Two weeks ago I was raving about the Pacifica perfumes which I absolutely love (even more that I now know I can sniff them down at Wholefoods rather than rely on website descriptions). Whilst on my Wholefoods shopping trip (watch my haul video here) I picked up some other bits and bobs from their range and today I'm going to review the Solar Mineral Palette (the rest will be done in one post but as this is a palette I felt it needed a more in depth review).

As you can see from the pictures it is a natural and muted palette (though all shades have a gentle shimmer) - the only exception being the Mermaid Aqua eye-shadow which is the middle colour in the bottom row. I mentioned in my perfume review that Pacifica is quite a 'summery' brand and the make-up I've been trying definitely has me thinking this is consistent across the brand.

All the other eyeshadows can be used together to create a natural looking smokey eye. For me personally I have been using Glow over my whole eyelid and Treasure within the crease for my day/work look. However I switch up Glow for either Neptune or Coral on a night out. I've said before that I don't think I suit a dark eye so I haven't been getting too much use out of Sandalwood and will be reserving it for any fancy dress occasions along with Mermaid Aqua.

Another shade I have been using a lot is the Gold Dust highlighter which is at the top left of the palette. This shade is perfect for my skin tone and I've been using it on my brow bone regardless of whether or not its day or night or whatever else is going on with my make-up. The other two pink highlighters I do occasionally use on my cheek bones for some extra shimmer depending on my mood.

As for the two blush/bronzers I don't reach for them too often as they are a bit too dark for my pale skin. On the packaging Flushed looks pink but it's very much a mauve pink/brown shade in real life and doesn't suit me. Bronzed is a typical bronzer shade and is the only matte colour in the palette but isn't up my street. I have used them and they give me quite a 'tawny' look which really isn't my look but it might be yours! If you are pale like me then The Body Shop does a very good bronzer aimed at pale skinned beauts.

On the whole I found the colours to be quite pigmented and I act with caution when applying the eyeshadow and only add a little bit to my brush at any one time and slowly build it up. I don't however find the staying power to be particularly amazing and would very much recommend using an eyelid primer (Too Faced is my favourite) and some kind of setting product (I recommend Urban Decay).

I do like this palette but I wouldn't sing praises about it. For me Urban Decay still do some of the best palettes around so unless you're a really big palette fanatic I might advice you to act on the cautious side.

Have you tried any of the Pacifica make-up? 

Morag x

Gosh have a been a favourite brand of mine for a long time. Even before my cruelty-free days I loved a lot of what they offered and was tickeled pink when I realised I could still buy from them when I made my decision two years ago. Recently when I made the switch to veganism I was further glad to realise that they have a vegan products list which you can get from their customer support team. It's not publicly available on their website but if you pop them across an e-mail they should send it right across (I'm yet to hear someone in the vegan niche complain about not receiving a reply).

I printed off my list and headed out to Superdrug to do a bit of a pay day haul. There's still quite a few vegan products I don't own but I have so far only picked up the ones I knew I could get use out of and could become part of my daily routine. For example, the bronzer was marked as vegan but I prefer pale and interesting and there were various lip colours I knew wouldn't suit me. But nevertheless here are my favourites from the range that I have tried thus far.

Intense Eyeliner Pen
I have tried a lot of the eyeliner pens out there - I think my face doesn't quite look right in photos where I'm missing even a thin cat flick. So take it from me that this is one of my favourite eyeliner pens. I was already quite confident I would like this because I was once a fan of their liquid eyeliner before I discovered the joy of eyeliner pens.

I currently own their black and grey shades - the black is what I wear generally but the grey is what I wear when I want something slightly more striking but not quite feeling like whipping out some pink.

BB Cream
I'll straight up admit that I'm not much of a BB Cream (or CC Cream, or DD Cream) gal and I find them to be glorified tinted moisturisers. However what I do like this for is some extra coverage for my face prior to applying foundation - and this BB Cream has had some positive reviews from the vegan blogging community so it's getting included. ;)

X-Ceptional Wear Foundation
I'm currently in the market for a thick, full-coverage foundation and the name suggested that this might be what I am looking for, alas it was medium coverage. However it's a medium coverage foundation with a really nice natural finish that isn't matte or dewy, and could pass as really good skin. However, it is a cheap foundation so the staying power isn't brilliant and I would recommend using a very good primer (my favourite is Arbonne) and a very good setting product (my favourite is Urban Decay).

