PIXI + It's Judy Time Get The Look It's Eye Time Eyeshadow Palette + Giveaway - CLOSED

I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas or a lovely long weekend if you don't celebrate! After a couple of days of overeating and family time though I'm ready to get my brain working again, and I thought I'd write a little (or maybe not so little!) blog post for you.

If you were lucky enough to receive a little bit of Christmas money, and you fancy splurging on some new make up then I might have a little recommendation for you, especially since it's something that now appears to be on sale from a few retailers

I've tried a couple of products from cult brand PIXI over the last year or so, but up until recently I hadn't tried a lot of their make up, but now I have and over the next few weeks I'm going to treat you to a few PIXI make up reviews. Given my recent eyeshadow palette splurges I didn't really need this palette, but to be honest what has need got to do with it! I have so many neutral palettes in my collection but there was something about about this one that called to me

Apologies That This Picture Is A Bit Washed Out 

PIXI are one of those brands that have embraced the whole social media thing and they are famous for their collaborations and work with bloggers, and You Tubers. and this particular palette was created in conjunction with You Tube star, Judy Travis, aka It's Judy Time.

The PIXI + It's Judy Time - Get The Look - It's Eye Time Eyeshadow Palette contains 12 super silky, and blendable eyeshadow shades, that are designed to take you from day to night

The sturdy plastic palette features an adhesive mirror so you put it exactly where you want it. I like to see the shadows in the palette through the clear lid so I've stuck my mirror onto the back of the palette.

The palette contains 12, good sized 1.2g powder eye shadows in a combination of matte, metallic and shimmer formulations . This is the perfect neutral palette and the shadows range from golds, to neutral browns and taupes, to coppers, and bronzes, with a few dark chocolate colours, and 1 deep, slightly shimmery, charcoal shade which is perfect for creating a smokey eye.

The shades are - 1st row from left to right - Snowflake, Bubbly and It's Mommy's Life,

2nd row from left to right - Good Morning, Brick and Honey Bear,

3rd row from left to right - Tu Tu, Getaway and Ping,

and 4th row from left to right - Dark Chocolate, Aww Snap, and Night Night

Having never ever tried an eyeshadow from PIXI before, I was really impressed with both the feel and the pigmentation of the shadows. The matte shadows particularly impressed me, they have a smooth and silky almost cornflour type feel and the shadows are pigmented and not in the slightest bit chalky.

I'm not sure what I was expecting but I was blown away by this palette, the colour palette was perfect, the shadows with smooth, silky and pigmented and they blended like a dream and wore well. The PIXI + It's Judy Time Get The Look It's Eye Time Eyeshadow Palette isn't tested on animals and it's free from parabans and it has a recommended retail price of around £28. It is currently available from the PIXI website, ASOS, and Marks and Spencer and I know I'm always saying this at the moment but shop around and you might be able to make a little bit of a saving on this palette, I've seen it online for as little as £14 from M&S so get moving quickly if you want it x

This palette is a real winner and you can be a winner too, if you enter my kind of festive giveaway. I've got one PIXI & It's Judy Time Get The Look It's Eye Time Eyeshadow Palette and a lovely clear and eyelash print NEXT cosmetic bag to give away to one lucky reader. All you need to do is fill out the Rafflecopter form below x

Terms, Rules And Conditions

Unfortunately due to postal issues in the past this giveaway is open to UK residents only
If you are under 18 please get your parent or guardians permission before you enter as I will need your contact details if you're the lucky winner.
Entries will be picked at random using Rafflecopter
I reserve the right delete any entry that hasn't fulfilled the entry criteria or redraw the winner
The giveaway will end at midnight on 27th January 2018
The winner will have 7 days to respond to my email, if no response is received in this time I will draw another winner
This prize was purchased with my own money I have not been compensated from holding it and this giveaway has not been endorsed in any way by PIXI or NEXT.


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Thanks for reading if you have any questions leave me a comment and good luck x

the Balm Manizer Sisters Luminizer Trio And My Highlighting Journey

I don't know about you but I'm so over this winter already! Although the weather hasn't been too bad in my little corner of the world, I'm sick of the rain, the wind, and the cold, and I'm spending my free time fantasising about tropical holidays and sunshine! I'm sick of being cold, I'm sick of my achy muscles and I'm sick of looking tired, pasty and ill.

