Makeup Revolution Ultra Blush Palette - Sugar and Spice Review

Late to the game, I had somehow not tried any Makeup Revolution products until that fateful Christmas morning when I found some gems tucked away in my stocking, and I was very excited to give them a whirl.

If like me, you are new to Makeup Revolution, here's the basic low-down... A fairly new company (launching March 2014), the London based company's ethos is to create affordable, cruelty-free, and innovative makeup and skincare for people, catering to a large variety of skin colours and tones (Their 'The One Foundation' comes in 16 shades which is great for a cheaper drugstore brand). A great variety of products are available, especially for such a new company, with everything from nail polish to skincare covered.

Products start from just £1 and claim to contain only the finest ingredients.

To read more about Makeup Revolution check out their website and online store HERE

Now, let's talk about the Ultra Blush Palette...

The Ultra Blush Palettes come in at £6 (the same, very reasonable, price as the Salvation Eyeshadow Palettes) for 8 blushes. My particular one (Sugar and Spice) includes a variety of matte and shimmery blushers, pinks, corals, bronze/brown shades, and two merged baked blushers.

The first two blushers are brown shades, a deeper, orange based brown, and a subtler tan tone. These cater to different skin tones brilliantly. Even with my very pale skin, the lighter colour can be used as a great contour and will be a go-to in Summer when I want a bit of bronzing. Both are great for contouring as they have no (visible to me anyway) shimmer. I found it a bit odd that the palette has no mention on the inner case about contouring, when the outer packaging (a lovely matte black box which I quickly discarded off in a Christmas Day present opening frenzy) is clearly named as a Blush and Contour Palette - once out of it's original box there is no mention of contouring in sight.

Next, there's two dark reddy pink shades (also matte). Whilst looking a little intimidating in the pan, they can be sheered out really nicely, and built up to match the rosiness you're after.

The hot pink and coral shades are my favourite of the six matte products. The hot pink, light and wearable, creates a lovely warmth on the skin without leaving you red faced. For me, it's that perfect 'just come in from the cold' colour, but I think it will also work wonderfully for a pop of colour in Spring/Summer. The peachy coral blush is just gorgeous. I have slightly red undertone on my cheeks so am sometimes wary of putting pink on them and tend to favour peachy tones instead. This shade reminds me a lot of Marissa Cooper's makeup in The OC (yes, I've been on a rewatching binge lately), all naturally peachy and sunkissed. I will definitely be using this a lot when the warmer weather hits.

Finally, we have the two merged baked blushers - one a frosty pale pink, the other a deep rosy pink - both packed with shimmer. I don't know if I'll get a lot of wear out of the darker pink, even though it is beautiful, it doesn't suit my skin colour particularly well, but if it suits you then consider me forever envious! The paler one, however, doubles as a beautiful highlighter. Not too frosty or obvious when applied, it just leaves a shimmery sheen in it's wake.

All the products in the Sugar and Spice palette are really nicely pigmented and have a good pay off on the skin. I'm really eager to try the All About Bronze and Golden Sugar palettes as I feel they'd suit my makeup style more. That said, these are a great selection of powder blushes to have in your collection and can be made wearable throughout the year, and for the £6 price tag I would definitely recommend giving them a go if you're into your cheeks.

Thanks so much for reading, and please let me know your opinions or recommendations!

xxx

Makeup Revolution products are available in most larger Superdrug stores, on the Superdrug website or on the Makeup Revolution site.

Models Own Fruit Pastel Collection!

This Spring I have been obsessed with all things pastel. I immediately lust after anything candy coloured I see. It's a slight problem. So when I saw the Models Own Fruit Pastel scented nail polishes in Boots on offer (buy one, get one half price) I couldn't resist!

I was drawn to the shades Apple Pie and Strawberry Tart as I was just running out of my old pale pink and mint green nail polishes, and they're always go-to nail colours for me. I stupidly didn't even notice they were scented until I bought them, so whether that would've changed my decision I simply do not know!

The Scratch 'n' Sniff lids (in the scent of the shade name) were a cute little addition, and it's always nice to add a bit of fun to your make-up.

Strawberry Tart is a gorgeous, baby pink shade. Sometimes baby pinks can be quite neutral and plain, but I really liked this shade as whilst still being a pale pastel pink, the colour really pops nicely when on the nail and stands out.

Apple Tart is the perfect pastel pale green in my opinion. I love minty green nail polishes and have enjoyed a few different brands' interpretations of the shade. I think this has been my favourite as often they can too bright of a green, or a bit too dusky. Apple Tart is the exact colour I think of when I think of a mint green.


The formula does tend to 2-3 coats to get past the streaky looking stage, which doesn't bother me too much as I normally like to build my nail polish up with a few layers. However, when more than one coat has been applied it can take a while to dry (and I'm sooo impatient when waiting for my nails to dry anyway) so be wary.

The formula doesn't have it's scent when in the bottle, so I don't recommend taking the lid off and have a big sniff like I did when I first opened them! The scents are like synthetic sugary versions of what the name suggests, but they do still smell nice. Although I think they could have made the scents a bit stronger. To be honest, it doesn't bother me too much. It's a nice gimmick and an interesting twist, but I don't spend all day sniffing my nails so I'm not really bothered if they don't smell like freshly baked apple pie!

I found that when the nail polish was dried on the nails it became quite brittle and easy to shatter/chip. Whether this was because I put a few coats on, I'm not sure. However, when I used a top coat (I use Collection's 2 in 1 Top Coat and Gloss Enhancer) they lasted much better.

Whilst I'm not sure the formula is worth £5 each normally (especially with the Barry M Nail Paints being cheaper and having a better formula in my opinion), the colour is a real selling point of these and that is what would make me really consider buying more in the future.

Thanks for reading! Let me know your opinion on the Models Own colours and if there's any I should try!

xxx

All Models Own Nail Polishes are Buy One, Get One Half Price at Boots!

Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter!

I finally caved and treated myself to one of the new Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butters while they were £2 off in Boots.

I opted for the shade Tutti Frutti, which in the bullet looks a bright orange colour. I wouldn't usually go for orangey tones, but I have a lot of pink and red toned lip colours and thought orange could be a nice change for the summer, and would be something a bit different.

I tend to get very dry lips, and thought the texture was great for that - moisturising and it didn't seem to cling to any cracks or any rough bits on my lips. The formula contains mango, shea and coconut butter and claims to 'boost lip moisture by 156%.

I actually really liked the colour. I'm quite fair skinned so was unsure if the colour would work on me but I really like it. The formula is sheer but buildable for a more bold look, and I think this shade would work really well for a lot of different skin tones and is very versatile.

Because I found this gel formula so great for drier lips I would love to try some of the other shades, and I know this product and some other shades are very popular amongst bloggers and youtubers, however I'm not sure if I would buy another at the full price of £7.99, especially the more generic pink shades where very similar colours can be found in other brands. I also really like the packaging, and that it is the colour of the lipstick, which is really handy for storage and finding it easily.

I am loving Tutti Frutti at the moment, and despite normally being a fan of pink lip colours, this is what I have been wearing every time I've been out since I bought it and I enjoy experimenting with different make-up looks with it.

Let me know how you find the Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butters for you and if you have any recommendations or tips for dry lips!

xxx

Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter - £5.99 on offer from Boots (Normally £7.99) http://www.boots.com/en/Revlon-ColorBurst-8482-Lip-Butter_1252852/