Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette Giveaway!

Hi lovelies :)

I'm very excited to be doing a little (actually pretty big!) giveaway this evening!

You may have read my 'first impressions' post on the Naked 3 palette, if not you can read it here... I was lucky enough to receive another Naked 3 as a gift, but seeing as I had already bought it I figured a girl really doesn't need two identical palettes. I considered selling it but thought it'd be much more fun to give it to one of you guys :) 

I've used photos of my own palette, but obviously the one I'm giving away is identical :) you'll also win a little sample set of Urban Decay primer potions!

So we'll keep this short and sweet.... 

RULES

- You must follow my blog either via GFC or Bloglovin. This is mandatory.

- Leave a comment on this post telling me why you want to win and your email address. This is also mandatory.

And that's it!

I'll choose a winner on Wednesday 12th February and the winner will be informed via email. You'll have 24 hours to reply or I'll pick another winner.

If you share the link to this post on twitter, you'll get an extra entry :)

This is a UK giveaway only.

And most importantly.... Good luck!

Japonesque 'Safari Chic' Brush Set

Can we take a moment to admire these beautiful brushes.....

So gorgeous! I love travel sets like this one because they're so handy... If you're going away for the weekend, or if you just want a useful little brush set to keep in your handbag whilst you're on the go, these would be perfect. 

I only own one other Japonesque brush (an eyeshadow brush) but it's such a huge name in the makeup brush world and I'm very happy to be adding to my collection! Of course, the unique animal print design was what I initially fell for, I don't own any brushes that are similar and I thought this travel set would be a great collector's item. This trio of cute brushes are cruelty free and synthetic. They're super soft too!

With a powder brush (perfect for touch ups during the day) and two eye brushes (one for the crease and another for blending), this is such a handy set to have and a great way to try out some Japonesque brushes without spending too much money. 

I got these from Cult Beauty for £14.00 but they seem to have sold out (again!).

What do you think of travel brushes? And have you tried Japonesque?

Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette - First Impressions & Daytime Look

I'm not one of those girls that jumps on the bandwagon for every new palette release, I don't sit in an online queue on the MAC website when they bring out one of their 5 million collections every year and I certainly don't spend my money on something just for the 'hype'. BUT. I have a certified weakness for the Urban Decay Naked releases. I own the original Naked palette, which I have used to death and absolutely love. I also have the Naked Basics palette which I love equally as much! But I passed on the Naked 2 as the shades seemed too similar to the first palette and with a £37 price tag, it just wasn't worth it for me... 

Then came the Naked 3.

I held off for a couple of months but I finally bit the bullet and ordered it! Whenever I'm considering buying a palette or something high end with a pretty hefty price tag, I like to do a ton of research and this was no exception. I read numerous reviews and watched lots of youtube videos, scoured through loads of swatch photos and I came to the conclusion that I loved it! I really love the fact that it's so different to the first Naked palette, with more rosy, pink tones too. Again, this is quite an expensive makeup purchase at £37 and although I'll mainly use this on myself, I also do freelance makeup now and again so it'll come in handy for that :) 

First Impressions 

I've only had it for a few days, so it's not really the right time to give a full review, but the swatches speak for themselves. As always with Urban Decay eyeshadows, the pigment is amazing, they blend beautifully and the shade choices for this palette were spot on. There's three matte shades and the rest are shimmer. 

You also get a double ended brush which is really handy. The larger end would be great for packing colour onto the lid and helping to blend and the smaller brush could be used for highlighting under the brow on the inner corners.

There's so many options with this palette! From subtle, day time looks, to dramatic, darker evening looks. The theme is definitely pink, rosy shades but there's a gorgeous bronze shade called trick which is beautiful and I love blackheart, a really unique deep purple with gold glitter. 

Subtle Day Look 

I had a play with the colours yesterday and used some of the pink shades to create a really subtle, daytime look. I love these kind of colours with blue eyes! And I can't wait to create lots of different wearable looks :)

A Little Drugstore Haul...

Happy Saturday beauties! I for one am very excited that the weekend is finally upon us, lazy breakfasts, fresh coffee and a trip to the cinema later, followed by my friend's engagement party. Hello perfect Saturday!

Now, I love a good haul as much as the next person, so I thought I'd share a couple of bits I picked up at Boots the other day. 

Loreal Telescopic Mascara - I'd ran out of this so had to grab a new one, it's one of the best drugstore mascaras I've ever used. It has a thin, rubber wand and creates a lot of length and thickness. Love this stuff! 

Charles Worthington Texturising Spray - Bit of an impulse buy, but I've been looking for a texturising spray to give my hair a bit more volume. I have quite thick hair but when I curl it or create some waves, it tends to look pretty flat. Hoping this will inject some much needed life into it! 

Seventeen Phwoarr Paint - Concealer isn't something I've ever been hugely obsessed with, I'll collect foundations like a lunatic and the same goes for lip products but to be honest I have my two favourite concealers - MAC's Studio Finish and Collection Lasting Perfection concealer, so I just picked this up out of curiosity. It claims to be a heavy duty under eye concealer and although I don't really suffer with any darkness, I'll still give it a go. 

