Rimmel London Brow This Way range

Rimmel London is one of the more affordable beauty brands in the drugstore with an amazing range of quality products such as Foundations, concealers, powders, the list goes on!

Well, they have recently added a new line of brow products - Brow This Way

consisting of 6 different products all with different purposes, depending on what your brows need.

Sculpt, define, thicken, tame and highlight, Rimmel have got you and your brows covered!

The line up

Brow pencil with brush $13.99 - Try this classic brow pencil to shape and groom your brows

This pencil is perfect if you already have a good set of brows but need a little definition and fill in any gaps. Use the brush end to brush out built up product from hairs and put them in place.

Fibre pencil $12.99 - New to the Brow This Way range, this fibre pencil works similarly to a fibre mascara, tiny fibres build up over existing hairs giving a fuller, more shaped brow. Perfect for sparse brows.

Sculpting kit $16.99 - This mini brow set has a coloured wax and powder plus miniature tools, a angled brush and spoolie. I like to fill in my brows with the wax first, then apply the powder to set wax in place and give brows a more natural look.

Brow shake soft powder $16.99 - This is a very interesting product, its a brow powder but in a liquid liner type bottle or tube (whatever you would call it) and when you shake it up, you can hear a little ball inside designed to break up the powder and prevent it from going hard in it's packaging. The applicator is a soft doe foot like wand with little hairs that pick up the powder from in the tube and hold it to the applicator. To apply you just wipe the wand where you want product to be. Perfect for patchy brows to fill in the missing hairs. This powder is water proof, transfer-proof and sweat proof!

Argan oil brow gel $14.99 - This tinted brow gel will keep your brow hairs tamed all day while giving them colour, definition and the argan oil helps to condition and smooth brow hairs.

Highlighting pencil $12.99 - This illuminating pencil is a light pink nude with slight shimmer to enhance and lift the brow bone, it's also good to define the brows more if you get brow colour where you don't want it, line under your brows and blend out to clean up edges. This product is super soft making it easy to apply and blend.

All available in Light for blondes, Medium for light-med brown and Dark for deep brunette and black hair.  Highlighting pencil also available in a golden champagne shade.

You can find Rimmel London products in Farmers and some pharmacies

SHOP FARMERS HERE 

- Lucy Maria xx

Wet n Wild Brush Review

Affordable & Cruelty Free Makeup Brushes!

Wow guys, it has been forever since I've written a blog review & I've missed it SO much. What better way to start back up than with a Brush review? And cute, affordable ones at that!
Wet n Wild is a super affordable, drugstore brand with amazing quality products at a good price. Some of you may of heard of their popular highlighters circling social media a few months back, that's just one of the great products they have to offer.
Today I'm reviewing their two-toned, cruelty free makeup brushes! Soft & amazing for the price. These babies are so hard to find & I think they still sell out quickly so check out BeautyJoint.com for the entire collection, that's where I ordered mine & they're always in stock!

I've used each brush a few times to see how well they work with different products & washed them to see how sturdy they are. They're super soft on the skin, blend products well & they don't shed hair! Some of them are a little sparse & don't have enough hairs to apply certain products efficiently, like the flat top foundation brush sort of soaks up more product then it blends on the face.. And the eye crease brush picks up very little product & takes a lot of building up for colour pay off.

I love the design, the quality white handles & aluminium ferrules, pink/white ombre bristles & the placement for your thumb on the handle is a nice touch.

Face Brushes

Powder Brush - $2.99USD
This is a nice, dense powder brush but not too dense where it will affect any product already on the face. It softly blends powder products for a smooth finish but because it's not as dense as other powder brushes, you won't get as much of the extra coverage from powder foundations.

 

Blush Brush - $2.99USD

This is the perfect brush for picking up a little more blush than say a duo-fibre brush. You will get more colour pay off from your blushes with this brush but it's soft enough to prevent clown cheeks!

Contour Brush - $1.50USD

This brush has the same density of bristles as the blush brush, but is an angled brush with shorter bristles picking up a little more product but blending out softly & not too intense creating a carved contoured cheek. I've been loving this brush with my NYX Highlight & Contour pro palette!

Large Stipple Brush - $2.99USD

Perfect for applying those super pigmented blushes! The duo-fibre bristles pick up just enough product & blend out effortlessly on the cheek creating a smooth, natural flush. You can see the shorter pink hairs & the longer white hairs at the top. I personally prefer these brushes for applying blushes & this one is my new fave! Wet N Wild also have a small stipple brush available, I'm not sure how much smaller but would probably be perfect for applying highlight or contour. 