Lip Liner
I still need to fire off an e-mail back to Gosh (it's on my to-do list, I'm a busy woman!) but I wasn't sure if Gosh's lipsticks - one of my all time favourites - are vegan as the name of the lipstick was different on my list to the name on the labelling in the shop. So we may not know for a while. However their lip liners were on my list and they really impressed me - because the staying power is amazeballs. So until I know about the lipsticks I shall be using their lip liners all over my lips.

Nail Polish
I am currently the owner of only one Gosh nail polish (I'm still currently trying to collect all Barry M shades) but I feel like I will be back for more. They're the same price as your usual high street nail polishes but I really like the consistency and after one week of wear only two of my nails had any obvious chipping. The colour I picked up - Kind of Pink - is a red-pink shade which still leans more to the pink side and has cool undertones. For me personally, I love nail polishes that are an interesting shade of certain colours (rather than the standard colour you'd find on a colour wheel) which is something that higher end brands do better than high street so top marks to Gosh for this (did that sentence make sense? maybe you have to be really into colour?).

What are your favourite Gosh products? Any guesses what might be in my 'not liked' post?

Morag x

The Urban Decay setting sprays have been a much hyped product in the blogosphere (and in general offline life) for an extremely long time. They've been on my beauty to buy list for ages but kept getting dingyed for something else because I was truthfully very cynical on how spraying some liquid formula on my face could help improve the longevity of my make-up.

But now I'll lay down my apologies to Urban Decay and say that I take my initial cynicism back.

I've pattered on before about my bad luck with primers (my favourite so far has been Arbonne - but even that didn't make my foundation last all day) and how overrated I find so many of them to be. And I was ready to admit defeat that there was no way I could get my make-up to sit on my face all the way through the day. BUT THEN I discovered this product and oh-my-god-my-make-up-lasts-so-much-longer.

I even did a test - what works better: primer and foundation or foundation and spray, and - drum roll please- the days I skipped primer and just used the spray my make-up last wayyyyyyyyyy longer than it did when I used just primer and foundation.

It's worth the hype guys.

Morag x

You might remember this wee gem that I received in a giveaway ran by my scrumptious pal Hayley of Water Painted Dreams.

You've probably heard of it too.

I'll admit straight off the bat that I'm not a huge eyeshadow person (main reason being it doesn't suit my small eyes) and haven't owned any of the other Naked palette (or, erm, any eye-shadow palette ever really) but had been intrigued by this one due to the natural looking nature of the colours.

And since receiving this I've been using it every day and also using it as evening make-up. I did take some photos of my daily 'look' on my closed peepers but the colours were so subtle the camera didn't pick them up (plus I was hungover and have now given up selfies for lent so can't attempt any other photos). I like to use either Foxy or W.O.S on my lid (depending on which shade wins the eenie meenie minie mo debate at 8am) then use either Naked 2 in the crease during the day or Faint at night. I always use venus on my brow bone and in the corners of eye (I'm haven't used crave because I don't really suit black eyeshadow).

Because of my small eyes I don't wear darker eye looks all that often and go for winged eyeliner and mascara and let a bright lip be the focus of my make-up. These colours were perfect for lighting up the eye area as some of them don't differ much from my natural skin colours - the foxy colours reminds me one of my old teenage favourite from the Miss Sporty (non-CF) range.

So yes, this well hyped product has been very much worth the hype.

Morag x

I had been meaning to try Pixi Beauty for a while. I had read good things about their products, never had any reason to doubt their cruelty-free status and knew their packaging would look great in my make-up bag. But it took me until two months ago to make the jump, and that jump was only encouraged by most of my make-up running out. And because it was running low I stuck my purchase to 'essentials' (mascara is an essential Iwillhaveyouknow).

Pixi Lash Line Ink
This was my original motivation for making a Pixi purchase, after hearing Lily Melrose singing praises about it It is incredibly easy to apply with a thin nub making it really difficult to apply too much and really easy to 'draw' the shape you want on your lash line. It's really good for people like me who suit only a thin line of winged eyeliner  (I love the thick heavy winged eyeliner on other people, but it looks ridic on my small eyes). However the staying power was less than I was expecting which caused a lot of pouting as I had really loved this product up until then! I'll probably finish this product but not re-purchase when it runs out.

Pixi Big Lash Mascara
I'll admit straight up that I didn't like this at all. Aside from colouring my eyelashes back it did very little else. In fact, I might have well as not been wearing mascara.