Alas I can't see a tropical beach vacation on the horizon, but spring and summer will be here before we know it, and until then I'm going to wrap up warm, and use a bit of make up to give my skin the healthy glow that it's so desperately lacking.

If you're a new follower or a new reader, then you'll quickly realise that I have quite an obsessive personality when it comes to beauty products, and one of the things that I'm absolutely obsessed with is the humble highlighter. Nowadays you can't open a magazine without being greeted by a strobing tutorial or by a model with perfectly sculpted and shimmering cheekbones. Do you know what though? I was way ahead of the trend and even as a tiny little human I remember playing with a beautiful loose highlighting powder that my mum had from Oriflame, and spilling it all over the carpet!

It's been a long journey, but it's been a fun one, I don't care that my shimmer highlights my pores, I don't care that people say that highlighters are just for teens, I want glimmery cheekbones and I want them now!

Well, given the amount of highlighters, and luminizers that I own, I can have that supermodel look any time that i choose, but up until Christmas 2015 one particular highlighter alluded me, and now that I own it, I'm wondering why on earth I didn't get it sooner.

The product I'm talking about is Mary-Lou Manizer by the Balm. A lot of bloggers and beauty junkies out there own this product and even at first glance it is easy to see why. It's beautiful honey, champagne colour that works on just about any skin tone, and gives it that bathed in light, angelic glow. After seeing it and swatching it in my local Superdrug, I added it to my Christmas list and on Christmas morning 2015, I was lucky enough to receive not only Mary-Lou in my stocking, but her sisters as well.

Packaged in the Balm's signature cardboard packaging, with a magnetic clasp, the Balm's The Manizer Sisters Luminzer Trio, not only contains Mary-Lou Manizer, but it also contains their other two highlighting / luminzing shade, Cindy-Lou Manizer, and Betty-Lou Manizer.

As well as just using them on the cheeks as a highlighter, a bronzer, or a blusher, each of these triple milled powders can also be used as an eye shadow or as an all over face colour, and radiance booster.

The first shade that you get is probably the best known of the three, Mary-Lou Manizer, AKA The Luminizer, as I said before this is a beautiful honey, champagne colour, that gives the skin that real lit from within glow. The next shade is Cindy- Luminizer AKA The Con-tour Artist. This is described as rose pink shade, and whilst I do think that it looks quite pink in the palette, in my opinion it looks warmer and peachier on the skin and when it's swatched. The final colour that you get is Betty-Lou Manizer AKA The Bronzing Bandit. This as the name would suggest is a beautiful deep, copper bronzer shade, with an almost metallic shimmer to it

I've had quite a while to try these out now but unfortunately I still haven't managed to get a good picture of them on my face, so I'm afraid the swatches will have to do for now x All of these shades are actually very different and that's one of the reasons why I think that this palette is so versatile. I've mainly been using Cindy-Lou Manizer as a blush, and the Mary-Lou Manizer on my cheekbones, and at the moment because I'm quite pale I've actually been using the Betty-Lou Manizer as a beautiful coppery, bronze eye colour, with just a hint of the Mary-Lou Manizer to highlight my brow bone.

As you can see from my swatches the pigmentation is fantastic, The triple milling means that these powders are soft soft, and almost creamy to the touch, and whilst they all contain shimmer, they don't contain chunky glitter, and they don't have that gritty feel that you can often associate with some powder highlighters.

For me (and Charlie!) this palette is a winner, and I'm really pleased that I got this, rather than the Mary-Lou Manizer on it's own. The pans admittedly are smaller than full size, with the total weight of this palette being 11.3g compared to each individual full size weighing in 8.5g but for me personally I'll probably get more use out of this whole palette than I would out of one individual luminizer. The three colours are both multi functional, and super versatile, and this palette is definitely something that I'll use all year round.

the Balm Manizer Sisters Luminizer Trio retails are around £24 and is currently available from Debenhams, Look Fantastic, and Feelunique. If the whole palette isn't for you though you can buy each of the colours in the larger sizes individually from various retailers including ASOS, Debenhams, and Superdrug for a variety of differing price points ranging from £15-£20 Have you tried any of these luminizers or any other products from the Balm? Let me know in the comments x

OPI Breakfast At Tiffany's Nail Polish Collection - Holiday 2016

Even though nail posts have been a bit thin on the ground lately, I'm still as in love with nail polish as I ever was, I'm just battling a set of very short and gnarly fingernails. Thankfully I'm starting to see an improvement, so hopefully it won't be long but I can get painting and get trying out some of my newest polishes.

