About 9 months ago Tamara and I visited Olympia Beauty in London and my biggest discovery of the day was Crown Brushes. At the time I only bought a fluffy eye shadow brush and a contour brush as my brush collection was pretty full anyway but in May I decided to order a few more and i have been extremely impressed.

Crown brushes are of a high quality; their not quite MAC but in terms of what you get for your money you can’t go wrong. 

Foundation brushes range from £4-£11 

A 12 piece brush set will set you back only £22.50 where as somewhere like sigma which is of a similar, very slightly higher quality will cost you easily £70.

You can also get eyeshadow brushes from £2!

You are also certainly not limited for choice, there are a lot of ranges including synthetic hair, italian badger and duo fibre. You can also find a range of quality according to price but in comparison to other leading brush brands even their highest quality brushes are of good value.

Their stiff tapered brush is my all time favourite  blending brush i use it daily and have been for 9 months and it only cost me £2.95-http://www.crownbrush.co.uk/shop/brushes/blending-brush/c139.html

Another favourite is their soft taklon foundation brush for only £5.76-http://www.crownbrush.co.uk/shop/brushes/foundation-brush/c315-a-soft-taklon-foundation.html

So if you’re looking for a dupe or any makeup brush I suggest you visit http://www.crownbrush.co.uk/ and i’m pretty sure you won’t be too disappointed.

Let me know your opinions of crown brush in the comments and feel free to ask any questions!

Thanks for reading,

Charlotte

I just thought i’d make a post discussing my personal favourite skin care products. I have dry, sensitive skin and although i suffer from a few small breakouts like most people i’ve never had problems with acne or spots.

Being a tad lazy I cleanse if i have had makeup on in the evening to get it off (sometimes twice) and apply moisturiser daily but that’s pretty much it….

Cleansers

I have a HUGE selection of cleansers in my bathroom cabinet so it’s fair to say i’ve tried my fair share of both the good and the bad!

Oil cleanser- Shu uemera is well known for their selection of oil cleansers and iv’e the one for sensitive skin and i like it

, it leaves my skin feeling soft and obviously clean but for £28 for 150 ml (roughly a 3 month supply) and £56.50 for 450 ml it’s extremely pricey. My alternative is origins clean energy gentle cleansing oil which at £16 for 200ml isn’t the cheapest but compared to shu uemera it’s little to pay for a cleansing oil which in my opinion is almost identical.

Soap & glory- i am (self confessed) extremely obsessed with soap & glory and particuarlly their skin care, i find their makeup to be quite hit and miss but it’s one of my faviourte skin care brands for the price, two cleansers i like by them are fab pore hot cloth cleanser which warms up after you’ve rubbedit on your face a trait i like but if you don’t like that feeling i don’t reccomend it; the clesndser leaves my pores noticeably smaller but i wouldn’t say it was the best for removing makeup however i really like it. The other soap & glory cleanser i like is the face soap and clarity 3 in 1 detox viamin c facial wash…. a mouthful i know! This product is enfused with plum which apparenly brightens the skin. Being an exfoliator it can be a tad harsh on the skin and the exfoliating beads are not small but as you rub this in is foams up and leaves my skin feeling extremlly clean without a trace of makeup and a lot smoother and even brighter than before. 

So that’s my favourite cleansers a couple a don’t like are:-

l’oreals perfect clean foaming cream wash

- I had high hopes for this as l’oreals makeup is so good but was quite disappointed the product comes with a round exfoliating scrubber your supposed to add the product to and rub on to your face, even though the package says sothing i found it quite painful as well as sticky and it left my skin bright red and the scrubber was hard to get the dirt out of too.

neutrogena’s visibly clear 2 in 1 wash, mask cleanser- The idea of a wash and mask in one product sounded intruiging so i happily gave this a try the problem is i would only call it a mask if you apply it all over your face and manage to take off again in 5 seconds flat than maybe it would just about work but i find no matter how damp your skin and hands are the product sets on your face and your then supposed to leave it on for 5 minutes. Appart from this the product ok i find it quite messy and it leaves my face cleaner but thats about it, as for minimising spots i can’t really judge.

