Essence Effect Eye Pencils Long-Lasting (Shades 1-6)

You may know by now I absolutely love bright coloured products that can just give you that extra oomph when it comes to make-up. Although for some it may not be wearable makeup I do find that for Clubbing, Halloween, and Festivals bright eyeliners look awesome!!

I'm sorry this looks so bad!!! On the links there are better photos! Sorry!!

And here I have all 6 Shades from Essence to review and swatch for you! These retail for £2 each so very cheap. As you can see the packaging is very reflective and so was a pain to photograph! But I do like how reflective and neon the packaging is as it makes it even more appropriate for festivals and party goers!!

Please excuse how terrible the pencils look. It's just that I got too excited and started using them before I realised that I hadn't taken a picture of it yet! :(

SILVER-SURFER (01)

Aptly named the Silver Surfer this shade is a very bold silver colour and can really draw the attention to your eyes and brings out the colour of your eyes. Now for all of you wanting to try something new I would definitely suggest trying this shade; and although it may not seem wearable, it truly is! My sister rocks silver eyeliner all the time and she really pulls it off. So I’m going to be passing this one on to her.

GOLD-DIGGER (02)

Now this Gold was so disappointing for me! I wanted to be one of those Golden Goddesses and unfortunately I think colour pay-off wasn’t exactly the best. Now I don’t know if this is just the way it looks on me but I find that it doesn’t suit me as much as I’d want it to. It blends in better into my skin and doesn’t stand out. This is probably due to the fact that my skin tone is a warm olive.

I would recommend this shade to darker skin tones and if you have cooler undertones to your skin as I feel it will stand out more.

STEEL-SMURF (03)

This blue is my second favourite shade out of the whole collection as it is such a brilliant electric blue, it really does follow suit to its name. Honestly it is fantastic. It applies evenly throughout the entire eye and it brings out brown eyes beautifully.

I don’t know how this will look on blue eyes but I imagine it depends on the shade of blue your eyes are.. I really think this will go perfectly for all skin types and am honestly in love with it.

 

IRON HULK (04)

Is definitely a strong bold green that definitely catches your eyes! I absolutely love this shade too. The application was really simple and the colour pay-off was just instant. I think this would look great on all skin tones! From the picture you can see that I should have gone over it a little more so that the middle of my eyelid had full colour but…..I was too excited, sorry!

 

METAL-PHANTOM (05)

Now for my Favourite shade. This was a very misleading shade as I had initially thought from the packaging just like the others that this was going to be a bright pink however I was pleasantly surprised as  it was a much more flattering shade. A PURPLE!! This is fantastic news for me as I was worried I was going to look like I had an irritated eye.
This appears a lot darker in person than it does on camera but I like both regardless. I think it is one of the most wearable shades in the collection and would loo amazing with a dark smoky eye or on its own too!

(!!This shade contains CARMINE!!)

 

 

ROBO-COP (06)

This shade is definitely the most wearable shade in the whole collection as it is a black. However it isn’t a true black. More like a very very very dark grey which is always good to have. I feel that this would be best used for that smudged eye makeup look. As you can see it applies fantastically well, and will suit absolutely everyone.

Overall thoughts are that my absolute favourites are definitely METAL-PHANTOM and STEEL-SMURF. As they are probably the most fun and best pigmented out of the lot. Of course the textures of these eyeliner are very creamy and of course therefore have the tendency to move around. Also it can imprint an incredibly light amount of product onto the top of your eyelids but of course that depends on your eyeshade as those with mono-lids don’t have to worry about this.

Regardless I do recommend this for everyone as these will be an awesome addition to any makeup! Plus if you are going to try branching into coloured eyeliner these are inexpensive so you won’t be wasting your money.
So let me know what you think? Which will you try and what's your favourite?