I own a hell of a lot of nail polishes but one brand that I just keep coming back to is OPI. The quality of their polishes in my opinion is second to none, they're easy to apply, and they're always one of the first

Over the years OPI have teamed up with numerous celebrities, movies franchises and well known characters to create fabulous, and highly collectible limited edition collections, and in my opinion 2016 was one of their best years to date.

As well as their amazing Hello Kitty collection, their 2016 holiday collection also saw OPI celebrate the 55th anniversary of the iconic Audrey Hepburn film, Breakfast At Tiffany's, with a collection of limited edition nail colours, and limited edition collectible kits.

My mum is weird she doesn't see the appeal of either Audrey Hepburn or Breakfast At Tiffany's, but I do, I've always loved the book and the film, and the whole sophisticated, glamorous and iconic look of Audrey Hepburn, so this collection was an absolute must have for me.

As I say the collection comprises of 12 shades in OPI's classic formulation, and 6 (including a couple of duplicates) in their gel like, Infinite Shine formula. That's a lot of polishes and as tempted as I was to buy every single shade, it just wasn't that essential or practical, so instead I just bought 3 limited edition kits that contained some of my favourite shades.

The first set that I got was the I Believe In Manicures Duo, this kit contains a free limited edition fabric make up / manicure bag with the words "I believe in MANICURES" written on it.

It contained two, full sized 15ml nail lacquers in probably the two, most iconic shades in the collection, Black Dress Not Optional, a deep, glossy black that's reminiscent of Audrey, gorgeous understated Givenchy number,

and I Believe In Manicures, which is a beautiful pale, turquoise blue, that resembles the colour of a box from where else, but Tiffany's. Unfortunately it isn't the exact shade of a Tiffany box because apparently the colour is trademarked but it's a gorgeous spring summer colour regardless of how authentic it is.

The next kit that I picked up was the Breakfast At Tiffany's OPI Style Icons set. I'm a huge fan of mini polishes, for reasons that I've probably talked about more than once, and this kit contains 4, 3.75ml bottles of nail lacquer, including again I Believe In Manicures.

It also contains (from left to right), Apartment For Two, a rich raspberry shade, Rich & Brazilian, a beautiful burgundy, plum which is shot through with gold, and finally Got The Mean Reds, a deep classic red.

Despite being mini bottles the coverage, and consistency of these polishes was still decent and the brushes, are nearly identical to the brushes in the full sized bottles.

Whenever you buy anything online, you should always make sure you know exactly what you're buying! I bought this last kit online and to be honest I didn't even look at what colours it contained, I assumed it would just contain all of the colours from the collection in a mini size, but I was wrong.

The Breakfast At Tiffany's OPI The Classics Collection doesn't actually contain any of the shades from the Breakfast At Tiffany's collection, instead it contains 10 of OPI's all time best selling and most popular polishes. The kit contains, two individual boxes of 5 polishes and the first box contains 5 of OPI's most popular pinks, and neutral shades.

The furst two colours in the set, are OPI's classic French manicure shades, Alpine Snow, a crisp, snowy white, and Bubble Bath, a warm, creamy, sheer pink. Next up you have their classic, nude, Tickle My Francey, the bright pink Suzi Nails New Orleans from last years New Orleans collection, and finally another deep red shade, Madame President (sob!) from winter 2016's Washington DC collection.

The next box comprises of five, 3.75ml polishes, in an assortment of deeper, and more dramatic shades.

Again from left to right, the colours are, Big Apple Red, which is a warmer shade of red, and Malaga Wine, a deep rich wine shade. The next two shades are both from the Washington DC collection you get Squeaker Of The House, which is a taupe, chocolate brown and CIA = Color Is Awesome, which despite looking black here is actually a deep, dark dusky, teal blue. The final shade is one of OPI's all time classics Lincoln Park After Dark, which is officially described as a midnight plum.

