Sleek Solstice Highlighting Palette

While the beauty community and makeup lovers world wide are going bonkers for blinding highlight and creating new brow trends, I am over here in a corner thinking ‘I don’t like a REALLY blinding highlight, nor do I want braided brows or McDonalds brows’. But, here I am, still plodding along with my blog and just doing me. 

Superdrug recently had an offer on all Sleek products; spend £12 and get a free essentials box. Of course, I took advantage of that offer and ordered 2 Solstice palettes. 1 for me, and 1 for my September giveaway on my Facebook page. 

I had heard so many good reviews about the Solstice palette. Youtubers and Bloggers were raving about it. It always makes me slightly dubious when a Youtuber is recommending something. I question whether their recommendations are real or if they are being paid to say nice things. But that’s another story. I watch so many makeup tutorials on YT that are filled with Morphe brushes, my heart is telling me ‘I NEED THOSE BRUSHES IN MY LIFE. NOW!’ And my head is like ‘😑🤔’… 

Anyway… getting back to the point of this blog 😂

My Solstice palettes arrived and when I opened the box I was stunned by the packaging. It looks stunning 😍👌🏻 

It’s very lightweight and definitely a handbag friendly sized palette. 

Inside the palette there is 2 baked powder highlighters, 1 cream formula highlighter & a silky shimmer powder. 

I always apply my highlighter with my finger tip. It’s personal preference I suppose. I just feel like I have more control with my finger tips. I also don’t highlight the tops of my cheeks, again, personal preference. I just don’t like the way it looks on me. But, I do highlight my Cupid’s bow, brow bone, inner corners and the bridge of my nose. 

When I tried the palette for the first time I absolutely fell in love. It’s not often that you find a highlighter palette that is affordable and really good quality. 

The powders and cream highlighters apply beautifully, they blend perfectly and are SO pigmented for an affordable product. 

I am currently sat on my daughters bedroom floor writing this blog, waiting for her to fall asleep 😴 so I have done some swatches for you, but the lighting isn’t that great in her bedroom. But I think I managed to get a pretty good shot of the swatches of the palette. 

(Please excuse the tiny bruise on my arm ruining the 2nd swatch 😔) 

As you can see, the highlighters are really pigmented, even the cream which is the far left swatch. 

If you are in the market for a new highlighter, or even a highlighter palette with a mix of shades, then I definitely recommend the Solstice palette. 

Have you got the Solstice palette? What’s your thoughts on it? 

Thanks for reading

Jen xxx

So Eco Brushes – Yes or No?

Hey!! 

I hope you’re all doing well? 

I was recently sent 2 So Eco brushes by My Cosmetic Corner. My Cosmetic Corner is an amazing website that is filled with makeup products and accessories all below RRP. 

I have known the owner of MCC for a while now,  I can’t even remember how we first started talking! Our friendship has blossomed and we speak on a daily basis (pretty much). When she messaged me and told me she was getting So Eco brushes in stock I was so excited! I had wanted to try their brushes for so long, but never got round to buying any. She asked me to try a couple of brushes out for her and give her my honest opinion. 

I received the So Eco Multi Tasking Brush & the Bronzer Brush. 

Please excuse the dirty brushes, they have been used a few times and put to the test 😊 

Firstly, the brushes are so comfortable to hold. The Multi Tasking Brush blended out my foundation really easily, and it also worked perfectly at blending out my concealer. 

The brushes are super soft and the brissels feel really nice on the skin. Not scratchy at all. 

I am in LOVE with how big and chunky the Bronzer Brush is. Again, it’s super soft and comfortable to hold, but because of how big the brush is it really helps to give you a natural bronzy look. It doesn’t pick up too much product either. 

I would 100% recommend both of these brushes.

If you want to check out what So Eco brushes My Cosmetic Corner has in stock, please go to the following link: 

 https://www.mycosmeticcorner.com/shop?olsPage=search&olsFocus=false&keywords=So%20Eco

Thank you for reading 

Jen xxx

April Favourites

So April has been and gone. During April I celebrated my 28th birthday, and the 2nd birthday of this blog! 2 years has absolutely flown by, and I absolutely love my blog and everything that it stands for. 

I am passionate about affordable makeup. I am a big believer that affordable brands and products are just as good (if not better – in some cases) as high end brands/products. 

