Kett cosmetics - I'm so glad I found you

In my almost endless quest for a pale foundation, I have tried them all - I've been through Superdrug, Boots, Debenhams, and even some designer stores to try and find a milky white yet slightly yellow foundation that doesn't look orange.

And now...drum roll please... I have found one!

 Kett cosmetics Fixx creme makeup in F01! I purchased this a couple of months ago and have used it almost every day since, but it doesn't currently seem to be on their website which I hope doesn't mean they've discontinued it! The shade is shown on their american site and as a refill. 

 

I use my real techniques sponge, slightly damp, to apply this by rubbing it in the foundation and bouncing it lightly over my face. It feels really light but gives a really nice coverage, only a thin layer or two is needed even on a night out, and I'm someone who basically wants their foundation to replace their skin. I dropped mine on the floor (a lot) so the pot's a bit broken but as you can see barely any has gone even though I use it every day. I've only ever used liquid foundation before as my skin is so dry, but this is very smooth and moisturizing. I'm never left with any dry flaky patches.

I put it on my arm without blending and it matches my skin so perfectly I've put a ring around it so you can see where it is! If you have pale skin and people have been recommending the lightest shade of absolutely everything to you and you still look orange...look no further! I will certainly be repurchasing this!
It's also vegan :) Brilliant

3 for 2

Well! Well, well well!

I haven't blogged for so long, due to a strange blogging block even though I had lots to talk about. I think I've been reading a lot of blogs recently and realized mine hasn't got a 'voice' yet. It's not quite 'me'.  But if I don't blog I won't change that will I! So here goes. Some products I got about a month ago in a 3 for 2 offer at Superdrug (a high-street cruelty-free staple!).

I got a Collection Extreme coloured lengthening mascara in black (£2.99 and now appears to come in a nice pink pot!)  GOSH ultimate eyeliner in Raw Grey (5.99) and MUA cover & conceal in the lightest shade there (£1.50)!

I have super sensitive eyes but my mascara had run out and I was in a hurry so I thought I'd just get a cheap one and find a better one later. But this one feels great! Granted, it's not an amazing mascara and does get a little clumpy, but for the price it does the job. The artist formally known as collection 2000 has done a good job.  The wand's nice and chunky too. I hate those thin plastic ones that seem so popular these days.

This eyeliner was what I initially set out to buy, since I wanted to try winged eyeliner for the 10000th time and was convinced I'd get the hang of it. I still haven't but I do like this eyeliner!

 It has a nice angled sponge great for smudging away any mistakes, and you can make lines of various strengths and lengths. The one thing I would say is that I wouldn't call it grey! Although I suppose it's not a deep black, it's certainly passable as black! But it lasts all day, smooths on like a charm, and I'll probably be repurchasing.

 Finally the concealer. I was looking for the Collection one in shade 1 that everyone and their wife is obsessed with, but it was sold out for over a month so I gave up and got this. I was pleasantly surprised.

It rubs in really well, lasts all day and actually seems to cove any blemished instead of sort of colouring on top of them! Of them all I was most pleased with this, mainly because I didn't expect much at all!

So there you go, my cruelty free beauty on a budget! What's your budget essential?!

e.l.f brushes and primer

e.l.f is a really good cruelty-free brand for people who like makeup, but don't like-like makeup. You want to look nice but you're not obsessed with the stuff- well, look no further than e.l.f! I think it's also great if you haven't really got in to makeup yet and want to know what you like and what suits you - the products are usually pretty cheap so you don't feel bad if you only use them once or twice before giving them away to your friends. 

Let's dive in and behold the wonder of the powder brush!  It's very often out of stock, which shows how popular it is. I use one for powder, which I've marked with orange, and one for foundation! Believe it or not this makes an awesome foundation brush.

The brushes have a flat top and this is the first brush I've used that doesn't leave brush-marks of foundation all over my face. It's good for stippling too. Elf do have an angled contour brush that I imagine would be great also.