The only other thing i do to my skin is mouisturize when ever i get chance at least once a day, i have very dry skin and as with cleanser have tried a lot of moisurisers although there are not really and moisturisers that are bad (they all do the same thing) i definitely have two stand out favourites 

clinique dramatically different moisturising lotion- This is part of the famous clinique 3 step skincare plan , i did try this and ended up getting a rash because of my skin being highly sensitive the mostuiser though i was totally fine with and it’s great its not cheap costing between £15 (50ml) and £27 but boy does it work it leaves my skin glowing and nearly baby soft and it keeps my skin moisturised for a good 24 hours, if you are intersted i do reccomend getting the smaller size though because after a few months it does loose it’s concistency slightly and fails to settle in to the skin.soap & glory wish upon a jar 21 day collagen overhaul cream- This is my absolute favourite skin product i recommend it to any one of any age, the collagen helps to remove fine lines but it also leaves my skin feeling bouncy and extremely smooth

and soft as well as making it look much more radiant and reducing discolouration i especially noticed a reduction in slightly red patches on my face and also a minimisation of dark circles. I was sad when my 21 days were up and continued using it anyway, It comes in a round jar which i quite like and cost £14.30 for 50ml so a tiny bit less than clinique but not a lot but i do find that because of being in an openable jar you can get every trace of product out which can’t be said for clinique. I do though prefer using it at night because it takes a while to settle into the skin and i’m not sure how well it would fare on oily skin, however i love it!

I hope you found this helpful

Charlotte xxx

Let me start by saying that the regularity of posts will now go back to normal (well, i mean the time before summer).

So, I had seen these eyeshadows used in a couple of youtube guru’s videos, and they looked pretty unique, and, as it’s a youtube business, i was sold.

Eternal Bonds Collection

(colours pictured from left to right)

Skin of a Killer is one of two ‘Cullen’ shadows; this shadow is a very bright, shimmery white that actually looks pretty similar to Edward’s skin in the movie when he’s in the sunlight. This colour can be used as a brow highlight if you’re pale, but this also looks great around the tearduct area, and on the cheeks as a highlight.

Family Secret is the second (Cullen) shadow; this is a more silvery version of Skin of a Killer, that can be used as a brow bone highlight or a base for a silver smokey eye.

Dear Mom is inspired by Esme, and is a glittery medium pink colour – i find that this doesn’t look great on the eyes, but looks lovely on cheeks and lips.

Mood Swing is inspired by Jasper, and is a greyish blue with multi-coloured sparkles – i find this blends well with both greens and blues, and a gentle alternative to a bright blue.

The Perfect Cure is inspired by Carlisle, and is a soft shimmery medium brown – this looks beautiful on its own or blended with any other neutral colours (Urban Decay’s Naked Palette in particular).

Just Bitten is inspired by Bella – this is my absolute favourite out of the collection. It’s a deep purple with purple and cranberry shimmer – this looks lovely with dark, neutral colours.

Big Brother is inspired by Emmet, and is a light-olive shimmery green. I thought that i would dislike this colour the most out of the whole collection, but i like it a LOT. This blends really well with blues and greens and is really versatile.

Premonition is inspired by Alice, and is a dark blue with pink shimmer – a really unique shade.

Mind Reader is inspired by Edward, and is a deep blue with silver glitter – this works brilliant both dry and wet as liner, and the glitter stays put!

Black Ice is inspired by Rosalie, and is a matt black with silver glitter – the same texture and formula as Mind Reader (above).

There are many things i love about Glamour Doll Eyes, perhaps the fact that i bought all of these shadows for $17.75 with free shipping plus two free samples. Or perhaps i love them because you can choose the amount you buy – a sample ‘baggie’ is a little plastic bag with 0.5grams of product in, a sample jar contains 1gram of product, and a full size jar (which is the same size as the sample jar, but it) contains 5grams of product (these sound small amounts, but these are loose shadows that are really pigmented, so a lot of product isn’t needed).

I also love Glamour Doll Eyes because if you buy a sample of a product and you want to repurchase that shadow in full size, the price of the sample price that you paid gets deducted!