Despite the fact that this kit wasn't exactly what I'd hoped it would be, I'm still really pleased that I got. These colours are a mix some of OPI's newest and oldest classic shades, and they're all really wearable, and usable colours no matter what your taste or your age.

I always get quite excited about OPI's Holiday collections and this has been one of my favourites to date. What I like about it, is it's versatility, none of the colours particularly scream Christmas, yes it contains a few classic reds, and there are a few glitters in the wider collection, but there is nothing that you couldn't wear all year round.

Although we're heading towards the launch of the new Spring collections, most of these kits and these polishes are still available in selected stores and online, and if you're lucky enough you might be able to pick them up at a sale price.

Apologies again for lack of pictures of the polishes on real nails, but I will try and do some nails of the days with some of these colours when my nails grow up a bit. I hope you've found this post useful, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this collaboration so leave me your comments and let me know x

Benefit Do The Hoola Beyond Bronze Kit For Complexion, Lips And Eyes

Although a date doesn't really mean anything, tomorrow marks the official start of Spring, and I for one can't wait. I know it hasn't been the coldest of winters, but it's been damp, dreary and windy and I'm seriously craving a bit of sunshine. If you're a Brit though, for most us the warmth and sunshine is still long way off but there is a way to make yourself look a bit more sun kissed even if you don't necessarily feel it.

Like most pale and pasty peeps out there, in winter time my skin alternates been bright pink, grey, white and blue! At this time of year more than any other people always seem to think that I look ill, and do you know what I probably do, so I do what most of us do and I reach for my make up bag. Many moons ago I was terrified of bronzer - yes it gives you that instant glow but on most of us ghost like people, it just looks wrong, it's either too brown, too orange or just too dark. I found a few that I vaguely got  on with but then I discovered Benefit Hoola and I finally realised just what a difference bronzer could make.

As well as having the full sized boxed powder version of Hoola, I also own a couple of minis that I've got in various Benefit kits. I think I may have mentioned it once or twice ;) but I'm a huge fan of Benefit's mini kits and one of their newest releases is Do The Hoola.

Benefit Do The Hoola Beyond Bronze Kit For Complexion, Lips And Eyes, is another one of their kits that's boxed to look just like a little book.

Open the box and inside you have a small, cardboard book shaped box with a magnetic clasp, that contains everything you'd want to give yourself that healthy bronze glow.

Containing a full size fixed mirror, and  a fold out leaflet with full instructions and application tricks, this kit contains removable, mini sizes of some of Benefits best selling products, and something new, and just a little bit exciting.

The kit contains 2 lip products, 1.4g size of Benebalm, and a 6.5ml size of Hoola Ultra Plush Lip Gloss. It also contains a 3g size of the Hoola Bronzing Powder, and a mini powder brush, as well as a 3g size of They're Real Mascara in Black and a 7ml size of the brand new, and yet to be released in the UK, Dew The Hoola Liquid Bronzer.

Hoola Bronzing Powder - 3g And Mini Powder Brush

I've already talked about Hoola in a previous post ( read it here) but for me it's obvious why it's one of the most popular bronzers in the UK. When you look at what's wrong with bronzers, two of  the things that people normally say is that they are either too orange looking, or they don't look natural. Hoola is a matte bronzing powder that contains no orange, so you get a natural looking colour, with out looking orange or sparkly or as though you're actually wearing a bronzer.

I normally just sweep it over my face in the 3 and E motion to give me face a little bit of shape but in the summer, I play it up a bit more and sweep it over my nose, my forehead and anywhere where the sun would naturally hit my skin. This powder though is perfect for tanning those bits that you may have missed so you can also use it to create a fake tan look, as I've done below or you can also use it to fill in strap marks :)

This is a pretty pigmented powder , so you need a light hand particularly if you're pale like me, apply a small amount, blend well and reapply as needed, to build up the colour that you want.