L.F.A. Xx

 

*These were given to me during an event however I always give my full and honest opinion*

 

John Frieda Brilliant Brunette Moisturising Shampoo & Conditioner

As a brunette and curly haired women (both those combos are deadly) I find that my hair is usually very dry and a little bit dull, unless of course I add oils, serum or my hair is dirty. You may remember a while back I posted a huge John Frieda Haul and from that I got this the: Brilliant Brunette Moisturising Shampoo & Conditioner.

So as you can see it comes in an appropriately brown bottle and it at the back is says:

"With crushed pearls and sweet almond oil, moisturising formula rehydrates*, protects and preserves brunette colour as it dehydrated and replenishes dry, colour treated hair for a satin feel*.

NON-COLOURING DEPOSITING."

 *The words that are underlined were added from conditioner bottle.*

 

I obviously used a lot more product than this on my hair!

 

Now I don't have dyed hair and as its not colour depositing I knew the colour of my hair wasn't going to be changed however since its moisturising  and for colour treated hair I figured that it was going to be nice and delicate for my hair.

Both of these smell of almonds; usually I dislike nutty scents, however this was not overpowering at all and actually smelled really nice. What I will say is that the consistency of the Shampoo is very runny and the conditioner isn't very thick either which is disappointing but I understand that its not a mask.

Overall my hair was left soft and moisturised but nothing significant/life changing. This is a lovey Shampoo and Conditioner and if it is on offer again I may repurchase it but for now I am still trying other hair care products. So have you tried these? What were your thoughts?

 You can get these from:
Superdrug -
SHAMPOO 250ml - £5.50
CONDITIONER 250ml - £5.50

 Boots -
SHAMPOO 250ml - £5.59
CONDITIONER 250ml - £5.59

L.F.A. Xx

BarryM Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint - Blueberry 5

 

Sometimes you just want to try something before committing yourself to buy it which is why Summer from Beauty on a Budget and I did a little nail polish swap! (Guys she could probably open a salon/shop will all the different nail polishes she's got!....which is heaven for me)

Anyway therefore I am trying a couple of polishes and this is one of them!

 

This BarryM Gelly Hi-Shine Polish in the shade 05 - Blueberry is just one of the loveliest cloudy bluey shade. I don't know why but it reminds me of a cloudy blue sky and a calm-like afternoon (hence my description of the shade.)

This is a very universal shade in my opinion and it does dry reasonably quickly and the best of all is it  will only require 2 coats for full colour payoff, which is brilliant if you have an event to go to, and you happen to be doing your nails last minute!
 

Rings From H&M - £1.99

The thing I like the most from this shade is that I think it's the perfect understated hint of colour. If you want to add colour to your nails that won't be in your face or look sickly pale or be too dark. Its honestly the perfect shade! I find that this also is very complimentary to many outfits, so you wont feel as if your clashing!

I absolutely plan on buying this next time I go Nail Polish hunting!

You can get this from:

Boots: Light Blue - £3.99

Superdrug: Blueberry - £3.99

L.F.A. Xx

*Borrowed from Summer's Beauty on a Budget! Xx*

Essence Colour Flash Volume Mascara (All Shades 1 - 5)

Every summer we see bright coloured make up ranges coming out and in particular coloured mascara! But at prices like £14 from Ciaté for coloured mascara which is a risqué product... I think cheaper alternatives are a must! I love a pop of colour and the concept of coloured mascaras amazes me and luckily these were given to me at the Essence Event so here is a complete range of coloured mascaras from Essence which you can get in Wilkinson  for £3 each.

There are 5 Shades available and they are, Petrol (02), Bright Blue (04), Emerald Green (01), Purple (05) and Pink (03). I've written them in the order of the photo so that there is no confusion! I know you are probably thinking that these are not wearable, however I believe you can wear it on just your bottom lashes to bring attention to the eyes or if your brave just full on colour! The darkest blue is probably your best bet!

So here i'll show you swatches of each shade but in numerical order! These are my natural lashes and I have NOT used an eyelash curler as a fair test to all my mascara reviews.
 (Please Excuse my Eyebrows!!)