April was a crazy month for me, I set up my own business, I went to see Ed Sheeran in Nottingham (my husband surprised me with the tickets for my birthday) and for the past week I have been quite poorly. Thankfully I am getting better now 😊

Here are my April Favourites: 

I recently placed an order with Superdrug for a haul of makeup and beauty products. In that haul was the Vitamin E Hydrating Mist & the Simply Pure Hydrating Serum. Do you ever use a product once or twice and just know that you love it? I did that with these two products. They made my skin feel absolutely amazing, silky smooth and hydrated. I am living for this combination right now. The texture on my skin has almost gone, my makeup applies much better now too! 

The Technic Mega Lash mascara is just brilliant. It’s my favourite mascara right now & I reached for it a lot during April. It doesn’t smudge, it’s easy to apply and it makes my lashes look fuller and longer. It ticks all the boxes for everything I want a Mascara to do. It’s super affordable too! 

I am pretty sure I have mentioned the Maybelline Eraser Eye concealer before in a previous blog. The Eraser Eye concealer is my go-to concealer. It hides my dark circles perfectly, it lasts really well, it doesn’t cake or crease and doesn’t feel heavy on the skin at all. 

Another haul order I placed was with Essence Cosmetics. In that order was the Matt Matt Matt Longlasting Lipgloss in the shade Beauty – Approved! 

First of all, this product smells incredible. It smells good enough to eat. 

I absolutely love the shade too, it’s a perfect pinky, brown, terracotta nude shade. Here is a swatch: 

A matte lipgloss sounds weird doesn’t it? But I am living for this product right now!! It’s like a liquid lipstick only you don’t have any trouble removing it at the end of the day. I was surprised how long it lasted during the day too. 

Another product in my recent Essence Cosmetics haul was the Prime Of Your Life primer. On the bottle it says it’s a smoothing, light reflecting primer. I don’t hold out much hope when it comes to primers. I have tried other primers that claim to make my skin smooth and give me a pore-less appearance. But, I gave it a go and OH MY GOSH, it is amazing. There are really no other words to describe it. 

I used this primer in my problem areas (where I have texture in my skin, on my nose and my cheeks) and then applied my No7 primer on the rest of my face. My skin looked completely different before and after applying makeup. I can’t believe how good this primer is. It does exactly what it says on the bottle. I will definitely be stocking up on this product. 

As I briefly mentioned there, I have also been using the No7 Airbrush Away Primer. This is another fab primer and keeps my makeup on all day. I use it every time I apply my makeup, and since using it I have noticed a big difference in how my makeup applies, looks and lasts. 

I have been reaching for the Technic Treasury palette SO MUCH lately. I mean, it’s just the perfect palette! There are so many shades, mattes, shimmers and possible eye looks with this palette. I just love it. 

The Technic Treasury palette is pigmented, really easy to work with and blend out. Let’s be honest, it’s so pretty too 😍 

Apologies for the long blog, but that’s it for my monthly favourites! What have you been loving lately? 

Thank you for reading 

Jen 

PS, head over to my Facebook page where I am currently running a giveaway 😊

http://www.facebook.com/bargainmakeupblog

March Favourites & Exciting News..

Hello again! 

This month I have really made an effort to try and do my makeup everyday, or atleast every 2 days. Being a stay at home parent to a toddler means I very rarely get time to myself or time to do my makeup. Often it’s a toss up between getting up early and putting my face on, or getting more sleep and looking like something out of the walking dead. 

Recently I have been feeling really pants about how I look on a day to day basis. So I gave myself a kick up the bum and this month I have discovered new products & rediscovered old ones that I had forgotten about. 

Here is what I have been absolutely loving this month:

March Favourites

Clockwise: Red Cherry Lashes #213, Arrow Boost Colour Enhancing Lipbalm, Unbranded makeup brushes, Technic Treasury Eyeshadow Palette, Technic Mega Lash mascara, w7 Flirty Eyes mascara, Benefit They’re Real Push Up liner, MUA 6 shade palette Soft Suedes. 

Red Cherry Lashes #213 Normally I am not a false lash wearer unless it’s a big night out or a special event. But, I saw this set whilst browsing online and had to try them. They are wispy, Natural looking but add a bit of drama to the eyes. They are so comfortable to wear & I am definitely going to stock up on them! They have been used – excuse the glue & mascara on them 🙈

Arrow Boost Colour Enhancing Lipbalm I think I have mentioned this little beauty in previous blogs, but I have been reaching for it a lot this month. It brings out the natural colour of your lips. It’s a bit tangy and a bit minty too, which I love. If I am in a rush or my lips feel a bit dry I will use this. It’s such a great little product. 

