a powder you mix with water and turns in to a paste. This particular mask promised to exfoliate (which it does when you rub it to wash it off) and to combat oily skin. It absorbs the oil in your skin but to my surprise doesn't leave it dry at all! After following with a light moisturiser from Simple my skin looked and felt radiant and super soft! I would definitely recommend this one girls (and boys).

Do you have a fave Lush face mask?

New Nude Lips from Maybelline

I've been hunting a new nude lippy for a while now and I've just come across this beauty from Maybelline. This shade of lippy and lip liner (Color Sensational - Sweet Pink 132) are a perfect shade of pinky nude. Like all Maybelline lipsticks it is lovely to wear as it's moisturising and sheer. The liner and lipstick match together perfectly and I love to use a liner as it helps it last and stops the colour from bleeding. Good one Maybelline, see you again soon for another lippy purchase!

What do you think? Have you got a fave nude lippy?

PS Check out my Instagram for up to the minute beauty and lifestyle snaps - @fionabarbs!

MUA Haul

MUA (Make Up Academy) face, eyes and lips.

MUA Lipstick (Left - Shade 2, Right - Shade 13) For £1 each these lipsticks are amazing. The pigmentation is great and they are lovely shades which are super creamy.

This new Pro-base Complexion kit (Ivory) is a 3 in 1 palette containing foundation, concealer and highlighter. They apply smoothly and is a super handy palette to have in your make up kit without having three separate products to store. It comes with a brush and a make up sponge however I wouldn't use them but are good if you're on the go and don't want to have to take all of your brushes with you.

Swatch above - foundation, concealer, highlighter (top, middle, bottom).

This MUA eye shadow palette in Glitter Ball caught my eye mainly because of the vast variety of colours in it. The MUA eye shadows are always really pigmented and at a very low price you really can't go wrong.

Do you love Make Up Academy products as  much as me or do you prefer higher end products? Let me know below I love it when you guys comment!

L'Oreal False Lash Flutter

I was excited about this mascara after I saw the new TV advertisement and I wasn't disappointed. The wand is a wing shape which tapers into a fine tip and has fine plastic bristles. It is great at separating and defining the lashes as well as lengthening them. The thinner top of the wand really helps to get in the inner corner of the lashes which great and the wider base ensures the full length of the lash is coated.
I only applied one layer to my lashes (pictured above) but you can build up the coats to add thickness and drama.
This is the first mascara by L'Oreal I have ever purchased but I would definitely buy it again as I can't see anything wrong with it.

Have you guys tried it yet? What do you think?

Rimmel 3 for 2

I swung by Boots yesterday and noticed it was 3 for 2 on Rimmel (you know whats coming). Here's what I got...

I decided to try out two foundations (I needed a new one anyway so why not get two?) and a BB cream as I've been looking to try one of these hyped up little 'miracle products' since they first hit back on the market.

 BB cream (Light), Wake me up foundation (100 Ivory), Match Perfection (100 Ivory)

I was really eager to try this BB cream as it promises to do so much (9 in 1) but I won't be repurchasing it. It is a very thick consistency and takes a lot of effort to work in to the skin. When it is on the skin it feels rather sticky (I think it is the primer element that does this).

It does make you look more natural but in my opinion a BB cream is full of disappointments as you can get beautiful light coverage from a number of foundations on the market now. It also seems to clog to pores and doesn't mattify as promised (I don't know if you can tell from the above swatch on my hand).

Although this foundation is the same shade as the Match Perfection (Ivory) it looks a lot darker in the bottle. Once it is on the skin however it blends beautifully. It is medium thickness for a foundation and the light reflecting particles give a lovely finish.

Here it is rubbed into my hand you can even see from this how it makes the skins surface look even and bright.

Match Perfection promises to blend perfectly and to merge to your skin tone. When squeezed on my hand it was a very runny consistency which worried me as I thought the coverage wouldn't be very good.

When I rubbed it into my hand it did exactly what I had hoped. It matched to my skin perfectly (I guess in this instance you should trust the name) and also gave a lovely soft finish.

Overall I am really pleased with my purchases. Although the BB cream is not for me I would be open to suggestions of ones that you all like (put any suggestions in a comment below :)) I am really looking forward to using my new foundations more and I'll try to use them in some future posts so you can see them on the face.