Dew The Hoola Matte Liquid Bronzer - 7ml

I don't think powder bronzer will ever go out of fashion, but times change and lately there has been a surge of both cream and liquid bronzers, and this kit contains Benefit's version Dew The Hoola. Not launched in the UK in the full size, until the end of this month, this was the product that really sold this kit to me.

I love my powder Hoola but sometimes you just want the moisture and glow, that a liquid or a powder brings. Although Dew The Hoola is a matte liquid bronzer, it seems to give the skin, a healthy glow, and a freshness that it's powder cousin doesn't.

I must admit it looks terrifying when you first pump it out, and whilst it does seem to have a touch of a orange, yellow tone to it, please give it a chance. It has quite a creamy feel, and a heady floral scent, but it blends into the skin like a dream. I really like Soliel Tan De Chanel Bronzing Make Up Base but sometimes on me it just needs more blending then I have the energy for, whilst Dew The Hoola does need to be blended into the skin to avoid any harsh, demarcation lines, it takes no effort and boy does it put the colour where it isn't.

I've blended out quite a lot of it here, but a little goes a long way, apply a little bit with your fingers and blend it out into the cheeks, or on the forehead and nose, and your left with a healthy glow, with no glitter or shimmer. In the pictures towards the end of this post I've used it over a tinted moisturiser and a touch of powder but you can use this product equally well on bare skin, especially I would imagine if you have a darker skin tone.

 Ultra Plush Lip Gloss - Hoola - 6.5ml

This is something else that I've already talked about on the blog, in my review of the Benefit The Bronze Of Champions Total Bronze Kit but I like so I'm more than happy to talk about it again.

Although it looks quite dark and bronze toned in the swatch below, this is a proper nude lipgloss, that's non sticky, and tastes lovely and fruity. I've fallen out of love with lipglosses over the years, but I'm a huge fan of this formulation and taste.

Benebalm Hydrating Tinted Lip Balm 

I only own one of these tinted balms from Benefit and while it was nice it wasn't amazing but after trying this one I think I just went for the wrong colour.

Benebalm is the coordinating lip balm to one of Benefit's first ever products Benetint. It has the same rose scent and taste and it gives the lips a hint of the rose colour that you see on the left in the picture above. The pigmentation is a little bit better on this one so as well as giving your lips some moisture and a bit of gloss, you're also giving them that my lips but better colour.

They're Real Mascara - Black - 3g

The final item in the kit is a mini size of the UK's best selling mascara, They're Real. I'm not going to say too much about it here as I've got a full review coming soon but this kit gives you a chance to either try it out or to get a mini one for your on the go make up bag.

I don't think you can really judge a make up item till you try it out on your face so I've done different looks with this kit to give you an idea of what you can achieve. They aren't the best photographs I've ever taken by any means, my facial palsy was playing up, and believe it or not it was just way too sunny and my face looks washed out ! As bloggers we spend half the year complaining about bad light and the other half complaining that it's too sunny and it's creating too many shadows - you really can't win lol

For this first look I've gone all out and created a tanned face, courtesy of the Hoola Powder Bronzer. I've used it over the top of my base of foundation, and powder to give a matte tanned look, I've even used on the eyes and I've also going with a heavier more defined brow, lots of They're Real and Hoola gloss on the lips. You can see another look I've created with Hoola Bronzing Powder and several other Benefit products in different lighting here x

Here I've gone for a fresher glowy look, I've used Dew The Hoola over a tinted moisturiser and just a touch of powder, no shadow, a lighter brow, one coat of They're Real, and Benebalm for a rosy tint to my lips.

Not perfect I know but hopefully these pics give you a bit more of an idea. Yes this kit will be ideal for holidays and for the summer months, but with careful application there is no reason why you can't wear it at this time of year to warm up your face and make you look a bit healthier.

These kits are idea for trying out new looks and new products and now that you can remove the individual items they're great for your travel or holiday make up bag, or even for when your on the go and you need a quick touch up. I've had a little look round and this kit doesn't seem to be that easy to get hold of but you can currently buy the Benefit Do The Hoola Beyond Bronze Kit For Complexion, Lips And Eyes online from both Boots and John Lewis, and the Benefit website for £28.50.