 The primer comes in 4 colours. I got mine in pearl, but I think I should have gone with sheer because the pearl is very sparkly. It works OK - I have to admit I've never used a primer before this, but it makes eyeshadow last a bit longer and not fold in to the crease as much. The smell is a bit like paint so how good it is for your skin is another question, but I've got sensitive skin and was fine with it.

All in all, another successful few purchases from e.l.f! What's your e.l.f essential?

Quick Fix

I'm so sorry, I haven't blogged in a million years! I have stuff I want to review and stuff but my bathroom's being fixed so all my makeup and toiletries are scattered through the house and it makes me feel very stressed so I'm ignoring it until everything's better (end of January hopefully).

In the meantime here's a quick update if you want to buy some cruelty-free makeup:
Nails - BarryM. It's got literally everything.
Lips - GOSH has about 8 colours which are all great, or for a MAC substitute go with Illamasqua, long lasting and matt!
Foundation - No.7 is a good quick-fix, you can get a £9.99 or a £20 foundation depending on what you feel like spending and they find your perfect shade.
Eyeshadow - Bourjois or MUA from superdrug do good little trios of eyeshadow
Eyeliner - e.l.f for pots-with-brush (gel? I can't remember what you call this), Eyeko for the rest
Mascara - Eyeko or Bourjois

Cruelty free and organic Christmas :)

 I got these lovely nail art pens from my sister, and O.P.I nail varnish from my mum, so I can have cruelty-free nails for 2014! I am obsessed with nail varnish at the moment. These colours are gorgeous, and of course the O.P.I polish looks great on (well, you'd expect it for the price!). The BarryM nail art pens are really easy to use and the corrector pen is great for any little slip-ups. It also comes with two spare sponges, so you don't have to just throw it away if your sponge gets too dirty!

 I've talked about teapigs before, and was excited to have some jasmine tea, because I've found a cafe near me that does it and it's amaaaazing. This was so nice, a hint of green tea with a flowery flavour. I love it. I haven't tried my rooibos yet, but let's face it they all taste the same - delicious! Rooibos is naturally caffeine free so if you want a tea that won't affect your sleeping pattern I'd recommend it :p

 I've tried apicare hand creme, and purchased some for my dad this Christmas, so was happy to receive this soap! They're cruelty free (although some may argue this isn't the case as they contain honey...but the vegans I know eat honey so it's whatever you prefer). This smells soooooo good!! I'm sure it's going to make my bathroom smell lovely, and I look forward to using it.

 I also got a "natural" tea tree cream hand made it Wales. It's definitely cruelty free, but looking at the ingredients I wasn't sure how much of it was actually natural. Still, it smells amazing and it's always handy to have tea tree around the house for cuts and bruises.

I hope everybody had a lovely Christmas! :) Let me know what you got!

Bourgeois Smokey Eyes

I showed a sneak preview of this months ago when I got this little cruelty-free set from Boots because they were 3 for 2!

The Mascara is extra black, then there's the funky Khol Kajal with it's little ribbon, and it's basically like a thin black lipstick inside. My eyehadow trio is 1 Gris Dandy, and I believe you can get it in blues and browns also.

 

I use the lightest shade first to give the whole eyelid and above-eyelid-bit some colour

 Then I sort of smush on the middle colour on the eyelid - I always use a brush because I don't like sponge applicators, although you do get one with the eyeshadows.

 Then I go nuts with the black, before deciding it's a bit bold and rubbing most of it off.

 Then a thin layer of eyeliner, or a thick layer if I'm going out-out, but tonight I'm just going out.

And finally loads of mascara. If, like me, you then have to put on glasses, make sure you put a lot of mascara on your lower lashes, as they're mostly the ones people see!

I can't fault anything about these except the sponge applicator! I love this whole set and I think I made a great impulse purchase with these!

oh my GOSH

Please excuse the poor quality photos, I had to use my phone as I've once again misplaced my camera battery charger.

