Urban Decay's Naked 3 Palette on darker skin!!!

By now everyone and their dog has heard about Urban Decay's latest addition to the Naked range, I don't own any of the other products in the naked range, but something about this was calling to me and I answered lol!!! It contains 12 all new rose hued shades, a double ended brush and 7 day samples of 4 eye primers for £37. I ordered mine from Debenhams.com, you have all probably read about this palette, so I'll just let the pictures do the talking.

No Flash

Top row: Strange, Dust, Burnout, Limit. Middle row: Buzz, Trick, Nooner, Liar. Bottom row: Factory, Mugshot, Darkside, Blackheart.

NO Flash

 

Flash

 

Flash

 

I'm still playing around with this palette, but so far I'm loving it, I've done a natural daytime look so far, which I posted on instagram (aallexxy). I want to do a night time look using blackheart as the main colour, for a really dramatic smokey eye, if I do I'll post the results on instagram.

 

Have you succumbed and bought this palette? What's your thoughts? If you didn't get it why not?

 

 

Thanks for visiting the blog today

 

Alex

 

You Beauty Advent Calendar!!!

So this year I decided to treat myself to a beauty advent calendar, I've never had one before, deciding which one to get was my next task. The benefit one was extremely limited, the selfridges one was quite expensive, I didn't want 24 nail polishes, which struck the ciate one off the list. Then I heard about the You Beauty Advent Calendar, £49.95 for items from different brands, check out the youbeautydiscovery.co.uk website to see what's in it and it's still currently available. You will have to pay £4.95 delivery if you are not a member, read about the You Beauty Discovery Beauty Box here.

 

 

When it arrived I had to resist the urge to open every single door immediately, but my birthday is in December and I thought it would actually be nice to open every door day by day, follow on instagram/twitter for pictures of what's in each door (Aallexxy).

 

 

It also contains a booklet explaining each product with discount codes, some valid through to the end of January next year, so still plenty of time to use them.

 

 

Have you treated yourself to any beauty advent calendars this year?

Chanel Les Beiges Healthy Glow Sheer Powder - No50!!!

I'm sure most of you have heard about the latest release from Chanel, the healthy glow sheer powder from the Les Beiges collection, inspired by freedom and light as air make-up. I had a £10 Debenhams voucher and decided to put it towards the purchase of this £38 powder, I'm getting a litle bored of my MAC mineralise skinfinish and with these new powders on the market claiming to prevent cakey over powdered application, while mattifying and giving the skin a glow all at the same time I had to see what it was all about. I have the hourglass ambient lighting powder (review here) and absolutely love it, but due to the universal shades it offers no extra coverage when setting make-up. My skin is a little crazy at the moment, I have some horrible blemishes on my cheeks that refuse to fade, so I need something that will work towards disguising them without having to wear a full coverage foundation. Saying that the powder is incredibly sheer, so coverage is minimal, which is great if your wear little make-up and/or have great skin. I use this powder to set my foundation and concealer, it also has SPF 15, which is personally a bit low for me in the summer months, but can help to top up your SPF throughout the day (better than nothing).

The packaging is gorgeous and chic, the powder feels soft and buttery to the the touch and it comes with a large mirror and brush for touch up's on the go. I have used the elf powder brush and real techniques buffing brush to apply this, but my favourite at the moment is the elf mineral powder brush. I love the feeling and finish of this powder, it never leaves me looking over powdered or cakey, it does have a strong scent, but I don't notice this once it's been applied to my skin. I got the shade No50, but think in the winter I would need No40, however the powders are incredibly sheer so I could probably get away with either shade. The powders can also be used as a bronzer if you purchase a shade or two darker than your skintone. The shade range goes upto No70, but I'm not sure how many of these shades are available in the UK, the darkest shade the counter I purchased mine from seemed to be the No60.

Heavily swatchedSlightly blended out

It looks light initially, but blends out beautifully to give a demi-matte, sort of satin smooth finish to the skin. I believe these powders will be realeased in the USA in August, I can't wait for the cream blushes that are already avalable as part of the fall collection in America to launch here in August.