Unbranded Makeup Brushes I will admit it, I am a makeup brush hoarder. I also cannot stop buying makeup brushes. If I see a set that look a bit different, or are too pretty to resist then I will buy them. I was browsing eBay recently and came across this set of brushes. They are ridiculously gorgeous, and not only that but they are super soft & so easy to use. They apply and blend products beautifully. Did I mention how pretty they are??? 

Technic Treasury Palette This gorgeous palette has 24 shadows that range from mattes to shimmers. I was actually shocked at how good the shadows are in this palette. They apply lovely and blend really easily. I have been using this palette A LOT this month! 

Technic Treasury Palette

Technic Mega Lash & w7 Flirty Eyes Mascaras I simply couldn’t choose between them, so I had to include both in my March Favourites. It’s not often that you find a good affordable mascara that ticks all your boxes is it? But I have found two! They’re not clumpy, they separate my Lashes perfectly, they don’t smudge and they last all day. I love love LOVE them! 

Benefit They’re Real Push Up Liner So, I am absolutely pants at winged liner. I have one eye that is a different shape to the other, so trying to get my wings even is a struggle. I rediscovered the Push Up Liner in my collection, and thought I would give it another shot (I really didn’t like it the first time I used it), and MY GOSH, I love it. Winged liner is so much easier with this, and it doesn’t budge! 

MUA Matte Soft Suedes Palette I spend a lot of my evenings browsing websites for new products and MUA have some seriously fab new products on their website right now. I wanted a compact palette with Matte shadows in, and added this little beauty to my basket. When my MUA package was delivered this palette was the first thing I tried. The shadows are gorgeous, blendable and buildable if you need to. This palette would be perfect for a natural/smoky eye. 

Wow, that’s a lot of Favourites this month! If you have managed to stick with me this far then I must share my exciting news with you. 

I recently launched my own affordable makeup website!!!! 

It’s something I have always wanted to do, and I am so excited about it. I am very proud of my website & I am currently building up my stock. 

www.bargain-makeup.co.uk 

I would love for you to check it out. 

Thanks for reading! 

Love Jen xx

My daughter refuses to smile for all photos

Silicone Sponge vs Beauty Sponge vs Brush

Hey!! 😁

A few weeks ago I was browsing through the makeup products and tools on Amazon. I saw “Silicone Sponges” on there for a very affordable price. (I am unsure if it is a genuine Silicone Sponge or a dupe) anyway, I ordered one as I was intruiged to see if it worked and what all the hype was about. 

I cannot describe how strange it was applying foundation with the “Silicone Sponge” for the first time. I have been used to brushes and beauty sponges, and it just felt strange applying my foundation with it. I felt like I was having an affair and cheating on my brushes and beauty sponges. (Ridiculous, I know!) 

I soon discovered that I didn’t need to use half as much foundation as I would normally use. The silicone sponge doesn’t absorb any product, where as a brush and a regular beauty sponge do. 

The “Silicone Sponge” blended out my foundation nicely, however it did take longer than usual. In the mornings I probably have around 5-7 minutes to apply my makeup for the day, because my daughter will lose her mind if I actually take my time and try to do a nice makeup look. Normally my makeup routine goes a bit like this: Primer, foundation, tell my daughter it’s ok if mummy puts makeup on, concealer, read a book to my daughter, play princesses with my daughter, one brow, tell my daughter to go and play in her room, the other brow, tell my daughter to stop crying, whack on mascara, bronzer and powder as quick as possible. 

Anyway… I am waffling. So what I am trying to say is I don’t get a lot of time to do my makeup. 

I wanted to see what the difference was between the “Silicone Sponge”, beauty sponge and foundation brush. So I put them all against each other. 

I used my Milani foundation and applied maybe a quarter of a pump to each applicator and then applied it to my arm to see how differently they applied the product. 

The “Silicone Sponge” applied the foundation quite thick, but there was a lot of excess product left on it. As you can see from the above picture. 

The RT Sponge applied the foundation very sheer, and it had soaked up a lot of the foundation as you can see above. I used the sponge damp as I normally would. 

The RT brush soaked up a lot of product and gave a very sheer, hardly noticeable swatch. 

All in all; I think the “Silicone Sponge” is great, I found that a little product goes a long way when using it. My only issue with it is that it takes a long time to blend my foundation out, and I just don’t have that amount of time in the mornings. 

I love my RT brushes and sponges, infact any makeup brush (I am a makeup brush addict 🙈) I love that it takes hardly any time to apply my foundation and concealer. 

On the day to day makeup I will stick with the brushes and beauty sponges, but if I am doing a makeup look for a night out or something then I will definitely go for the “Silicone Sponge”. 

Have you tried the Silicone Sponge? 