All of that AND free international shipping (my shadow came after 7 days)!! I thought these were too good to be true…they’re not.

I will definitely (definitely) be purchasing from Glamour Doll Eyes again!

To purchase, visit the official GDE website here.

If you would like to watch the youtube video in which i heard about them, then click here.

Tamara

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p.s. i know it may sound like it, but i’m not affiliated with glamour doll eyes, and i purchased these eyeshadows myself. I just really like them…:)

Like Tamara (although in my defence I was doing much better than her!) I am very sorry about the lack of recent posts. We were  at V festival singing along to the likes of Florence + the machine, Lissie, Plan B, Kings of Leon even Mika plus many more and of course studying their makeup (Kate Nash was a bit of a disaster by the time she came off stage!) Then I headed for a joyful (or not) trip to the new forest last week (NEVER again!) and hopefully you got the picture.I’m very sorry and posts will hopefully be more regular. xx

Recently I received Trish McEvoys highlighter and I LOVE it. This comes in a simple black square compact, with two sections; the tops one the highlight, the bottom one space for more Trish McEvoy products or a sponge basically whatever you like.

The product itself is soft cream based highlighter perfect for just about anywhere, lips, eyebase, brow, face etc. It has a bit of shimmer but the shimmer isn’t too overpowering so you can also use the product on your face . This product is now a firm part of my daily makeup routine. It lasts all day and comes in two flattering skin tones. I have shade 1 London a pearly shimmery white for white skin. Their is also capri for darker skin tones.

If you would like a cheaper alternative Makebelieve have a reasonably similar product designed to enhance your makebelieve tan……. It’s called makebelieve enhance skin luminize skin highlighter and retails for £7.50 on asos.

Trish McEvoy is a brand I am really falling in love with so if you prefer slightly more upmarket brands or fancy a splurge i would highly recommend you had a look. The brand is sold in all Harvey Nichols and Selfridges stores in both London and Manchester.  http://cosmeticfreaks.wordpress.com/2010/06/02/trish-mcevoy/ (check this ild post out for more information on the brand.)

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Charlotte

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Long time, no post – as always, i am genuinely sorry! Anyway, with the new season comes the new MAC collection; released in the UK in september, ‘Fabulous Felines’, has three main looks – ‘Palace Pedigreed’ - greyed tones of blues and purples, ‘Leopard Luxe’ - amber and honey and the last, ’Burmese Beauty’ – green and smokey.

What most excites me most about this collection are the pigments, which are all frosts, making them perfect for highlighting the face when under dull grey skies. I’m also a sucker for multi-use products, and most of the pigments in this collection are usable all-over-face colours.

If you are like me and cannot possibly wait until september, check out MAC’s american site for more product and collection details here.

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Tamara

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It’s quite likely you’ve either seen or tried Ms Makeup and when I received a set of their brushes for my Birthday I was excited to see how they fared out. I was given the 7 piece brush set worth £7.99 at boots.

O Dear. I really do not Ms Makeup recommend these to anyone. They are far to bendy, the bristles fall out (not just when you wash them but all over your face), they somehow manage to create excessive fall out and trying to wash them causes even more bristles to fall out and the black die runs slightly during cleaning. Just don’t waste your money!

If you wan’t an alternative I suggest EcoTools. Their also sold in boots and a set is around £15 for 5 brushes. The brushes are amazing quality. They almost compare to body shop brushes and that is saying a huge deal. They are soft with dense bristles that don’t shed (unlike Ms Makeup) These brushes are also Eco friendly, cruelty free and recycled materials so you can’t really go wrong. These brushes are available at large boots.

I hope this post may help you when your deliberating on which brush set to buy!

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Charlotte

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I am really sorry about the lack of posts lately. Over two weeks is bad I know but me and Tamara’s holidays overlapped. Anyway she is in crete but will be back next week. And I have returned from France with an actual tan .

A month or so ago Tamara and I had a bit of a Lush Splurge and one of the products we both bought was their Flavoured lip exfoliator for £4.50 each.

Lip Exfoliator’s are not used all too much but I think they are a necessity and really should be used before putting anything on your lips. They completly get rid of ay dryness and obvious ridges as well as mositursing your lips.