Pixi Waterproof Eyemaker Remover
Whilst this was bought on a bit of an ahh-and mhhmm whim it has ended up on my highly recommended list. I don't wear a heavy amount of make-up day-to-day (primer, foundation concealer, mascara and eyebrows) but this has become the pefect way to sweep it off my face. It's water based and didn't sting my eyes in the slightest. It's not the best for heavy make-up though, meaning I had to use a lot of if for my night time face (lipstick, contouring, eyeliner, eyeshadow etc).

Have you tried anything from the Pixi line? What did you think?

Hourglass are a make-up brand I had been meaning to try for a long time. For me they seem to close up a gap in the market for cruelty-free cosmetics that still give off an air of luxury. I know we have Butter London, Too Faced and Illasmasqua for 'high-end' make-up but they still conjure up words such as 'fun' and 'young' - hourglass has a sleek brand about them that seems sparse in the cruelty-free market.

And I have to say I am impressed by my first purchase. I kept it fairly safe with a concealer and was concerned I wouldn't find a shade for me out of the six on offer. Thankfully the lightest shade 'fair' suited me perfectly (as a guide I usually do come one or two shades in - I'm not super pale) and even though I found it quite pigmented it blended in with my skin really well.

The concealer itself has a very creamy consistency however only a little bit is needed each time. Which is lucky, given that my picture shows it rolled right the way up. It only takes about two thin layers of the stuff to hide my spots and any other red patches around my face. As for longevity, my skin is quite oily so the concealer on my spots will begin to slide after a few hours, however I've found that the concealer that had been applied to my eye area would still be on when washing my face at night (about 10pm, and my make-up gets done at roughly 8am).

My first purchase from Hourglass has certainly been impressive and I am really excited to try more products from their range.

I had always ignored the Vitamin C range from The Body Shop. Despite my break-outs and maybe some dry patches in the winter dull skin was never anything I was plagued with. However last payday I fancied trying some new Body Shop goodies and it was a 3 for 2 weekend but when it came to picking up my third purchase I hit a standstill. None of my current make-up was close to running out and I had just stopped by Lush to pick up a new solid shampoo plus my classic favourites Herbalism and Cupcake. So I was stalled.

The shop assistant was helpful and went through most of the range. I knew I wanted make-up but wasn't sure which. That is when she directed me towards this product, which despite not being a traditional make-up product actually is used for priming the skin (at London Fashion Week). I thought it sounded odd enough to try.

She put it on the back of my hand and yes it did have the same smoothing effect that a traditional primer would have. The smell (citrusy) did put me off as we all know I hate a strong smelling product. But thankfully the smell did fade from my hand within the next 20 minutes.

I have been using this product for most of the last fortnight and have been impressed. When it comes to primers I have only ever been impressed by products that are over £20; the high street ones have just never ticked any boxes for me. This isn't however going to give Too Faced, or Arbonne (review here), or Mac (boo!) a run for their money anytime soon as these products are still better, but Skin Reviver does pack a fair punch for its £14 price tag.

I found that my foundation did last longer on my skin wearing this underneath when compared to a bare face - not all day but the bulk of my make-up would still be on by midday (after having applied it at 8am) and by the time I got to bed some of it would have slid off but I certainly didn't have a bare face either.

If you can afford one of the more expensive primers I would still say go for it. But if you are on a budget and still really want a primer but a £20 primer really isn't within your paycheck, then this is one hell of a little fella for your make-up collection.

You may have heard about B. Cosmetics* by now. I've seen a few of their products reviewed on other blogs and when I've mentioned it I've been told they've spotted them in Superdrug. B Cosmetics are vegan and approved by BUAV and I thoroughly welcome a new cruelty-free brand to the high-street and was ecstatic to see the PR e-mail offering me the chance to try some products for free.


The B. Skincare range is split into three phase - each phase categorised by how mature your skin is. I have really oily skin which will hopefully serve me well when an I'm older and produce little wrinkles however I've been really liking some serums I also got for free recently so thought I would give this a chance.

 First off it does have a smell to it. Not an added fragrance but a very typical skincare fragrance, like soap. I could smell it but it wouldn't put me off but I still prefer my moisturiser and scrubs to smell of little. But as I said no deal-breaker.

On the nights I have worn this I have woken up to very soft skin. However so far I haven't seen any lasting benefits to my skin, making it good to use if you skin is feeling really tight before bed, but not as a holy grail serum.


