Battle Of The Duo Eyeshadows!

A few months ago I was going through my single and duo shadows and came across these. Honestly I forgot I even had them so decided to swatch them on snapchat. A lot of you asked me to do a post swatching and comparing them so here goes!

First lets talk about the elephant in the room- the product that I know you all want me to talk about first. The NARS duo in Bellissima. The packaging of this is stunning; its sleek, black and compact which looks great in any makeup collection. The shades in this duo are unlike anything I'd ever really go for: the first being a creamy vanilla shade with tiny micro pieces of silver glitter running throughout it. The second shade is a very cool toned matte grey brown shade. This retails for £25 which is pretty steep for only 2 shadows as you can get a palette for not much more than that, however you are paying for that NARS name. You also get 4g worth of product in this duo.

The other 2 duo shadows are from the brand Smooch which could potentially be owned by W7 but I'm not 100% on that! Both of these come in very similar packaging to the NARS duo. The only difference is that the compact is a little bigger and bulkier. As for the shades in these duos all 4 pans are shimmery shades so that is something to bare in mind. Both of the lighter shades are more of an icy pale gold shade however the duo with the coppery shade (Gold Rush) the lighter colour in this has more of a goldness about it. As for the darker shade in the pans (Dare To Bare) one is more of a taupe shade whereas the other (Gold Rush) is more of a copper shade. These retail for roughly £4.90 on eBay however only contain 2.5g of product. 

Dare To Bare

Bellissima 

Gold Rush

In terms of pigmentation the Smooch duos beat NARS out of the park. These are incredibly smooth and buttery and just glide onto the skin. The NARS one is a lot less pigmented however is very finely milled. 

Overall I would definitely pick the Smooch shades up without a doubt, don't bother wasting your money on the NARS duo.

Paige, x

My top 5 highlighters

In one of my recent posts about contouring I mentioned that there would be a post dedicated to all things highlighting so here it is! With highlighting it comes hand in hand with contouring, giving that glow to your complexion and just making your make up look 100%. In this post I'm going to talk about all my favourite highlighters, both high end and drugstore!

MAC Soft and Gentle: This is just absolutely gorgeous, there aren't any other words to describe this. Its such a beautiful, pigmented powder and really gives you the glitter factor. It can be used as a subtle glow or built up for a really glittery glowing effect, great for a night out or if photos are going to be taken. I also really do think the price tag is well worth it, you get so much product for your money and it lasts forever! Definitely one for your collection. 

NARS Orgasm blush: I know this is a blush but I was so disappointed when this arrived, its really not pigmented at all and takes so much effort for it to be visible on your cheeks. I didn't want to waste it so I played around and discovered this works so well as a highlighter- its really shimmery and glittery and as the pinks not very visible it doesn't matter. On the swatch that took me a good few times to build it up so don't worry it wont apply like that.

MUA Undress your skin highlighter: Bargain!! Look at the pigmentation of this beauty, I honestly cant rave about MUA enough as you all probably know! For only £1 you cant go wrong. This is more white/gold toned than the others but its perfect. I loved using this on holiday and I got so many compliments on this! 

Urban Decay naked flushed: This is one of my most used palettes as its just so pigmented however the highlighter isn't one of my favourites. Its very similar to the MUA one above however takes a few goings over to build it up. Overall its a lovely colour and very handy to have 3 products in 1 if your ever travelling or need to minimise on space.

 L-R: UD Naked Flushed, High Beam, MAC, NARS, MUA

Paige, x

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How I contour!

Contour and highlighting is probably the biggest thing around right now, make-up wise. The thing I love most about this "in thing" is that everybody's trying it but with so many different products, hence why I thought I would show you my tips and tricks of how I do it. 

I use a variety of different products, sometimes all together or just one on its own and it creates a new and different look each time. With contouring you can have a dewy, glowy finish or a matte one and personally I prefer glowy as I have super dry skin. No matter what look I do go for the brushes never change, I find that the Expert Face brush by Real Techniques works with every product, whether it be cream or powder. The flat sides of the brush works really well to sculpt the cheek bones and then to buff everything in. Usually I use the MAC 249 to 'draw' the lines using cream products, just to get some precision and then I use either the Real Techniques brush or a beauty blender to work everything into the skin. 

Products wise, I really cant find a better matte bronzing powder than the MUA one. For only £1 you get a hell of a lot of product and its really pigmented. The colour is just right too, not being overly orangey or muddy looking but suiting my skin tone perfectly. These little bronzers last me so long and take ages to hit pan! In my Urban Decay Naked Flushed palette the bronzer is exactly the same as this, so your essentially saving yourself £20 if you were to purchase the MUA one. 

If I want a dewy finish to my skin I will use the Bourjois Bronzing Primer- which is to be used under foundation however I feel like this really isn't what the product should be designed for but is better suited as a cream bronzer/ contouring cream. Like I said I use the MAC brush to draw on my cheek bones, around my temples, forehead and sometimes down the sides of my nose to give that instant nose job effect! I buff it in and then will apply a tiny amount of the MUA powder just to set it all in place. 

The Beauty Blender is a new purchase of mine, I initially bought two, one for the concealer and one for the bronzing. I got mine from eBay and Home Bargains for only £1 each and they do they're job perfectly.. talk about budget beauty! I like how they have the pointed side for the concealer, in which I use the KIKO concealer wheel as its just the perfect shade and the flat side for all over the flat bits of the face. 

As for highlighting keep your eyes peeled because that's on my blog Monday!

Paige, x

Beauty haul!

Oops! It seems I've collected quite a few beauty products in the past few weeks so I thought what would be better than bringing them all together in a haul on a Sunday?!

I've been good recently and not splurged on much and I thought why not and started my online shopping basket..

First things first, MAC! 

I really wanted to try a few different things and make my makeup collection grow, so instead of opting for eyeshadows and foundations like I usually do I picked up some general face products.

I bought these two absolutely gorgeous blushes in the shades Breezy and Springsheen(L-R). Breezy is a plum colour and nothing like I have in my collection, on the other hand Springsheen is a very sheer peachy tone; a little goes a long way as it's seriously so pigmented!

 I also couldnt resist a mineralise skin finish and which other colour than soft and gentle? It's even more beautiful in person and like no highlighter I've ever seen. Like the blush a little goes a long way but you can apply more to give a more dramatic night look! 

This lipstick was a spur of the moment decison and you can probably all guess what it is.. that's right velvet teddy! I really didn't think I would suit this when it first came but its surprising really wearable, sometimes I dab a little pink over just to make it more suitable for my skin colour but I'm in love!!

Finally the last MAC product I picked up was in fact the strobe cream! I felt my skin and foundation routine needed a little pick-me-up so I thought I would give this a try! 

NARS is a brand I've never tried before so I thought instead of buying a Benefit box blusher like I usually do I would opt for something a little different. This is in the shade orgasm and its such a pretty colour with shimmer running through! It is smaller than I thought it would be but never the less go and try something from NARS if you haven't already.

Finally some random beauty bits! I picked up this beauty blender for just 99p from Home Bargains just to see how I got on with it as I really dont want to spend the Real Techniques prices and I love it! It makes cream contour and highlight look so flawless I really reccomend! 

False eyelashes are something I never wear but I wanted to try some Red Cherry ones so I picked these up from eBay for around £1.50! And then I repurchased just a travel size of my favourite eye primer; the Urban Decay primer potion!

Thank you for reading!

Paige, x