The powder with Laura Mercier's secret camouflage concealer

Do you have any chanel make-up, have you tried this new powder? Share your thoughts and any questions below.

Thanks for visiting the blog today.

Alex

Get To Know Me:The Beauty Blogger Tag!!!

I have seen a couple of these tags and when I was reading through Beauty Broadcast's Blog, aka Emily Noel, she decided to tag everyone.  I agree with her that it'll be a great way for you to get to know a little more about me, so here goes.


1. Is your hair naturally curly or straight? I've been relaxed for many years, so it's straight. I haven't relaxed my hair since July 2012 as it's been in a weave mostly, I plan to get a brazilian blow dry very soon, so I'll let you all know how that goes.

2. Do you dye it yourself or go to a salon? I haven't dyed my actual hair for a while now, but my weave I dye myself, however in the past I've done both on my actual hair.

3. Do you wear the same style everyday, or do you change it? I'm quite low maintenance when I have a weave in, hence why I have it in, it pretty much stays the same until I revisit the hairdressers.

4. Do you do your own mani/pedi or go to a salon? At present I do my own, years ago I use to have acryllics done and after that gel polish, as a treat I might go get the odd manicure now and again.

5. How often do you change your nail polish? At present I change it weekly, being a working mum it's hard to find the time and until recently I was also studying, my toes can go even longer especially in the colder months.

6. Do you polish your toes in the winter or just summer? Kinda already answered this lol!!! I polish them all year round, but less often in the colder months.

7. How long does it take to put on make-up? I think I take a fair amount of time to get ready, I'm always running late, lol!!! I have never actually timed myself, I'd say about 15 minutes in the morning, depending on how late I'm running. If I'm going out in the evening then it can take even longer, drives my husband crazy lol!!!

8. What do you do first? Face or eyes? Always tends to be face, if I remember or think about it or want to do particularly heavy eye make-up I might do eyes first, but on the whole I do my face.

9. Do you collect make-up or just buy what you need when you need it? Definately collect it lol, one of the reasons I decided to start blogging, might as well let people know how the products worked out for me and gives me even more of an excuse to buy more make-up (shhhh don't tell my hubby).

10. How often do you wear false eyelashes? As often as I can get away with lol, I don't wear them to work, but for an event I definately will. If it's a day time outing, then it just depends on where I am going, what it's for, my mood etc.

11. Do you do a full face of make-up everyday? No, some days if I'm home all day I don't wear any, if I'm just running errands I may just do something light tinted moisturiser, mascara etc.

12. Do you wear make-up when you're home alone or with family? Sometimes, I wear make-up if I'm home alone if I'm testing out a product, just feel like experimenting or the mood takes me. With family it depends on the event, my mood etc.

13. Will you leave the house without make-up? Yes, I never want to be bound by make-up, but I do really enjoy wearing it.

14. How many high-end products do you own? I have never counted, but my drugstore range definately outweighs the high-end brands, however I do have a ponchant for luxury.

15. Do you plan your outfit of the day every night or decide when you wake up? No matter how organised I try to be, I will eventually end up planning my outfit in the morning.

16. How often do you change your handbag? My work handbag pretty much stays the same, but for all other events I decide depending on my outfit.

17. What time do you wake up and go to sleep? I go to bed between 11-12pm ish and wake up at about 6.30am. I get about approximately 6 hours a night, even on weekends, my 16 month old doesn't know the meaning of a lie in.

18. How often or when do you workout? Hardly ever, people don't believe me when I say that though, I've been to the gym once since my son was born. I tried the squat challenge recently and got to day 8. *Gotta start that back up*

19. Left handed or right? Right, but for some reason I've always wished I was left handed.

20. How tall are you? 5'5

21. Do you speak any foreign language? Yoruba (from Nigeria), wish I spoke more languages.

22. How many pets do you have? None, like the idea of getting a dog, maybe one day.

23. How often are you on blogger? I read blogs on blogloving several times a day, on my own blog less, trying to post more often.

24. Do you read comments posted on blogs? Yes, not all if there are loads, on my blog all comments, I don't get that many lol!!!