Flat Top Brush - $2.99USD

This brush is designed for applying & buffing in foundation. I personally think it's not dense enough to create a even, full coverage with foundation, it soaks up too much product & doesn't really buff or move the product & you need to basically drown your skin & the brush in foundation to stop it soaking up & wasting product -.-

Fan Brush - $2.99USD

Used for applying highlight to the high points of your cheeks & brows, but this brush is too stiff & plastic feeling to apply a smooth layer of highlight.. I think it needs to be a little bigger maybe?

Eye Brushes

Crease Brush - $1.50USD

Like I said above, it's quite sparse & doesn't pick a lot of product up. But I guess that could be a good thing when it comes to slowly building colour & transition shades. I don't reach for this brush very often..

Large Eyeshadow Brush - $1.50USD

I like this brush for applying base shadows to the lid or blending & defining the crease more. The length of bristles & density is perfect for picking up more product & keeping the depth of a shadow. It's also good to use with cream base products.

Small Eyeshadow Brush - $1.50USD

This a good flat shader brush for applying eye colours to the lids, like Colourpop super shock shadows. But the bristles are quite short, making it a little stiff feeling with not a lot of movement so I often use this brush for sharpening eyeliner or defining brows with concealer.

Smokey Liner Brush - $1.50USD

Short, dense bristles perfect for smoking out liners or shadows into the lashline. I also like to use this one with concealer for eyeliner or brows but I find the end isn't as tapered as the small eye brush so it doesn't create a super defined line.. Much better for it's intended use

Angled Liner Brush - $1.50USD

This brush is quite dense for a liner brush & like the one above, the bristle tips won't create that sharp line we all want with our liner, so I use this for filling my brows instead :)

Bent Liner Brush - $1.50USD

Designed for applying eyeliner easily with the bent ferrule & pencil like tip. I used this with a few different liquid lipsticks I wanted to use as eyeliners & I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to use! It's good for creative liner but using a black gel liner, it's harder to get a sharp line with. I guess because liquid lipsticks have a runnier consistency they're easier to apply & make the tip sharp, but gel liner have the thicker, gel consistency obviously..

I think these brushes are totally worth buying! They're unbelievably affordable & would be perfect for someone just starting to use makeup. The prices of them will vary depending on where you find them, I think the eye brushes are all $0.99 on WetnWild,com

I wouldn't recommend the Flat Top brush personally, but it's so cheap it's worth giving it a shot & seeing if it works for you! There are a few other brushes in this collection I haven't got like concealer brushes & the new kabuki, but I feel these all do what I want them to do without needing those. 

- Lucy Maria xx

ChiChi Cosmetics Highlight & Contour palette

Palette Review & Swatches

If you're a beginner with makeup or on a budget, this could be the contour palette for you! I was so excited when I saw this was coming out, ChiChi Cosmetics is one of my favourite affordable brands & to hear that they were bringing out their own highlight & contour kit!? I had to get one to try out & compare with my others. The price is amazing for 8 different contour/highlighting shades & the quality is not so bad either! This palette is available at Farmers for $30 NZD or online from ChiChi's website for $25 AUD

♥

"The Golden Rule of successful highlighting & contouring is to use as little product as possible so the end result is believably natural, to blend it in well & add more colour gradually. Highlight the areas of the face you want to look bigger & emphasise - Contour & shade the areas of your face you want to look smaller & have less emphasis"

This is on the back of the palette & it's so true when it comes to the art of contouring! A little goes a long way with contour powders & it's best to start with the tiniest dab on your brush as it's much easier to blend out & add more if desired.. Especially with this palette as I found it was a little harder to blend then say KvD or ABH where it seems no matter how much you use or if you mess up, they blend like smooth butter! This palette is a little drier so it can get patchy easier, that's why you really have to work with a light amount of product & have patience blending. The shimmer highlight though?! Um wow it's so glowy & super buttery, blends like a dream on the high points. 