Revlon lip butter in Peach Parfait - My third purchase of this little baby! The perfect peachy, shimmery shade and I pretty much wear this every day. 

Let me know if you've tried any of these! Particularly the Seventeen concealer, interested to hear your thoughts :)

Makeup Forever's Infamous HD Range

Warning! Lengthy review ahead! :)

When I went to Marbella last month, I may have squealed and started clapping like a lunatic when I spotted Sephora! We aren't lucky enough to have it here in England and although the spanish Sephora doesn't carry all the brands that the US version does, they still have a few to get excited over, Makeup Forever being one of them. It's a brand that's notoriously difficult to get hold of for us Brits so I knew I needed to take advantage even with the hefty price tags! 

The first thing I made a bee line for was the HD foundation. Every blogger, vlogger and beauty lover will have heard of this super popular foundation. With a promise of flawless, airbrushed skin and a full coverage making it perfect for photos, it's definitely something I wanted to try even with a £32 price tag. It's a liquid formula (I wear the shade 127) and has a very runny consistency. I've been applying it with a Real Techniques buffing brush or a Sephora flat foundation brush (if you'd like a review on that then let me know in the comments). One thing I will suggest, is to make sure your skin's free from any dry patches, because this will cling onto dry skin like a mutha! I make sure I've exfoliated, moisturised, then applied a good quality primer ten minutes after the moisturiser. You definitely need to do some prepping before applying this. 

I prefer how my skin looks about half an hour after application, once it's had time to settle on my skin. At that point my skin looks even and just generally better than when it's first applied. It's full coverage-ish and the reason I say 'ish' is because I feel I have to apply quite a lot to achieve that. Comparing it to another high end full cover foundation such as Laura Mercier's Silk Creme, I only need a small amount to cover my entire face and still get that flawless, even finish, whereas with the HD foundation I find I'm using a lot more product which is quite disheartening when I've spent so much on it. This might be down to the fact it's such a runny liquid, whereas the Laura Mercier foundation is a thicker, creamy formula. 

Anyway, once applied and set with powder, this lasts all day. And I mean all day. I've set it with about three different powders and it still has fantastic staying power. This baby ain't budgin'! And that's hugely important to me when I'm judging a foundation. I hate my base wearing off by lunch time and making me look like a patchy mess, never a good look! So thumbs up for longevity. I have combination skin at the moment, so I get oily through my t-zone. This applies matte, but after about 5-6 hours I have shine that needs powdering. 

If you're a dry skin gal I'd say this may not be for you. The fact it clings to dry patches means it's probably more suited to the combination-oily crowd. In summary, this gets a 7/10 from me. I loved it at first but after a fair few uses, I'm not happy with the fact I need to use so much product and seeing as this is so hard to get hold of, I'll be saving it for 'special occasions'. My personal preference is definitely something thicker and creamier in consistency.

Wow that was pretty in depth! But again, it's super expensive so I wanted to give a full, honest review :) 

Onto the next one! 

The Makeup Forever HD powder was a bit of an impulse buy because I hadn't heard as much about it as the foundation but I'm not going to beat around the bush here... I love it! This retails at £24.95 which is definitely a lot for a powder. It's a loose powder which is translucent on the skin, so anyone can wear it. It has the handy netted bit (technical term!) so it doesn't distribute too much product and you don't end up with it all over your clothes, floor, child, dog etc. As soon as I apply this to my skin, it creates a velvety feel and adds to the matte effect I get from my foundation (or mattifies an already dewy foundation). I've never used a powder quite like it! The smallest amount completely transforms the feel of my skin and this baby locks everything down! Nothing's going anywhere under this, so it really helps to keep my makeup in place all day. 

I'm normally a pressed powder lover, but I've been converted. I'd say this has much more of a wow factor than the HD foundation and it gets a 10/10!

Essay over! Sorry for such a long post! I do hope you enjoyed it though and more importantly I hope this has given you some food for thought if you were toying with the idea of buying either of these HD products.

I have found a British website that stocks MUFE products, so check out this link. 

Stila In The Garden Palette

Not to be confused with the 'In the light' palette, this beautiful little box of 10 eyeshadows is my first product from Stila. I can say without a shadow of a doubt, it won't be the last though and I need to jump right in and talk about the quality of these shadows. They're super soft, they have excellent pigmentation and they blend like a dream and those 3 things are really what most people look for in the quality of the eyeshadows they buy, right?

Swatches L-R Moss, Honey & Breeze

I do like the look of the much loved 'In the light' palette but the colours are much lighter and it's definitely more of a neutral shade range, this one however, is kind of the best of both worlds for me. It's got neutrals but it's also got a few colourful shades like Juniper and Rosette, so if you want a pop of green or purple under the eye then you've got everything to hand in one palette. Admittedly my most loved and used shades are more on the neutral side, such as Breeze (swatched above). It's the perfect shimmery champagne shade and I use it a lot on the lid. Most of the colours in the palette are either shimmer or all out glitter (such as Moss, a beautiful warm chocolate with specks of gold glitter), but there are two matte highlight shades as well.