Next up I picked the B.Een Skintone Corrector as I have a very uneven skintone so I'm usually all over these kinds of products. Admittedly I was expecting something a bit different. The product description didn't specifically say which type of skin it will correct but when I seen the yellow liquid come out the tube I realised it wasn't suited for my red toned skin but for someone will sallow or dull skin. I have used this and it did brighten up my skin however I don't need a skin brightener so cannot give an indepth review. I would still say dry-skinned girls should give this a chance though and let me know! :)


And lastly I chose the B.Groomed Eyebrow pencil, which was by far my fav and a product I could see myself re-purchasing. I've been using HD Brows for ages now (no idea if cruelty-free btw!) but they are very pigmented and can cause quite the scouse brow if you're not careful. This however was more buildable and it is quite natural looking. I have eyebrows that don't match no matter how much I play with them so I don't like using anything that might drag too much attention towards them. So this was perfect. The other end of the stick has some wax which I also really liked. I have been using this every day for over a week and have no yet had to sharpen the pencil so I see this lasting me some time.

Overall, I would say I have some mixed feeling about the products. These are good highstreet make-up products and for the price I am certainly not going to complain. The product I see myself re-purchasing is the eyebrow pencil. The night serum and under eye concealer were good for the price but I would rather pay more expensive and get an amazing product rather than one of typical highstreet quality. The Colour Corrector I don't want to comment on much because I feel it just wasn't the right product for me but could be really suited for drier skinned ladies.

What do you think? Have any of your tried the B.Cosmetics range?

 

* I was gifted these products by a PR company. My opinion is always mine.

N.B. I was give this primer to try free of charge. It wasn't for blog purposes but because I have been approached about becoming an Independence Consultant for Arbonne and I thought it was still important to state this. My opinion is still the same. 

N.B. The Body Shop is cruelty-free but is owned by L'Oreal, who are not.

As so many of my beauty reviews recently have been along the lines of okay if you have the money, good if you're travelling but not every day or might be better if you had dry skin I decided I should post about a product that has become part of my daily routine and I really see myself re-purchasing.

Like a lot of beauty bloggers I take more care of my eyebrows than you're average person on the street. I'm also not naturally blessed  in the eyebrow department (along with acne, eyebrows are what I see when I see teenage photos of myself) so that also explains why I have a more extensive eyebrow routine than most.

When it comes to similar products I bought the No7 eyebrow tamer back in 2010 but will admit I was unimpressed with it. I bought the MeMeMe version as part of a sale and was more after the highlighter than the tamer but when I received the product it was the eyebrow tamer I was more impressed by.

I find it really does brush my eyebrow hair whichever way I want it to and then keeps it in place. Also because it is brown coloured it means it helps colour my eyebrows. However a negative is that you have to be careful the formula doesn't make it onto your skin and smudge. It easily coverable with concealer but be careful as it can slow you down in the morning if you have to tidy up the edges.

As for the highlighter I have to admit that it is pretty average. Not terrible, but nothing special either. I remember borrowing a really good highlight by Elf a while ago but for some reason never purchased myself. But as it is attached to an amazing product I will accept it as being there (this product in under a tenner, so hardly a waste of money!).

Also, as with all MeMeMe products, the packaging is awesome.

Lots of tamed eyebrow love,

Admittedly I've owned this product for a good few months now (could easily be half a year) and I've lost all memory of why I purchased it in the first place. That's not to say it's a bad product but I'm not entirely sure why I decided to purchase an anti- feathering lip-pencil and I always like to start my review with why a product was purchased in the first place.

Either way I think this product is one that I'm not entirely sure what my opinion is about it. It is described as a anti-feathering lip pencil, which is definitely is, I just think that this is a non-essential beauty product which is why despite it doing exactly what it is meant to I feel I can't rave about it because in the grand scheme of things I think there are many other products I'd rather own instead. 

No photos were taken for this as the results are difficult to pick up on camera. Just as in real life, if your lipstick doesn't have the smoothest line ever it would go unnoticed unless it was clearly not on your natural lip. As for keeping lipstick on your lips, like a lot of primers, you need to be careful of 'buildable' lipsticks as it only keeps the first layer on the lips; any other layers of lipstick after the first are likely to come off. So only use a pigmented colour that only takes one swipe to get the desired result. And yes, the line around the lips is smoother but only if your make-up was being really scrutinised.

Do I get prizes for the most wordy review ever? In conclusion this product does do what it is meant to and I use it when I'm going out at night and wearing a bright colour (I don't wear lipstick daily). However when it comes to finishing the product I doubt I'll be rushing out to buy it again. If dropping £12 on a beauty product became nothing to me then my opinion might change but as long as I'm still on a graduate salary then I'm using my pennies to buy products that make a much bigger different to my face. I'd recommend this for rich consumers, people who like their make-up pristine, professional make-up artists or someone needing make-up for an important event where perfection is required. 

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