I purchased Gosh BB powder from Superdrug a week or so ago, in shade 02 (the lightest one). It's cruelty free and vegan.

Here is is in comparison to my skin tone - if anything it looks a bit paler than I am, and I tested a bit on my hand at the shop.

Makes me look weird and red in this picture for some reason...

It cost £8.99 but it says All in One on it, and it's a BB powder, so I assumed it would do in place of foundation.

I have to say, I'm not too impressed with this. When I put it on, and I've tried it on it's own and over foundation, it seems to develop to have almost red undertones. I've used the little sponge that comes with it, as you can see. It doesn't seem to show as you put it on, but then when I get to work and look in the mirror I can see patches of it on my skin, even when I put it over foundation (I use foundation of a different brand, but it says it is "perfect to use with any foundation"). I've trued used a brush but it tends to do that thing where the powder comes loose but doesn't go on the brush so I end up with next to none on my face.

The mirror also gets very dirty considering the sponge covers the powder when it's shut, so I never use it.

I've put it on my face here in this terrible picture, and you can see that although it doesn't look orangey, it does have a strange red undertone and definitely doesn't make me look like I have an even skin tone.

I was quite excited about this BB powder, but I have to say I don't think I'll be using it much and I won't be buying it again. Have you tried any GOSH products? What did you think? I don't think this will put me off trying anything else in their range, but I'll stay away from the foundations and powders.

Bourjois smokey eyes

Did a little bit of shopping - going out tonight and I don't own a black eyeliner and my mascara's run out. (The friend I'm going with is really pretty so I need to look as good as I can...you know how it is!)

Cruelty-free and 3 for 2 at Boots! :) I'll let you know how I get on with them, I've not used anything Bourjois before apart from a blusher I go when I was about 14. Still barely used!

Make Up Academy (MUA) - Cruelty-free

MUA (make up academy) is available at Superdrug 

I ordered a bunch of stuff from the website, and they arrived two days later! 7 things cost a grand total of £9!! MUA is available at Superdrug, often in a separate stand by the till, and is cruelty-free as most brands available exclusively at Superdrug are.

The eye shadows are matt ones, and I ordered no.17 (the light one) and no.19 (dark).  When they arrived, I was a little disappointed, as they don’t show up a lot since the light one is about my skin colour and the dark one isn’t spectacularly pigmented. However, they were £1 each! After applying them to both my eyes, the light one up to the brow and the dark in the corners and over the crease, I actually really liked them. They’re subtle but effective, and the dark one makes a really good brow filler!

Like, seriously. A really good brow filler!!

The lipsticks come with a little lipgloss pot in the bottom, as you can see in the top picture of all the makeup.  I ordered shade 4, which doesn’t have a name, and shade 14 (bare) and 15 (juicy). I also got a lipgloss in shade “Sealed with a Kiss”. I love them all!! They were £1 each, £2 for the lip gloss.

The top picture is my bare lips, followed by number 4 and then number 4 plus the attached lipgloss, number 14 next to 14 with gloss, 15 next to 15 with gloss, and finally the lip gloss (hope you can keep up with that!!).

Number 15 is the shade of lipstick of my dreams!! Number 4 went on feeling quite oily and clear, but looking at it you can see it’s actually a lovely light pink. 14 is a sort of neutral shade with some shine, which looks pretty sophisticated, and 15 is a lovely coral type colour. The lipgloss is a mauve, I would say, and isn’t horribly sticky like lip glosses tend to be.  I recommend putting a lip balm on for a while before applying the colours, as the two darker shades were a tad dry. You’ll also need a lip brush to get the best of the little gloss at the bottom.

Finally, the nail varnish, in the Love Hearts “U ROK” shade.

I put two coats and got this amazing result. I LOVE this nail varnish!

I usually become a bit of a snob about cheap makeup, but I would call this “inexpensive” makeup, as the quality is very good for the money. I dare say I’ve spent more and got worse quality lip gloss and nail varnish!

Have you got any MUA products? What are you looking forwards to trying?