Now thats only a start my favourite part about these lip scrubs are the flavours BUBBLEGUM, MINT and CHOCOLATE. Every flavour taste amazing and it’s 100% edible.They all contain castor sugar and organic jojoba oil and a few natural colours and flavourings. Each pot contains 25g so a good amount and is of course being lush hand made. My lips have never been in better condition and lipstick looks a lot better on.

If you would like it even cheaper you can make a similar version yourself. All you need is a teaspoon of sugar two tablespoons of honey and a little dollop of vaseline. Mix it together and you have a homemade version. (Watch Michelle Phan YouTube makeup guru do it here-http://www.youtube.com/user/michellephan?blend=1&ob=4#p/u/13/eajIxcf0ZZA

Personally I prefer the Lush version, it’s not sticky and more edible

I really can’t see any faults here it’s perfect for yourself or as a gift. I gave a few to some friends as gifts and their all hooked to! So next time you go shopping pick one (or a few) of these up at the till and i’m sure you won’t regret it.

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Charlotte

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Autumn/winter 2010 is full of deep dark vampire esc statement lips. Now i’m not recommending you wear lips like this tomorrow with your summer dresses and shorts. No, corals are suitable for a few more weeks but shops are already stacking up their shelves with their next season collections and I thought i’d give you a heads up on what to buy next.

Almost every A/W runway show boasted dark, dark lips and i thought i’d show you my favourites for recreating this. Rhianna, Megan Fox, Lily Allen, Queen Latifah and Christina Aguilera are all working it (although don’t worry if extravagant lips aren’t your thing – nudes never go out!)

To Recreate this Proenza Schouler look i recommend.

Revlon Matte Lipstick in Wine Not (£7.29 boots)

Max Factor colour collections Lipstick in Midnight plum (£7.99 boots)

MAC lipstick in Diva (£12.50 mac)

Channel rouge allure in Maniac (£22.50 boots)

Nars semi-matt lipstick in Viridiana (£17)

Christina Aguilera has gone for a slightly more wearable shade. I’d call it  a mix

between plum and blackcurrent.

Max Factor colour collections Lipstick in Rosewood 833 (£7.99 boots)

Rimmel Moisture renew lipstick in Electric Plum (£5.99 boots)

MAC lipstick in Media (£12.50 MAC)

MAC lipstick in Dark side (£12.50 MAC)

yves saint Laurent rouge per spf 8 in venitian rose

RED.

Included in the dark lips this season is reds. No suprises really – it’s all about being bold and vampy. I’m not 100% sure which show this makeup is from, but just keep in mind to re create this you will need A LOT of clear gloss!

Rimmel Moisture renew lipstick in Diva red 500 (£5.99 boots)

Avon ultra colour ri

ch mega impact lipstick

in charged cherry spf15 (£8 Avon OR free with certain products )

Mac lipstick in Lady Danger (£12.50 Mac)

Chanel rouge allure lipstick in Audace (£22.50 boots)

HOPE YOU LIKE THE POST. WILL YOU BE TRYING OUT THE DARK LIP THIS SEASON? COMMENT BELLOW.

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Charlotte

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Now I can only speak for myself but I personally find that foundation is a very tricky thing to buy. I mean there’s a lot to consider shades, thick/thinness, your skin type, price and the list goes on and on and on! For me yes i’ve tried a lot I like and a lot I do not like but for me Bourjois 10 hour sleep effect is perfect. Especially for Summer.

Why is it for me?

This foundation is full of Vitamins E, F, B5 and minerals and is designed to give you a rested, even complexion. The formula is oil free and quite light. It comes in 6 shades (all of which are for people with white skin) there are a lot of red and yellow tone. I am shade 72 and it is my exact skin colour which I have never found before. The bottle is a good size and fits easily in a makeup bag. It is very, very light which made me origianally assume there

was not much product in there but when I compared it had 30ml which is the same as all of my other foundation avon, channel etc and they weigh a hell of a lot more! It also has a pump so you use the exact right amount of product.