25. Do you keep a list of products to try as you see other posts? Yes, I have a list in the notes section on my iphone, it very long lol!!!

26. How did you come up with your blog name? It's a play on my name that came about with a friend in college, couldn't think of anything else that I liked, so thought why not. It's now the same name I use on my twitter.

27. What kind of camera do you use for your photographs? Mostly my iphone, I also have a little canon, but mostly my iphone.

28. How often do yo clean your house? Feels like all the time with a husband and a 16 month old, mostly at the weekends, with general stuff during the week after work.

29. What's your favourite colour? It was purple, but I'm really falling for teal at the moment, and I think any shade of orange looks nice against my skintone.

30. Do you swear? I use to have a real potty mouth years ago, much more toned down now though.

31. What are you doing with the rest of your day? Well it's 11.12pm so I'll finish writing this post, probably peruse the internet a little more, then go to bed.

Wow!!! Thats the end of my first tag, if you read all the way to the end thank you, if you have done one of these yourself let me know and I 'll take a look. I tag everyone whi wishes to do it!!!

Thanks for visiting the blog today.

Alex

Ben Nye Translucent Face Powder in Topaz

Now the Ben nye banana powder is infamous across youtube and blogging communities, but the one you don't hear as much about is the translucent face powder in Topaz. This is a orange tinged powder than can be used to set the entire face or your under eye highlight depending on your skintone, also the hint of orange is great at reducing ashy areas that can happen due to hyper-pigmentation on asian and deeper skintones or using white based translucent powders, also great at reducing flash back in photography.

                                                             

I bought this powder from makeupeffects.co.uk for £8.10, which is amazing value for 2.85oz/80grams of product, it comes in a sifter type bottle which can cause some waste, but I tap a little into the lid section of my mac mineralise skin finish powder. I also have the banana powder, but I definately reach and use this more often to set my entire face, you can also tap a little onto your current face powders to brighten the complexion, warm up the complexion etc depending on your needs and skintone.

   Heavily swatched                                  Blended out slightly.

I absolutely love this powder and happy that I got my hands on it, I thought I would use the banana powder a lot more, but this one is definately slipped in my day-to-day routine as I don't like over highlighted looks for daytime. It helps with oil control, but won't cling to dry patches, as long as you don't apply too much, if you do just spritz your face with a bit of water, Mac fix plus or the like. Have you tried this powder or any other in the ben nye range, what are your thoughts?

Thanks for visiting the blog today.

Alex

Sleeks Be Beautiful Blemish Balm!!!

Hello all,

hope this meets you well?

I finally got my hands on sleeks be beautiful blemish balm in medium, seriously it was hard work, 7 different stores 8 visits. It comes in 4 shades fair, light, medium (yellow in undertone) and dark (has more red in it), medium is obviously a very popular shade, anyway I finally got my hands on it and it was worth it, here's what they claim:

Its a full coverage BB cream containing red algae extract to assist in the prevention of wrinkles, normalises skin's moisture content, and promotes suppleness. It also contains vitamin C to aid in the reduction of skin discoloration, gradually repair damaged skin with the presence of peptides and prevent further damage with SPF 15 protection provided.

The 50ml black tube is housed in a black box and costs £8.99, which is fantastic value for the size, if you do not fall into the current shades at this price you can always buy two and customise to suit your needs.

As you can see from the ingredients it does contain mineral oil, which for some I know is a problem.

I love this BB cream, it is full coverage, but can be sheered out either by reducing the amount of product used or mixing it with some moisturiser. If you have oily skin you may need a good mattifying primer and powder to set, but as the weather gets colder my skin gets drier so I think this will be great for the winter months, in my limited time of use I cannot yet comment on whether it aids the reduction of discoloration etc.

 

Without make up on the left, with BB cream on the right.

I you are looking for a full coverage BB cream, especially for the darker skin girls (there are not as many options), then I would definately give this a try.

 

Have you tried this already, did you have the same struggles getting hold of the medium shade, have you tried any other BB creams. I would love to hear from you, thanks for reading, chat soon.

 

 

Alex