Thanks for reading 

Love Jen xx

Technic Cosmetics

Happy Friday!!!

The lovely people at Technic recently sent me some of their newest products. 

Technic PR Package

Technic kindly sent me: 

Colour Correcting Setting Powder

Eyeshadow Primer

Brow Pen

Get Gorgeous Bronze Highlighting Powder

Mega Lash mascara 

The colour correcting powder is like magic in a pot. It evens out my skin perfectly and makes my skin look flawless. It doesn’t make my foundation look cakey either. 

I don’t usually use eyeshadow primers; I usually just prime my eyes with concealer. But I noticed a massive difference when I used the Technic Eyeshadow Primer. My eyeshadow applied easier and lasted much longer than usual. 

I am completely stuck in a rut when it comes to brows. I have found the product that works for me, and I usually stick to it. However, I was so excited to see a new brow product in my package from Technic. The Technic Brow Pen is like a felt tip for brows. It is absolutely PERFECT for creating natural looking brows. 

The Get Gorgeous Bronze Highlighter is ridiculously pretty! 

This product can be used to highlight, define and Bronze your features. And it also doubles up as a Gorgeous shimmery gold eyeshadow! 

I have saved my favourite product til last! 

The Technic Mega Lash mascara is right up there in my top 3 favourite mascaras, ever! It isn’t clumpy and I haven’t noticed any smudging under the eye. The Mega Lash manages to give your lashes a good coating of mascara whilst making sure that your lashes are separated. 

Thank you Technic for kindly sending me this lovely package. I now have some new favourite products in my collection. Especially the mascara. Did I mention how much I love the Mega Lash mascara? 

*Disclaimer: Although Technic sent me the products they have not paid me to say nice things about their products. All opinions are my own. I am always completely honest and transparent in my blogs and I genuinely love the Technic brand and I think their products are really good quality and amazing value for money* 

Thanks for reading 

Love Jen xxx

September & October Favourites

I completely forgot to upload a ‘September favourites’ blog post, so I am combining the last 2 months in to one blog.

My makeup has been pretty basic over the past couple of months; being a mum to a 2 year old toddler who is on the go from the minute she wakes up til the minute she goes to sleep, doesn’t really leave me a lot of time to ‘put my face on’. If I manage to do my brows and slap on some mascara then we are having a good day! 

Anyway, I am rambling. Here are my favourite products I have been using over the last 2 months: 

The Technic Lashitude mascara is something that I have mentioned in previous blogs. I love this mascara so much. It separates my Lashes perfectly, applies evenly, doesn’t clump and doesn’t transfer on to my face after a few hours. This mascara is bloody brilliant! 

Benefits Ready Set Brow! Brow gel. I have the clear brow gel, I have coloured brow gels in my collection but I actually prefer the way this brow gel makes my eyebrows look. My brow routine has been the same for months, I use a cheap brow palette (mentioned in previous blogs) to fill in my brows, and then I use this brow gel in top. I love this brow gel! 

MUA Skin Define Matte Perfect foundation. I love that makeup products’ names are just getting longer and longer 😂. I have got the shade ‘natural beige’, I would say it is darker than I expected it to be, but it matches my skin perfectly when I have fake tanned. It blends out easily, I would say it is a medium coverage, but buildable if you want more coverage. This foundation and my current favourite setting spray are a match made in heaven. 

The w7 ‘The Fixer’ Face Spray is a lovely little setting spray. I would say that I was slightly disappointed at how small the bottle is compared to other setting sprays I own, but apart from that it’s great. It sets my makeup perfectly and makes it stay in place ALL DAY (or until the evening when I have put my PJ’s on and want to take all my makeup off). 10/10 for this product! 

Makeup Revolution Rose Gold lipstick in the shade ‘Chauffeur’ is my go-to nude lipstick. I cannot describe just how amazing this lipstick is. It’s the perfect shade for me, it’s creamy and applies so easily. I always struggle with dry lips and lip products not lasting (even if I buy a product that says ’12 hour wear’ or whatever, the product seems to move and disappear from my lips as the day goes on. So I never expect a lip product to last a long time on me. But this lipstick really does! Again, 10/10 for this product! 

I know a lot of people shy away from unbranded makeup because they don’t know where it is made, what is in the product(s) etc. I saw this 15 colour eyeshadow palette on Amazon for an absolute STEAL of a price and I just had to give it a go. I was mostly intrigued by the red toned shadow in the centre of the palette. I have used this palette so much over the past 2 months, it is crazy! And it looks like I’ve hardly touched it! 

This palette is absolutely perfect for Autumn & winter. Here is a look I created with this palette. The wing was done with the black shadow from the palette! 