If it's just Dew The Hoola that you're interested in, then you haven't got too long to wait, the full 30ml size officially goes on sale in the UK on the 26th March but I think it's available on Benefit Cosmetics UK from the 12th March. As well as Dew The Hoola though there are also lots of other goodies coming out from Benefit next month including the full size of Dandelion Shy Beam. Dandelion Dew Liquid Blush and a Hoola Body Bronzer, so if you're a Benefit junkie like me you better start saving x Are you a fan of Benefit Cosmetics? Let me know your favourite product x

The Balm Nude Dude Eyeshadow Palette - Review And Giveaway - CLOSED

When I first got into make up I was a compulsive experimenter when it came to eyeshadow I used to play with colour and texture pretty much every time I did my make up. As I've got older though and more experienced with make up, on a daily basis I tend to stick to what I know suits me and I save experimentation and play for special occasions.

So what does suit me? well at the risk of being boring - a nude brown or a smokey eye. It's quick and easy to do and you can use a nude eyeshadow palette to create everything from a simple day look, to a full on smokey, evening look. 

One nude eyeshadow palette would in theory probably fulfil most of my eyeshadow needs, but being the beauty junkie that I am, I have a huge collection of nude, and neutral eyeshadow palettes and singles. What can I say I love choice! I normally alternate my shadows but at the moment I seem to be using  just one palette over and over again.

I received The Balm Nude Dude Volume 2 Nude Eyeshadow Palette, for Christmas and it was love at first sight. 

Like most of the products in The Balm range this palette comes in cardboard packaging with an invisible magnetic fastening. As you  know cardboard packaging isn't always my favourite but in this case I'll make an exception. In my experience they scuff easily and they can look a bit scratty even after only a few uses but this ones comes complete with a removable cardboard sleeve which should keep it a little bit more protected. 

Open the palette up and your greeted with a large mirror, 12 eyeshadow colours and a small double ended shadow / liner brush.

So yeah all of the shadows are supposed to resemble naked men but we'll gloss over that ;) colour wise this is the perfect nude palette, that will take you from to night x 

The shadows themselves range from a beautiful creamy ivory, to golds, coppers, bronzes and pink nudes, to dark chocolate browns and a gorgeous dark, black, grey crammed full of sparkle. There are a couple of matte shades but the majority have a little bit of shimmer or even glitter shot through them. So what do they look like...

Top row from left to right - Fearless, Flawless, Firm, Flirty, Friendly, and Fierce

Bottom row from left to right - Fabulous, Faithful, Fit, Feisty, Funny and Fine.

I've read a few reviews of the first Nude Tude palette and a couple of them talk about chalky shadows and poor pigmentation but that's definitely something that you can't say about this palette. The shadows are velvety soft, and the pigmentation is superb on even the palest, and the matte shades. and they blend together like a dream. There is a little bit of fall out on some of the sparkly and shimmery colours but I can live with that, after all that's what a fan brush is for.

Speaking of brushes this palette also comes with a little double ended shadow and liner brush. Although it's not a full sized brush, it certainly isn't a throw away or an afterthought. The hairs are soft and smooth, and whilst it's soft enough to blend shadows, it's firm enough to use as a liner brush.

I haven't worn a lot of make up over the last month or so but when I have this is the shadow palette that I've reached for. The colours are really wearable and the quality of the shadows makes them quick and easy to use. If you love your nude eyeshadows then this is definitely a palette worth considering. The Balm Nude Dude Eyeshadow Palette retails at around £29.99 and available from the likes of Superdrug, and Debenhams.

Do you love this palette as much as I do? Well on Friday 12th February my blog is 9 years old! Yes I've blogging for nearly 9 years now! More on my blogging journey on Friday but to celebrate my blogging birthday I'm giving one of you the opportunity to win your very own The Balm Nude Dude Eyeshadow Palette. Yeah! aren't I a nice person! All you need to do is fill in the Rafflecopter form below before 6th March 2015 for a chance to win. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Remember the more times and ways you enter the better chance you have of winning. This giveaway is open worldwide and it's open to followers only so make sure you are following in the way you say because I will be checking. I would also appreciate it if you don't share this giveaway on competition sites or on giveaway message boards. I would love a genuine blog reader to win this giveaway if possible x Thanks for reading and if you have any questions please let me know, oh and good luck x