Is Rimmel your go- to drugstore brand for foundation? Let me know!

Trying to be Ke$ha?

I've been in Nottingham this weekend to see friends and we went out to a circus themed event last night!

We decided to get glittered! Just thought I'd show you how we did our make up! I used the little sequins I got for £1 in the Louise Gray sale items post! They looked so cute! Barry M dazzle dust was also a must! I also did a green/blue smokey eye using Sleek Storm palette and Illamasqua Liquid Metal in Stoic which I also featured in a previous post.
The lipstick is my new fave: Topshop in 'Tease' its the prettiest pink colour.
What do you guys think of this look? PS apologies for the rubbish quality of the pictures and my friend Tamsin and I's glorious funny faces.

Get to know the Blogger

I've realised that you probably don't know a lot about me. I think I should change that right now seeing as you read my ramblings!

Here are some little facts about moi...

-- Everyone (apart from my mother and weirdly, boyfriends) call me Fi! I like this shorter version of my name, don't know why, just do.

-- I am a natural blonde and love it (blondes have more fun).

-- Born and raised in Leeds (go Yorkshire) but lived in Nottingham for a couple of years whilst I attempted uni.

-- I attempted uni - but have since deferred studies to pursue a career in make up. I went to Nottingham Trent to study Fashion communication and promotion then after a week switched to Law (I know, big leap) then after a year failing that I switched to Psychology and Criminology and that's what I have on hold.

-- I'm guessing you've twigged that I am REALLY indecisive; I would say that's my biggest character flaw.

-- Watching Legally Blonde made me want to be a lawyer. (Fickle I know but Elle Woods is amazing).

-- My Doggy Buster is the cutest thing ever.. he's a little bit chubby but hey he likes his food... who doesn't!?

-- I think puppies are cuter than babies.

-- I love Coke (Coca Cola) can't be Pepsi... especially Pepsi Max... It DOES taste different (and crap).

-- I HATE cheese. Have done since I was little. I only like mozzarella when melted on pizza or nachos, oh and I don't mind halloumi, because it's cheese that doesn't taste cheesey.

-- If I was on death row and had to have a last meal, it would be my fave curry from the take away down the road. (I've given this a lot of thought - not that I'd ever be on death row.. purely hypothetical) I'd have all the trimmings - poppadums, mango chutney, onion bhajis, garlic naan, rice, everything!! Oh now I'm craving this... great.

-- I love Taylor Swift and her new album RED. I think if we ever met, we could be BFFs.

-- If I could be anyone for a day it'd be Beyonce! To see what it's like to be an amazing singer and performer and all around babe - not to be married to Jay Z and have a screaming baby.

-- I like dipable foods. I.e.Doritos and dip, chips and dip, bread sticks and dip...

-- My favourite ever TV show is 'Charmed' (definitely wanted to be a Witch when I was younger).

That's a nice round 15 facts! Hope you feel you know me a bit better :)

Avon Liquid Freeze

Just a quicky (cheeky).
My mum got this little beauty from Avon and I just had to share it with all you nail polish addicts! You spray it on your nails after they've pretty much set. It's a greasy formula but somehow it sets your nails with a beautiful glossy finish!

Have you tried this? What you thinkin'?

Louise Gray for Topshop £1 Bargains

Check out these absolute beauties from Louise Gray at Topshop...

Yep - you read right! £1!! I thought they had been labelled wrong when I first saw but nope, Topshop Leeds decided these babies had to be reduced. I kinda felt as if I was robbing Louise Gray!

So I got this lovely palette, the cream eye shadows and the multi-use sequins all for £2.70 (used my student discount as well... extra bargains).

From left to right - the cream eye shadow then the palette! I must say the cream eye shadows go on so perfectly with your finger... although they do crease quite easily.. I tried them out in a natural look..

Photographs by Rachael Barber

Here are the products I used for this day look. I like the light pastel colour of the cream shadows although you can build them up for a deeper colour. I used my new Illamasqua lip gloss in the look which I bought for a steal in the online sale (See previous post). I love bargain make up!

Have you got any make up bargains recently?

PS. Check out my Instagram account (@fionabarbs) for up to the minute beauty pics! I also have this new Vine App but have no idea what to do with it... I'll get to grips with it sooner or later!