 

This did also come with one of Stila's smudge stick eyeliners in Starfish, a gorgeous metallic grey, but unfortunately I've misplaced it, so you'll just have to trust me that it's lovely!

 

I really like the sturdy cardboard packaging, although I know it won't be to everyone's tastes, it causes no problems for me. The fact that you get a large mirror inside is always handy and I find that I reach for this, sometimes just for the mirror. I got the palette in December and I've pretty much used it every day since. Compared to Urban Decay Naked palettes (£37 each) and MAC (£12.50 per single eyeshadow) this is great value for money at £25 for 10 shades plus the eyeliner. And it's definitely equal in quality. This is my favourite eyeshadow palette at the moment, although I'm currently waiting for my Naked 3 palette to arrive, so let's see if that pushes this one off the top spot!

 

You can buy the 'In the garden' palette on the Stila website - Link

Have you tried any Stila products? Leave your recommendations below :)

What's in my handbag?

Good afternoon beauties! I almost can't believe I haven't blogged since November... This is absolutely unacceptable and I promise from this point onwards to keep to a definite blogging schedule :) I really have missed it hence why I'm back with a new post but I've had a positively crazy couple of months. With starting a new job, a holiday to my beloved Marbs, Christmas, new year and a toddler, it's safe to say I've barely had time to breathe let alone blog!

So now we've got the excuses for my absence out of the way, let's talk about what's in my handbag :)

If any of you are as YouTube obsessed as yours truly, then you'll have seen tons of 'what's in my bag' videos and I have to admit I love watching them and having a good nose at what my favourite beauty girls are carrying around in their Michael Kors Selma's or their Pradas. That said I decided this would be a fun post to start off the new year with! However, my everyday bag is a bit more high street and a bit less expensive...

 Meet my River Island beauty! Isn't she fabulous?! I was very lucky to receive her from Santa and yes, I will now stop referring to my bag as a person.

I love a sleek, structured handbag that has a designer look about it and this ticks those boxes. The flash of hot pink makes it super girly but still smart.

Admittedly, I don't keep a huge amount in my bag, I try to make a conscious effort to declutter it often. But of course, there are the essentials - my phone (iPhone 5), my wallet and my iPad Mini. My phone case is from Stickygram and I love it! It's a compilation of some of my favourite photos from Instagram. My baby blue iPad Mini case, which keeps it clean and free from scratches, is from eBay (similar one here).

Now I wouldn't be a fully fledged beauty junkie if I didn't have any beauty bits in my handbag! So here are my essential items that I can't get through the day without (ok, mild exaggeration but you get my drift!)

Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream - the cult multi purpose cream (more like a gel) that has been around for donkey's years. A perfect product for your handbag. I use it as a lip balm, apply it to dry patches, use it on my cuticles when they're particularly dry and I've even used it on sunburnt skin before and it's prevented peeling. Pricey but a definite must have.

£25.00 - Link

Soap & Glory Hand Food - I'm a bit of a hand cream freak. As a mum you get used to dealing with messy situations so I'm forever washing my hands. This in turn makes them pretty dry so I like to have some hand cream close by. I really like this one as it's cute and mini, so perfect for throwing in my bag and it does the job of keeping my hands moisturised.

£2.50 - Link

theBalm Mary Lou Manizer - I recently picked this up in Marbella and I love it! Such a pretty, shimmery highlighter but it's purpose in my bag is actually for its handy mirror :)

£15.00 - Link

Nars Chihuahua lip gloss - if you follow my blog, you may have seen me mention this a couple of times in the past. Without a doubt my all time favourite lip gloss and something I always have to have with me. It's a rosy pink shade and basically 'my lips but better' so it goes with every makeup look. It's buttery soft and shiny but not at all sticky so just the perfect all-rounder.

£17.50 - Link

EOS lip balm (Vanilla Bean) - I got three of these little gems for Christmas and I'd not previously tried them, but I'm pretty impressed! Great for giving my lips a bit of moisture throughout the day.

£5.99 - Link (I couldn't find Vanilla Bean online but Strawberry Sorbet is lovely too).

Zara limited edition perfume - another product I picked up in Spain recently, I'd never taken much notice of Zara perfumes before but I smelt this and had to have it! Unfortunately I've thrown away the box so I'm not sure of the exact scent but it's pretty, floral and fresh and the bottle is just the right size for my handbag so I can have a quick spray throughout the day. The Zara website doesn't seem to sell their perfume range, but have a sniff of a few next time you're in the store! (This cost around £5 - bargain!)

That's about it for the current contents of my handbag, hope you enjoyed having a nose! If you've done a similar post then leave me links in the comments and I'll definitely have a read. Also if you want to see daily beauty photos, dog and toddler photos (well someone might want to...?) and just general fun pictures then go on over to Instagram and give me a follow @daniellacha.