Although getting to the point the reason I love this so much is because of what it looks like on. It gives you a really nice dewy, luminous complexion and although it has no collagen in it it gives the impression of young, glowing skin and covers imperfections (and dark circles quite well) without feeling heavy on your skin. It actually feels really light, more like tinted moisturiser. Basically i have been using this foundation for a few weeks now and I am in love with it, for me it is perfect and for sure lives up to the description (a very rare thing!)

Why it may not be for you?

If you have any shade of non white skin than Bourjois just like almost every other average brand in boots doesn’t cater very well for your skin tone and Mac is the place to be.

If you have acne you can use this although you may wan’t something thicker as this won’t give you all the coverage you need (still usable though!)

This is fine for all skin types dry, oily, combination due to the formula being oil free yet sill being moisturising and full of vitamins BUT if you do have oily skin I recommend using or mattifiyng translucent powder on top, in particularly around your T-zone.

Other Information

This foudantion is £8.99 at boots although if you look around it’s cheaper (£6 on ebay is the best deal i’ve found) and I strongly reccomend anyone try it and give me your feedback. I mean on the boots website theres 29 ratings and almost all of them are  5 stars! That got to say something. I hope you like this post and you do try it please let me know your opinions.

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Charlotte

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You might have realised MAC has a going,going, going gone section on their online website which, if you didn’t guess, is a last chance to buy products before they’re discontinued.  Here are a few of my picks…

To the beach collection- A HUGE proportion of the last chance to by section is the ‘To the beach’ Collection and I don’t know about you, but I am for sure not out of the summer mood yet! This collection is great with nice summery colours and cute packaging, what I will be picking up fast are:

To the beach lipstick (Lazy Days) – A light dirty blue pink lustre. This is a sexy pink perfect for pretty much anytime; it WILL NOT be out as soon as autumn comes, it’s wearable for all occasions the beach, the evening. Wherever.

To the beach eye kohl- These thick eyeliner pencils comes in two stunning colours 1.Rosemary & Thyme= a Mid-tone olive gold with shimmer. For green and Hazel eyes this is guarenteed to make your eyes pop wherever you are. 2.Float on By- A dark green turquoise although I would say it was more blue than green, again if you had any eye colour this would look incredible. As nice as these are I do think £12.50 each is a little steep for eyeliner!

To the beach lustre drops-This liquid highlighter comes in two colours and is a really natural looking highlight for use on brows, cheekbones or mix with moisturiser and yo can use them all of your face and body. With these you also only need a tiny bit so it will last pretty well and for £14.50 a bottle compared to strobe cream and liquid it’s pretty good (their £21 each). The first shade is pink rebel – blue pink with gold pearl. More suitable for lighter skin tones whilst the second is sun rush- peachy bronze with gold pearl suitable for darker skin… Although with this shade if mixed with moisturiser this would be a perfect bronze shimmer for light skin too.

To the beach collection also has a few other great products worth looking out for including eyeshadows, some amazing bronzers, blushes, lip pencils (in bright shades) and lipglass (also in bright shades). This collection ranges from £10 to £18 and although I feel alot of this collection is too bright to last for much longer there is some really great things I don’t want to let slip away!

Mineralise blush duo-Light Over Dark Shade 1: Light yellow brown, Shade 2: Dark peach. This was limited edition and for dark skin it’s really flattering with a pretty pearl finish. And if your on the lookout i’d  have a look at this quick because its really rare and not going to be available much longer.

Studio stick spf 15 foundation- This has aways been a popular medium coverage foundation and the stick for makes it perfect for touch ups. Out of 15 original shades they are discontinuing 3 one of which has already gone out of stock. NC20 and NW15 are the two left both are quite yellow mid tone shades so if that sounds like you.. hurry up!.

Paint pot (coral crepe) – By the amount of Coral products in this goodbye section I think its fair to say it’s not staying popular but this paint pot although very coral in name is actually more of a pretty pink and nice base if pink is your thing.

So as you can see theres a lot of products there which I will be purchasing quick and if any sound nice to you check the section out on the mac website. there is a good few other products including lipsticks, eyeshadows,pencils and powder blush.And just so you know this section is regularly updated.

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Charlotte

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