The shades are numbered 1 to 8 & the under the palette cover there are helpful tips on how to use each one & where to use them on your face

♥SWATCHES♥

1. Is a stunning champagne shimmer highlight that doesn't have too much colour but a lot of reflection so it looks quite natural & blends in seamlessly
2. This a fair matte setting powder, I like to use this under my eyes to set my concealer but can also be used as a matte cheekbone highlight or base eyeshadow 
3. Is a matte banana setting powder, unfortunately a little too dark for my under eyes (might be good in summer though) so sometimes I mix it with 2 or 4 & apply on my forehead, chin & around my nose & sometimes under my contour to clean up the shape for sharp definition
4. Is a large matte setting powder, its almost translucent so not much coverage, I use this all over my face to set foundation, I love how big it is in the palette because I do use so much of it.
5. Is a very neutral contour shade, it's on the warmer side when you compare it with shade 6, I like to use it as a face bronzer instead of contour because it's the perfect size for my big bronzer brush & I personally prefer a neutral tone as appose to a warm/orangey bronze.
6. Is, in my opinion, the perfect contour shade for light-medium skin tones! It's a cool taupe that looks like natural contour when blended, but needs to be built up slowly or it can look muddy.
7. One of the two warmer bronze shades, this one is slightly darker for a golden tanned look, it almost has a red/brown base & is matte, no shimmer. I almost wish it had a little sheen for that "sunkissed glow" effect
8. Is another warm bronzer, this one is lighter than shade 7 & has an orangey/brown base. This one does have a slight sheen to it, I haven't used this one yet but I imagine in summer it could look really nice with a golden tan

Overall this is a really nice, affordable contour & highlighting palette that has good pigmentation & a good variety of shades. Don't expect the quality of KvD or ABH because they can go patchy or cakey if you're not careful, but they are a great alternative fore someone on a budget looking for a quality contour kit! ChiChi never fails to make amazing affordable products, make sure you check them out! 

Using shades 1, 2, 4 & 6

LucyLoves! xx

Milani 2-in-1 Foundation + Concealer Review!

I'm back with another Foundation review for you guys, this time it's an affordable one from the drugstore! Milani Cosmetics have recently come out with this new product, a 2-in-1 Foundation + Concealer - CONCEAL + PERFECT promising to "Combat under eye circles, redness & other skin imperfections" with a Medium-Full coverage, lightweight longwear formula that is sweat-proof & water-resistant! So I put this foundation to the test for the first time using a Beauty Blender on one side & Flat Top Kabuki Brush on the other, like I usually do to see any differences in application.

♥

I ordered mine in Creamy Vanilla 01 from BeautyJoint for $10.50 USD

www.beautyjoint.com/Milani

"A no mess, no drip pump dispenses just the right amount needed to achieve a flawless look"
I love when a foundation bottle has a pump, it's much easier for applying! As you can see, this foundation is very thick & gloopy.. so I wouldn't agree with "lightweight" but this amount was perfect for covering my whole face with a natural finish & medium coverage. Add a little more to areas that need more coverage, this foundation is high in pigment so I doesn't take much to build up but because it's thick & oil-free, it starts to set on the face & can cake up, so apply and blend quickly! They have 14 shades available and I chose Creamy Vanilla 01 because that is (currently) the lightest shade and omg what a joke! It is seriously atleast 1-2 shades darker than my skin! I wear NC15-20 in MAC so I'm pretty fair, I also know a few people with even lighter skin so what would they use?! It also has a lot of warm yellowy pigments which tend to oxidise deeper also so that is a huge disappointment! I recommend mixing it with a lighter foundation, even a cream/moisturiser! It would also work to thin out the thick consistency.

♥Before & After♥

One side using a Beauty Blender, the other using a Flat Top Kabuki

So remember this foundation promised Med-Full coverage, Lightweight, Long Wearing,
Oil-Free and Sweet & Water Resistant!

Flat Top Brush

Medium coverage, blemishes are concealed & it looks very natural! I noticed with the brush it went patchy, hard to move and took longer to blend.. 

Beauty Blender 

Medium coverage, even finish, imperfections are concealed & natural finish. I definitely prefer using a beauty blender with this foundation! It was so much easier to blend out too

How did it hold up throughout the day? I can't say this foundation is very long-wearing or sweat-proof in my experience so far.. It faded on my forehead, chin & bottom of my cheeks. I would probably only wear this on a night out for dinner or the movies where I'm not out for too long & mainly because the shade is too dark haha overall I really like the flawless yet natural finish I get when applied with a BB but hate the fact this is the lightest shade available! I would wear it all the time if they had a good match.. :/  I wouldn't recommend trying if you're any lighter than NC15, but for the price I'm not bothered because I can play around & see if gets better.

Here's a few other shots where you can see the shade, it wasn't too bad in some light but then again..

 


LucyLoves! xx