Check it out on Amazon here:

LyDia® 15 COLOURS EYESHADOW PALETTE Matte Smokey Eye Effect Neutral Nude/White Highlight/Brown/Black/Chocolate #2

I will also be announcing a brand new giveaway on my Facebook page soon! 

http://www.facebook.com/bargainmakeupblog

And I also reached over 600 followers on my Instagram page this month! Instagram has been a tough cookie to crack, but I am getting there I think! I am so grateful for all of your kind words & support of my blog and my pages. 

Thanks for reading.

Jen xx

My Makeup Collection

Last week I shared a video on my Facebook page that briefly showed my makeup collection. 

I didn’t go in to too much detail about every drawer or each product (because the video would be way too long) 

I thought I would write a blog and upload pictures of each drawer of my makeup storage. 

This is where I store my makeup, dry shampoo, skincare products, fake tan etc:

Here are my foundations & primers

My concealer/contour/setting powder collection:

Some eyeshadow palettes, cream eyeshadows and individual eye shadows:

Face palettes & spare eyeshadow palettes:

Bronzers, highlighters, blushers etc: 

Mascaras, brow products and lashes:

The main eyeshadow palette drawer:

And this is how I store all my brushes, lip products, setting sprays and brush cleaners:

I have to keep the brushes out of reach from my daughter (because she is a professional brush destroyer), so they are high up on a shelf. 

As you can tell, most of my collection is high street and super affordable. If there are any slightly more expensive products in my collection it’s because my gem of a husband treated me ☺️

I also must say that yes, some of the products in my collection were sent to me to review. However, 95% of my collection was purchased by me. 

This blog was not intended to show off, and I do understand my collection is quite big, but as a beauty blogger I love trying new products and writing about them.

Thanks for reading. 

Love Jen xx

My Biggest Giveaway Yet

I am trying to do a giveaway every month. Here is my latest one: 

You could win: 

X2 sets of eye brushes (11 brushes in total) 

Technic Correct & Contour palette

Technic Brow Tamer

Eyeshadow palette 

Makeup Revolution Baked Highlighter

W7 Hollywood Bronze & Glow

Technic Contour Stix

Kylie Cosmetics Kyshadow palette

W7 Absolute Lashes mascara

W7 Glow for Glory Illuminating palette

Eyebrow shadow palette

Ardell Wispies False Lashes

Loreal Paris individual eyeshadow

Kylie Cosmetics Birthday Edition Cream Shadow (rose gold shade)

W7 The Fixer Face Spray 

X2 W7 lipsticks

L’Oréal Paris Lipstick

L’Oréal Paris lipgloss

L’Oréal Paris nail polish 

Seventeen Easy On The Eye eyeshadow palette

W7 In The Mood eyeshadow palette

And these brushes are also included in the giveaway:

To enter, all you have to do is head to my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/bargainmakeupblog and 

1️⃣ LIKE MY FACEBOOK PAGE

2️⃣ LIKE MY GIVEAWAY POST

3️⃣ COMMENT ON MY GIVEAWAY POST

A winner will be chosen at random and announced on the 29th October with a video. 

International entries are also welcome! 

Good luck! 🍀

Jen xx

Kylie Cosmetics Review & Swatches

A couple of weeks I was lucky enough to come across genuine Kyshadow palettes on eBay for an amazing price. I ordered 2 palettes (1 of which will be part of my next giveaway 😏😜) 

I also found the Birthday Edition Liquid Lipstick Mini Kit. 

Let’s start with the eyeshadow palette. Firstly, the packaging is beautiful. I really like it. The shades are lovely and very blendable. There are 6 matte shadows and 3 shimmer shades. 

They eyeshadows swatch perfectly. Very pigmented, apart from the gold shimmer shadow which I would recommend wetting your brush before applying to get a better pay off. 

Now on to the liquid lipstick mini kit. 

They are very pigmented, and they smell amazing. The packaging is lovely too. 

Here are my bad points…

Only the box is labelled with the shade names. Not the individual products. To me that’s annoying. 

I swatched each one on my arm, but I suppose you only get a true reflection of a lip product when you try it on your lips. Once I applied it my lips dried up almost instantly. The product made my lips feel really really dry. It also felt quite sticky too. It was also really difficult to take off.

I took this picture after 5 minutes of scrubbing my arm 😫😵😲

The eyeshadow palette is a winner, but I definitely won’t be using any of the liquid lipsticks again! 

Have you tried any of the Kylie Cosmetics range? What did you think? 

Love Jen xx