Emerald Green (01)

 This Emerald Green shade is not what I saw the mascara. I was expecting a sort of a green turquoise just from looking at the bottle, however I am pleasantly surprised! I actually think despite how shocking this may look I actually think this may be very wearable. Maybe I'm insane but I really do love this and I think this may even be a dupe of the Ciaté - Nymph Mascara which retails for £14. No word of a lie I desperately wanted it because I hadn't seen that shade of coloured mascara done before! You can't imagine how glad I am that I didn't have to fork out £14!

Petrol (02)

 

 

This Dark Blue/ Navy shade called Petrol is the most wearable shade in the whole collection. And the shade that you can wear all year round, especially as we are going into the A/W Season this mascara would fit right in! I personally love this shade as it looks almost (well)  and I think it makes brown eyes look amazing! My sister who mind you is older than me bought one of her own after seeing it and incorporated it into her makeup bag. So I've seen first hand that it lasts all day and does not flake so for £3 it is a huge bargain!!

Pink (03)

 

 

This is probably the least wearable shade in the whole range as I find that I like/hate it. I think this would only be great as costume/festival makeup for someone with maybe green or blue eyes or maybe even a darker skin tone. But personally I find that I look like I have an eye infection or as if my eyes have been irritated. I think this is just going to be used as costume makeup for me or on my hair.

(!!This shade contains CARMINE!!)

Bright Blue (04)

 This lovely appropriately named Bright Blue Shade is a shocking electric looking colour. Personally I fond it most wearable on the bottom lashes and I really like it because as a glasses user I find that it helps my eyes stand out behind my glasses. Again I find that this shade helps brunette eyes stand out on a beautiful way and I will probably be using this frequently when I feel like I want a strong flash of colour!

Purple (05)

 Now this is another extremely un-wearable shade if not worse than the Pink, but yet I absolutely love it. I know I'm insane but I just love how frosty it looks! I feel like this would be amazing for Halloween or a festival! Or even an extreme winter look, or a harujuku style.... okay I'm not sure how you could wear this and not look a bit strange. But the most wearable way would be on the ends of your eyelashes as if snowflakes had fallen on them! Another reason why I like this is because I actually haven't seen this colour mascara before. EVER. So I can't wait to experiment and see if I can try and make this as wearable as possible!

 (!!This shade contains CARMINE!!)

 

 

Overall I am a big fan of this range due to the two extra colours that aren't usually available by budget brands and I find that compared to the MUA Coloured Mascaras (which I've reviewed before) paying £2 more does make a difference as I found that my eyelashes were more spread out (not as clumpy). What I will say is it dries quickly so you do have to be a bit quick when applying them. Again like any other mascara as I have Dark Brown/Black Eyelashes I did need to add a couple of coats for maximum colour, but it does not flake at all which I LOVE. 

 

So are there any here you would use? What other brands would you recommend?

 

 

L.F.A. Xx

 

*These were given to me during an event however I always give my full and honest opinion*

#BBloggersLDN Meet

On Saturday (I know, I know! I'm sorry for posting so late!) I and Summer's Beauty on a Budget attended the #BBloggersLDN Meet in Hyde Park. It was at 10.30am so it was definitely an early start, which is painful for a weekend but it was definitely worth it!

So when we arrived, there were a number of bloggers there already and we got to speak with them all, introduce ourselves and generally network! I was so glad to see a familiar face too, as Olivia (Beauty from the Fjord) whom I met previously at another event. And loved meeting new people like Naomi (Throw Me Something Beautiful).

We were given our goodie bags in a very cute shopper tote bag and then we all made our way to Westfield White City for a spot of lunch and shopping! We decided on Gourmet Burger Kitchen and I got the delicious Chicken Grilled Burger and Lemonade (you best believe I enjoyed it (^.-)
Whilst in Westfield I treated myself to a little bit of Lush!

As you can see we were so incredibly lucky as the goodie bag is just amazing! As you can see we got products from Cocoa Brown, Face the Future, Scent City, Time Bomb Timeless Truth, Yves Roche (super excited), Rio Nails (can't wait to start using!!) and IS Clinical. And the lovely Vicky (Being Tilly's Mummy) was sweet enough to donate some products from Superdrug! Thank you!!

And a really big thank you to Becky (Candy Floss Cloud) for organising the event, which was just so much fun and so relaxed and I wish her the best of luck for the next event she is planning!

 You can get yourself tickets here for the BBloggers Winter Event! Details are on the website!
So have you guys tried any other products from the named brands?

L.F.A. Xx

KIKO Ultra Long Nail Post Stress Treatment Base Coat

This is lovely gem is from KIKO's  Nail Care Section and at the time I had very short sad looking nails, so I thought it'd be perfect to try it out as I had never tried any of their Nail Care Products before, and was quite frankly fed up with having short nails.

You can see that the colour is a nice clear natural pink which is nice as on it's own it gives my nail a very healthy looking glow and natural shine. You could get away with wearing this to work on its own and your nails looking nice!

This also dries remarkably quickly and since it has a fat brush it is easy to apply and quickly covers the whole nail in one go. (I'm usually not a fan of fat brushes but I didn't find it that annoying! Maybe I'm getting used to them?)

According to the description given by KIKO on their website, this nail treatment comes with:

"Vitamin E - An Antioxidant and Moisturizer,

Vitamin A - Helps form Keratin (Protein that makes up the structure of the nail)

Vitamin C - Fights free radicals and helps maintain youthful looking nails. "

 

Which are all fantastic things to hear about a nail polish, and to even convince you further to try these is that this polish is a 5-Free Nail Polish which, means it does not include ingredients like:

"Toluene,

Camphor,

DBP (Dibutyl Phthalate)

Formaldehyde,

Formaldehyde Resin,"

Which are all considered to be not particularly good for you in their own respective ways. Especially if your using a treatment nail polish which is meant to benefit you not the opposite. For some I have added links so that you may quickly read more about it or you can Google it too!

This information of course made me even more eager to try this to see if it worked because it seemed like it would be perfect!

 

Now as a Base Coat itself I didn't find that it prolonged the duration of my nail polish. In fact I found that my nail polishes lasted about the same as if I hadn't used one, but it does serve its purpose of protecting the nail from getting stained too.

As a Nail Treatment I believe IT DOES WORK 100% as my nails are significantly longer than when they first started, and the look better, haven't become brittle or prone to shedding and are honestly much stronger. But I would say is this treatment isn't one that is absorbed like the Mavala Nail Strengthen (which I've used in the past) where you would see it is be absorbed by the nail. This sits on top of the nail as a base coat would but it does work! And of course it does take some time, because obviously your nail does need time to grow too!

Personally I loved this and will be 100% repurchasing this and adding it to my staple favourites.
 What about you? Have you tried it? Or will you?

You can get this In-store or Online for:
£3.50 (SALE) - £4.90 (RRP)

 

L.F.A. Xx

Recent Buys (Primark, H&M, &OtherStories)

There are a couple of things that I think you all should really get! Plus they are cheap and will help you with your summer wardrobe!

So firstly I got another & Other Stories - Body Scrub - Méditerranéen for £7 which smells amazing and I needed it so...hehehe.

From Primark I got a White Tank Dress for £3.50, A Crop Halter Cami for £2.50, a Turqoise Sheer Vest for £4 (I have been using this non stop!) and Polka Dot Red Flipflops for £1.

 

And from my faveourite store H&M I got 3 (although I there's only two here as I got it afterwards) Crop Cami Tops for just £1.99 each! I got one in Grey, Black and White. Although I recommend you get 2 sizes down (I got a Small and am usually a Large). 

Lastly some Jewellery of course! I actually got this set of stackable Aztec/Tribal looking rings for £3.99 and another for £1.99 (which like the Cami Top I got afterwards but just keep your eyes out for nail posts as I know I'll be wearing it a lot!

What have you gotten recently?

L.F.A. Xx